Racing Myself - Solo Training Ride

I was Billy no mates on Sunday! With no cycling buddies to hook up with I took the opportunity to leave the house bright and early. 3 hours later when I pulled up sweaty and mud splattered outside my house, the Garmin read exactly 50.00 miles! I had set out with a route in mind based around the classic South Downs climbs of Harting, Bexley & Duncton, but definitely hadn’t planned it with a 2 decimal points attention to detail.

During the 45min ride north towards Harting I noticed my average speed was approaching 17mph. This isn’t unusual or amazingly fast, but it became a target to try and maintain my pace to the base of the first climb of Harting Hill. As the road rose up into the mist and low cloud, my speed dropped and I fully expected to say goodbye to a 17mph average for the remainder of the ride. I had plunged down through the murk and raced through the sleeping village at the bottom of the hill before I looked down at my Garmin again and was surprised to notice Aver: 16.9mph. 

It was a challenge that came out of nowhere but I was now hooked on the magic number of 17! I popped out of the saddle on every short incline in the road, and tried to hold a steady power on the relatively flat run into Midhurst. Despite the grotty mud strewn roads I reached Easebourne and the bottom of Bexley Hill with the average now reading 17.6mph. Even with a large margin in hand, as I approached 1 hour 30 min ride time I definitely didn’t expect to hold the 17mph average over such a long drawn out climb.

Approaching from the south the hill grinds upwards at a steady and relentless gradient. As I spun away at the pedals I occasionally glanced down at the handlebars, 17.5…17.4….17.3 down to 17.2. As I approached the crest I was out of the saddle pushing a big gear over the top. No time to stop (in the mist there was no view to admire anyway) instead I headed straight down the wet and slippery 20% decent. The twists and turns mean there isn’t any chance to release the brakes and let the bike go. I edged down cautiously my fingers griping the brakes. Adding to the perils water flowed down the tarmac, washing stones and grit out of the verge and making the corners more hazardous. It wasn’t until I’d safely reached the bottom that I was able to take a breather and pull an energy bar from my jersey pocket as I turned south and started heading homewards.

The undulating lanes around Selham and Graffham that lead through to Duncton meant repeated short efforts were needed to maintain momentum and I could feel it was beginning to take a toll on my legs. Duncton, the final big climb of the day, is a steep diagonal slope up the north side of the Downs. It’s made more challenging because the half a mile leading into the hill is also a subtle upward gradient. My legs were getting tired by now so I didn’t exactly dance on the pedals and by the top I was down to a 16.6mph average.

There is only a brief drop before I turned along the valley into a pronounced head wind. I kept my head down and the power on the pedals tickling the average up to 16.7 by the base of the final recongnisable climb of the day up to Benges. Out of the saddle I burnt the final matches I had remaining with a big effort.

From there it was now an 8 mile blast home, with downward glances at the Garmin to see how I was doing against my self created target. At Tangmere I had to cross the pedestrian bridge over the A27. I whizzed up and down the zig zags as fast as I could. 17mph for the entire ride was not a certainty yet. Once I cleared the bridge I had the final 4 mile flat run home. I kept the pace above 20mph on familiar roads, dodging the pot holes and Sunday drivers. I slammed on the brakes at my front gate having not stopped for the entire 50 mile ride. I'd averaged 17.2mph.

The totally unplanned 17mph challenge transformed my training ride. I’ve averaged more than this before on rides even more challenging, but it provided the focus and motivation that kept me pushing on when a Sunday ride on my own could have become a weekend cruise.

Winter MTB Miles

The recent rubbish weather has meant the road bike has been getting a lot of use because the local trails have turned into a sloppy, slippery paste. I've been desperate to get out on the MTB and finally after a few dry days I gambled on the mud having dried out enough and chose the MTB for my midweek ride after work.

I’m always looking to mix up the routes I take, so I rode around the back of Goodwood motor circuit and up Chalkpit Lane to the top of the Trundle, something I haven’t done since the summer. No mud here and I was even able to ride around the usual stagnant puddles that are a constant feature of the path behind the motor circuit.

For the last few weeks now I’ve struggled to push myself hard in training, it’s as if my body seems to have selected a "go slow" mode for winter. So with my heart rate hardly racing I spun up towards the blinking radio mast lights at the top of the hill. At night you get a different sense of speed and it was hard to gauge my pace, but when I glanced down I was in a much lower gear than I’d normal use for a hill I have ridden a thousand times. I was going slowly!

At the top I cranked up the lighting power to shed some extra lumens on the rooty singletrack path behind the horse racing grandstand. It was brilliant fun weaving through the trees in the dark, but there's always a slight sense of caution when riding at night on your own. Crossing the road at Benges I was climbing again, up towards another set of glimmering pylon lights at Bignor. Not only is your speed harder to assess in the dark, but I also found it hard to spot turns and paths which I know like the back of my hand during the day! Eventually, hiding under a layer of leaves, I found the correct singletrack trail that lead down to Whiteways.

