Matt Gaunt

On Friday, my workplace organised for about 20 of us to go out around part of the 2012 Olympic road race route with around 50 of our clients.

I live in south-west London and so I decided to ride to the event start, roughly 25 miles away on Box Hill. Predictably for June in the UK, the weather was damp and fairly chilly. Arm-warmers and 3/4 length bibs were the order of the day for me, none of which becoming too warm as the day progressed.

The riders started to gather in the pub car park at around 9am and our ride leaders introduced themselves. Rebecca Romero, current Olympic sprint champion, would lead one group while other members of British Cycling took charge of the other groups.

The longer, 58-mile route attracted a good proportion of the clients and so staggered groups of us set off into a wet, but very pretty, Surrey landscape.

The pace was very comfortable (19-22 mph on the flat, typically), but the hills provided a chance to stretch the legs and measure up against the competition. A colleague, who rode with me all day, has been training for the Iron Man in Nice this weekend and his form was exceptional. Mine was, on the other hand, distinctly average. The months of commuting through the wind and rain and training on a fixed wheel have really given me a good bit of performance increase in terms of head-down, 80-90rpm pace on the flats, but the hill-climbing has been hit hard.

Time to get out into the hills and doing hill repeats, which I shall be doing with earnest as soon as this awful June weather decides to perk up.

As the day pressed on, there were a couple of impromptu stops (puncture, minor off and a couple of people with cramp) but nothing that interrupted the flow too much. The weather was up and down, with some thundery showers interspersed with some genuinely lovely sunshine. The gusty wind, however, was relentless. The one steep-ish climb of the day (Pebble Hill, 16%) was over relatively quickly and didn't cause too many problems, although again, I had hoped for a bit more pace than became available to me!

We were greeted at the official finish-line with some good food (smoked salmon, grilled chicken, fresh breads and a selection of Italian meats and olives), before the two of us cycled home, happily with a tail-wind.

Overall, Friday was a great day, and one which everyone seemed to enjoy. For me, it was also a good chance to reassess my season and to get some good miles under my belt on the RC, which, as always, performed beautifully. The engine will be worked on with utmost urgency!

Finally, the stats: 105.2 miles, 6 hours, 30 minutes. Two laps of Box Hill (which, by the way, now has the smoothest road surface I've ever ridden on).