Essex 100 - First 100 miles

[Dzzi]

So the Action Medical - Essex 100 Ride was yesterday,
Got up at 5.30am !
We were off by 7.25am, went too fast in the first 25 miles (way too excited).
First stop at 25 miles quick flapjack/water refill (Sun finally taking the early morning Chill off)
2nd 25 tried to be a little more sensible and became aware of exactly how slow i am going up hills !
Lunch stop at 50 miles was superb, although i found it hard to eat huge quantities.
50 to the last stop at 75 was hard going hilly, yes in Essex (stop laughing at the back) Wind seemed to get up and it was hard getting going post Lunch.
3rd Stop at 75 miles, some High5 Carb Drink, 4 fondant fancies, 3 cups of sweet tea & Gel sachet (in a pear tree) and we were off again. I was immediately dropped by my younger fitter cycling buddy and spend all but the last 10 miles alone :-(
90-100 Had a Caffeine Gel and managed to hook up to the back of a group of 4-6 going at speed i could live with and finished feeling tired but not destroyed.

Cycling Time 6 hours 34mins
Elapsed Time 8 hours and 8 minutes
http://www.strava.com/activities/79253476
Felt great to achieve something i've been thinking about since i did 100k on a crappy bso in sep 2011
Raised over 200 quid as well so that really put the icing on the personal achievement cake !

Really learned a lot from reading the advice on this site...Thanks All

Dave

 

[EltonFrog]

Nice one, now sign up for the London-Surrey ride 100 for next August.

 

[BSRU]

So the Action Medical - Essex 100 Ride was yesterday,
Got up at 5.30am !
We were off by 7.25am, went too fast in the first 25 miles (way too excited).
First stop at 25 miles quick flapjack/water refill (Sun finally taking the early morning Chill off)
2nd 25 tried to be a little more sensible and became aware of exactly how slow i am going up hills !
Lunch stop at 50 miles was superb, although i found it hard to eat huge quantities.
50 to the last stop at 75 was hard going hilly, yes in Essex (stop laughing at the back) Wind seemed to get up and it was hard getting going post Lunch.
3rd Stop at 75 miles, some High5 Carb Drink, 4 fondant fancies, 3 cups of sweet tea & Gel sachet (in a pear tree) and we were off again. I was immediately dropped by my younger fitter cycling buddy and spend all but the last 10 miles alone :-(
90-100 Had a Caffeine Gel and managed to hook up to the back of a group of 4-6 going at speed i could live with and finished feeling tired but not destroyed.

Cycling Time 6 hours 34mins
Elapsed Time 8 hours and 8 minutes
http://www.strava.com/activities/79253476
Felt great to achieve something i've been thinking about since i did 100k on a crappy bso in sep 2011
Raised over 200 quid as well so that really put the icing on the personal achievement cake !

Really learned a lot from reading the advice on this site...Thanks All

Dave

Well done
I wish my solo 100 miler last week only had 850 metres of going up, unfortunately it was nearer 2,100 metres.
I think doing the first one is the hardest, psychologically, but once done you know you can do it instead of "thinking" you can do it.

 

[chriss2.0]

good one!

 

[Dzzi]

Thanks All

@BSRU, looks like you have a lot of miles under your belt, but i bet that was brutal ! I'd really need to drop some weight and toughen up to get through that, great work !
I agree re the psychology, that nagging doubt that maybe despite the miles you've done that you just won't make the first one, there is an Essex Roads event on the 22nd that im trying to talk myself into/out off as we speak !

 

[BSRU]

Thanks All

@BSRU, looks like you have a lot of miles under your belt, but i bet that was brutal ! I'd really need to drop some weight and toughen up to get through that, great work !
I agree re the psychology, that nagging doubt that maybe despite the miles you've done that you just won't make the first one, there is an Essex Roads event on the 22nd that im trying to talk myself into/out off as we speak !

Actually not too bad apart from one short hill after 100km, 1km long and average gradient of 10.4% it hurt.
I do lots of commuting miles averaging(in the summer) 40 miles every work day but my previous longest was just 65 miles.
Now after completing my first and feeling pretty good I'd be quite happy to do more 100 mile rides, just getting the time is the main problem.

 

[mattobrien]

Well done on completing the ride.

I did the Essex 100 too, set off at around 7:15, so a touch ahead of you.

Went far to fast for the first fifty miles and then found myself alone after the lunch stop. Miles 50-78 were particularly tough, up hill and a head wind.

Hooked up with another rider for the last fifteen miles, which really helped to share the burden.

Managed to complete it in 5:49, with a moving time of 5:22.

http://www.strava.com/activities/79172715

Next time I'll try to make sure I have a friend to ride for the whole way.

 

[paul04]

A great achievement, well done

 

[Pat "5mph"]

Well done! Now for the next one

 

[Dzzi]

@mattobrien we just missed the cut for your group i think !, not that i would have been able to keep up, great time.
Glad you thought 50-78/80 was tough, I think in retrospect i may have spend too long at the lunch stop it seems to take me a long time 8-10 miles to get going again... I think if/when i do another i might be better/quicker with a stop at 30 then 70.
It was a good event, maybe that last stop should have been after the 78 mile point i really struggled 75 to 80 after the last stop.

Thanks @Pat "5mph" and @paul04 appreciate the messages

 

[mattobrien]

@Dzzi I tried to keep the stops to a minimum really, it worked out at just under half an hour for the combined three stops.

The first stop was a quick flapjack, refill of the bottle and grabbing a banana for later fuel.

Lunch was a little longer, a plate with some food, but not too much or anything too hard to digest.

The third stop mainly consisted of me standing over the millionaire shortbread and eating as many as I could before setting off again. I only sat down at the lunch stop as I know it's harder to get the legs going again once they are rested.

The chap I met for the last 15 miles was great. Despite me trying to make sure I did my time in the wind, he did at least two thirds of it and that really helped.

In an ideal situation, it would be good to be in a group of at least four riders, that way you get plenty of time out of the wind and also company. Having nothing else to focus on other than how hard going it is, really does make it hard going.

Someone has created a segment for the first half of the ride and it confirms my conclusion that I was going too fast - I am currently 8th on the leader board averaging 19.4mph and that included the four minutes I stopped at the first feed stop. To say the 50-78 miles were hard was an understatement. http://www.strava.com/segments/5348283

Anyway, all good learning. I have god a hilly hundred this Saturday in Hampshire, so it was very useful to get some tough miles in the legs in advance - this one is 5,500 feet of ascent over the 100 miles, which coming from Suffolk is unimaginable

 

[Dzzi]

@mattobrien i used a Garmin 200 to track my route and uploaded it to Strava and while i have some of the same Strava segments as you i don't have the First Half segment, don't really understand why that is anyone know ? ...oh and good luck for Saturday.

 

[The Central Scrutinizer]

Well done

That's my aim for next year.

I have done a 100km(looks better than 60 miles) this year and a quite a few 50 milers but would like to step it up to a 100.

Not getting any younger at 60 but still have plenty of grit