ronfinch

did 4*25 and a bit kilometre laps near my house in Leeds. (Route is here https://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=1756478 - the route is hard to make out, Im posting it mainly to get a sense of the elevation/distance etc...) Was relatively hilly, and was pretty cold (still wintery here in England for some reason). The waterproofs I had on to protect against drizzle are non- breathable(!!!) so it was a bit like wearing bin liners - loads of sweating. Hands were getting cold. I did the first 50 kilometres at about 21 kilometres an hour. The second 50 kilometres at about 18 kilometres an hour. My bike is a couple of years old marin point reyes hybrid - it is well maintained and currently in decent condition.

I have previously done (Imperial) centuries and found them fine, but found this fairly heavy going today. Apart from being shortish laps near my house (which I think is boring/harder mentally to keep going) I think being alone, not wearing great clothing, and crucially, not eating enough were the reason for me finding it tough. Here is what I had:

before - 4 bits of toast + marg and marmite

just before - orange

15 miles in - breakaway chocolate bar '100 calories'
about 20 miles - apple

30 miles - bowl of stewy type thing
apple
chocolate biscuit

45 miles - apple

finish - loads was starving.

Drank in total about 3 litres of water in total.


Re-reading this post it sounds a little bit dour - dont get me wrong I did enjoy it, but what do you reckon?

jibi

Ron

First..... move from Leeds LOL

I usually start the day with porridge, with bran and honey when I going off for a longish ride.
I found the map very difficult to make out!!

And the point about laps seems right,,,,,,, boring. I would be tempted to give up or have loads of stops for tea at home.

there are loads of good roads around Leeds, I know most of them are hilly but on the way to York is quite flat.

I have a good mate Vernon who lives in Leeds and does lots of solo Audaxing, he mostly uses the permanent grids you can download from the website.

george

Richard_Rides

Ron, ya did great! Congrats!

ronfinch

lol yes am getting out as soon as possible, don't wory about that (joke)..! Map is complicated - will edit original post to point out it just gives a sense of the loops I was doing/elevation. Cheers for the comments though (and thanks Richard_Rides) much appreciated. I have been advised going out towards York - then getting on the old train line to Hull before - where I am from and clearly a step up from Leeds (!!)

George - from which website can you download the routes you mention?

I realise 100k is a relatively short distance. I suppose I am trying to understand why I found it harder than the 100 miles I did over Easter, when I have done a lot more cycling over the last month (without over-doing it). Think it is mainly the route + being on my own, coupled with a bit of lack of food. Like I said - cheers all.

barryflht

Ron,
You did fine.....There's always good days and tough days.....This was just one of the tough ones...... Eat a bit more next time with a better route, and it will be nothing.

Machka 

+1

And 18 to 21 km/h is my usual cycling pace these last few years. Nothing wrong with that!

Falchoon

Swap your apples to banannas and have a bigger/better breakfast before you set off. Sounds like you drank a lot of water, not that that's a bad thing. I rode just over 70km today and only drank about 500ml of Gatorade (probably too little). I wasn't working real hard. It was a bit cool, only about 15 deg C.

jibi

Ron the site is

www.principia.demon.co.uk

but it seems to be down at the moment

vernon's email address is in private message to you

george

ronfinch

Cheers all, and jibi checked messages - good one!
Going to do a quick(ish..) 30 miles now to try and burn off the beer I drank at football yesterday. Lost 2 - 0 at Sheff Utd if anyone is interested.....

jibi

Ok Ron

We just lost to the toon army 2 - 0 as well so they have bragging rights for a whole year.

I am sat in an internet cafe in Kuala Lumpur wearing my Sunderland shirt still.

george

Hocam

Laps are definitely harder mentally, as the option to turn around comes up frequently, unlike an out and back or looping route. Also the weather and terrain are the biggest things to overcome on long rides. A flat 100km on a warm day can't compare to a freezing hilly 100 km.

ronfinch

Ah well I was hoping Keegan would leave having never won a game, even though I like him! Anyway thats probably for a different forum.

Am in a loose training plan to do a charity ride later in Summer - actual distance depends on how I get on in the mean time/have a flexible training plan - so am hoping the laps give me a bit of extra mental toughness...