Gauging my G100 performance

I was wondering how to evaluate my 24^th placed finish at last weeks Gorrick 100? I felt pleased with my performance, despite the crippling cramp. Did it provide any indication of how I’m riding and my fitness compared to previous years?

Two years ago I raced the Gorrick 100 during my build up to the Swiss Grand Raid and British Marathon Championships. It was a big year for me and in terms of endurance riding I’d have considered myself about as fit as I ever have been.

My finishing time on Sunday of 5 hours 43 minutes, was 29 minutes faster than 2016. However, race times themselves are obviously irrelevant as the course and conditions are totally different.

At the previous two editions I finished 24^th out of a field of 57 in 2015 and 22^nd from 48 in 2016. So last weeks 24^th out of 60 entrants, would suggest an equivalent, or maybe even slightly better performance compared to previous years. Of course it does depend entirely on who else showed up.

I then tried to compare myself to other individual riders. Amazingly only five of those who raced on Sunday also competed 2 years ago. The closest of them, a chap called Chris Clayton, beat me by 6 minutes in 2016. Scarily within a handful of seconds I was exactly the same distance behind two years later!

The gaps to the other riders were also comparable within a minute or two. Obviously, this doesn’t account for their performance, or changes in fitness over the intervening 24 months, but the general picture is clear.

So what do I take away from this?

My current perception that I’m not as fit today as I was in the past, is largely based on the fact that I’m spending less time on the bike, rather than any factual evidence. In 2015 and 2016 I was averaging over 150 miles and cycling 10 hours a week. Since the beginning of this year I’ve averaged 8 hours and just under 120 miles a week.

Sundays result suggests that slightly less training might not have had any detrimental on my overall performance. It might support my belief that in the past I was doing a lot of “nonsense” commuting miles. Perhaps my more limited training now is slightly more focused and beneficial.