BrumJim
Forum Stalwart (won't take the hint and leave...)
- Location
- Selly Oak, Birmingham
For those that are eagerly awaiting the latest update (anyone? ANYONE????), just come back from our holiday, and the little lad managed it.
We have been talking all year about his latest challenge. After the metric century last year, there really has been only one place to go, and with his new bike being even easier to ride, and the average speeds creeping up to something sensible for such a distance, the idea became a target, and the target became a plan.
He had 4 x 100km rides already under his belt this year. One just a whisker short (<1 mile) ride for cake, one Audax (Warwickshire Wanderer) and two 100k rides back-to-back as he joined older members of his club in a ride to Ilam Hall in Derbyshire and back again. These had really boosted his confidence, as he saw how well he could climb hills compared to some reasonably keen adults, and how much easier it was to ride in a larger group, with more people to distract you from the distance and time.
Holiday location was Somerset, chosen on a basis of distance from home (not too far due to Mum's health), and also the Somerset flats, offering some quiet and hill-less cycling, but with the Mendips and Chilterns offering some more interesting lumpy stuff on their edges. First ride of the holiday was 50 miles (warm up and to get me into the holiday spirit), then a 75 mile ride including a brutal couple of hills in the Quantocks (which BrumMatt managed better than I did), and then a trip to the edge of the solar system and back again (more about that later). And then the big one.
(More to follow. Time for Church)
We have been talking all year about his latest challenge. After the metric century last year, there really has been only one place to go, and with his new bike being even easier to ride, and the average speeds creeping up to something sensible for such a distance, the idea became a target, and the target became a plan.
He had 4 x 100km rides already under his belt this year. One just a whisker short (<1 mile) ride for cake, one Audax (Warwickshire Wanderer) and two 100k rides back-to-back as he joined older members of his club in a ride to Ilam Hall in Derbyshire and back again. These had really boosted his confidence, as he saw how well he could climb hills compared to some reasonably keen adults, and how much easier it was to ride in a larger group, with more people to distract you from the distance and time.
Holiday location was Somerset, chosen on a basis of distance from home (not too far due to Mum's health), and also the Somerset flats, offering some quiet and hill-less cycling, but with the Mendips and Chilterns offering some more interesting lumpy stuff on their edges. First ride of the holiday was 50 miles (warm up and to get me into the holiday spirit), then a 75 mile ride including a brutal couple of hills in the Quantocks (which BrumMatt managed better than I did), and then a trip to the edge of the solar system and back again (more about that later). And then the big one.
(More to follow. Time for Church)