The cycling mecca of Whiteways is sadly in a state of ruin. Due to Forestry work to fell trees in the area in an attempt to halt the advance of Ash Dieback, many of the classic local trails such as “Three Amigos” have been lost. I avoided the worst of the loggers tyre tracks and climbed (again slowly) up into the Rewell wood. Luckily the singletrack here is still intact, but sadly the soil seemed to have retained more of the recent rain than other areas and there were some muddy sections to negotiate.

It was brilliant to be out on the MTB for a couple of hours re-tuning my off-road skills, especially with the Brass Monkeys race now only a 10 days away. The bonus was that the trail conditions on the whole were surprisingly good. My lack of drive was however frustrating, but maybe this time of year is more about getting in some solid base training miles than tuning race speed.

Racing down memory lane!

While clearing out the loft last weekend I found a box of old cycling trophies. As I lifted out each one it brought back so many happy memories! 

My first win, way back in 2007 at Goodwood. My moment of glory stolen by a rider who cut the course and was eventually disqualified.

3rd in the team event at the 24hr Mountain Mayhem race. I'm still stoked that I was lucky enough to bag the sunrise lap.

2nd at "Are You Tough Enough" which I still think is my best ever race. I spent 4 hours fighting in the top 3 for a podium spot only to fall on the final lap while leading. I dropped to 4th when the onset of cramp meant I couldn't get up and back on the bike! Eventually I recovered and hauled myself back onto the podium with a massive effort, passing two  riders in the final mile of racing.

My first Gorrick top 10. Yes, thats right I got a trophy for 10th! Back then the top 10% of finishers took home a cup and on that particular day there was a field of over 120 riders. The glory days of XC racing! Makes the field of 40 old timers I raced the other week seem tame in comparison!

My first Gorrick win. A few years ago now, but I can still clearly remember that final lap and the disbelief I felt thinking to myself I was actually going to do it! After years and years of training and racing. That and the overarching fear of waiting for something on the bike to break!

All this nostalgia made me want to get out and race again, but also challenge at the front again. Which is not something I really achieved this year. Roll on 2020!

Gorrick Autumn Classic

After the best part of 5 months it felt fantastic to be racing again. It was great meeting up with friends in the carpark, and experiencing all the emotions of a race day - from the early morning nerves to the post race adrenalin buzz!

The Gorrick Autumn Classic was held at Area 51 near Frimley. We’ve raced there before, but the organisers have been extremely busy creating plenty of new trails that really maximized the potential the area has to offer. Similar to previous races at this venue however the course was a continuous ribbon of singletrack. Which sounds brilliant, but presented very few opportunities for overtaking. The start would therefore be critical so myself and a couple of friends made sure we lined up nice and early. When the horn sounded my friend Ian, who is known for his electric fast starts, burst off the line on my left like a cruise missile. I tried to follow his wheel but was pinched by converging riders on either side. The squeeze meant I had to back off slightly and joined the pack 5 positions behind Ian as we sped into the trees. With only enough space for single file there now followed a high speed possession, as the race writhed left and right. In fact I made no progress at all for several miles. Eventually we began to filter past a slower rider up ahead who had been acting as the cork in the bottle.

All I can say is thank god for the hills! I used my strength on the inclines to force my way past a few riders, I could then follow the wheels on the descents and made myself as wide as possible on the flat sections to ensure nobody even thought about trying to sneak through! This got me back into Ian’s wheel by the end of the 1^st lap and he even asked if I wanted to come through, but after my sprints on the hills I was just fine to stay where I was while I recovered! At the next hill I did pass Ian and I was followed by another rider. We piled on the speed and both began to break away from those behind.

I rode the second lap fast and full out, attacking the multitude of corners, leaning the bike as far as I dared in the sandy soil. Then I'd accelerate away from the bend, bouncing over roots and undulations before braking hard for the next turn. This style of racing is fantastic fun, but hard and my heart was about to burst out of my chest. For training intervals at home I’ve calculated my maximum heart rate at 180bpm, and hold this for a few seconds. During Sundays 90 minute race I averaged 171bpm!! Towards the end of the 2^nd lap I began to feel very peculiar. My heart was beating away like a machine gun, but I felt weak and dizzy with no strength in my legs. I’d gone way into the red and looking at the HR trace afterwards I was constantly above 190bpm during this period of the race, peaking at 198!! A figure I haven’t achieved for 20 years! I had no choice but to slow down, in fact I even considered having to stop I felt so odd. I pulled to the side and let the following rider through. He quickly escaped from view and I began to sense the chasing riders beginning to catch me.

Unable to put power on the pedals I was simply cruising through the corners compared to the previous lap. I could hear bikes clattering through the trees behind me but still nobody else had yet caught me despite the drop in pace. This gave me encouragement and after an energy gel I felt able to begin to push the pace again. From here I had a slightly lonely end to the race. I pushed as hard as I dared on the final lap but nobody came into sight and I no longer had any chasers behind to worry about either.

I finished 14^th from the 30 starters in the Veterans Plus category. This to my surprise is actually my best result at a Gorrick since becoming a Vet. I know my fitness isn’t close to what is was earlier in 2019 or last year, but perhaps the racing difference isn’t so pronounced.  I’ve not been able to train “normally” since June due to my accident and family commitments, added to which I came into the event on the back of a week of total lethargy and gluttony on Holiday. So I’ll take this race as a huge positive! I’m back!