Maintaining a rolling speed

[livpoksoc]

Cheers again for all controbutions. I'll come crying back if I'm still panicking next weekend!

 

[stu9000]

My time was a sloooow 8h 40 last year but I did the full 100m. The fabled broom wagon never appeared but must have been close behind. There were plenty of people behind me and I'm guessing some of them were encouraged/made to take the short cuts. In think I was possibly a bit too cautious as I was fairly fresh at the end, but it is hard to judge the line between feeling OK and totally bonked is. I also spent too much time faffing at water stops waiting for friends etc. We stopped at most of them and that must have eaten time.

But I did it.
Many on this forum would find my time pretty poor. Boris Johnson beat me!!! But a year before the event I would not have believed it was possible and I am very proud of myself.

To be honest it is quite a flat route. I looked at the Jurassic Classic and changed my mind pretty quick.
I tried to pace myself until Newlands, Box Hill and Leith Hill. After that it was pretty flat (ish). My average speed on the day was a fair bit higher than in training. I stayed hydrated, kept eating bananas, dates, jelly babies etc and just kept going.

With about a month of training time left I'd be just clocking the miles, working out what food works for you and making sure your bike set up works. Last year I was doing about three 20ish mile runs a week at this point with the odd longer ride if time allowed. I did my first 50 mile ride about 3 weeks before the event.

 

[livpoksoc]

My time was a sloooow 8h 40 last year but I did the full 100m. The fabled broom wagon never appeared but must have been close behind. There were plenty of people behind me and I'm guessing some of them were encouraged/made to take the short cuts. In think I was possibly a bit too cautious as I was fairly fresh at the end, but it is hard to judge the line between feeling OK and totally bonked is. I also spent too much time faffing at water stops waiting for friends etc. We stopped at most of them and that must have eaten time.

But I did it.
Many on this forum would find my time pretty poor. Boris Johnson beat me!!! But a year before the event I would not have believed it was possible and I am very proud of myself.

To be honest it is quite a flat route. I looked at the Jurassic Classic and changed my mind pretty quick.
I tried to pace myself until Newlands, Box Hill and Leith Hill. After that it was pretty flat (ish). My average speed on the day was a fair bit higher than in training. I stayed hydrated, kept eating bananas, dates, jelly babies etc and just kept going.

With about a month of training time left I'd be just clocking the miles, working out what food works for you and making sure your bike set up works. Last year I was doing about three 20ish mile runs a week at this point with the odd longer ride if time allowed. I did my first 50 mile ride about 3 weeks before the event.

Ok thanks! What were the facilities like for breaks etc. (i.e. Roughly how many were available, rough dist between them & what was on offer in terms of refreshment?).

 

[format]

Remember if you're group riding you can keep an average speed up with a lot less effort!

 

[Big Nick]

I tend to average around 14-15mph and work from that when going up and down hills e.g. if I go up at 6-7mph I need to come down the descent at 21-22mph to maintain my average during that hill.

Your route is pretty hilly though, I've ridden twice as far and not had quite as much climbing as that

 

[jefmcg]

Ok thanks! What were the facilities like for breaks etc. (i.e. Roughly how many were available, rough dist between them & what was on offer in terms of refreshment?).

Probably you should ask this over here .... http://www.cyclechat.net/threads/ridelondon-surrey-100-2014-anyone.137105

 

[DaveReading]

I tend to average around 14-15mph and work from that when going up and down hills e.g. if I go up at 6-7mph I need to come down the descent at 21-22mph to maintain my average during that hill.

That would be a neat trick.

 

[vickster]

Might be tougher with thousands of people in the way

 

[w00hoo_kent]

Might be tougher with thousands of people in the way

Get an Airzound. :-)

I think that would probably qualify you as biggest kerb in London on that day though!

 

[vickster]

Would you really want to be doing 22mph down a hill with lots of cyclists inexperienced in group riding in the way! I think when I start training for 2015, some of my prep will need to be in a group! I'm not too good at just hanging off @jefmcg wheel!

 

[uclown2002]

I tend to average around 14-15mph and work from that when going up and down hills e.g. if I go up at 6-7mph I need to come down the descent at 21-22mph to maintain my average during that hill.

That's not actually true though.

For example picture a hill that is 7 miles long, and you go at up at 7mph then down at 21mph. It will take you 1 hr to get up and 20 mins to get down, so 1:20hr total for 14 miles so that is 10.5 mph if I've got my sums right.

 

[vickster]

I don't think ride 100 has 7 mile hills, I think box hill is 1.6 miles, I did it recently at around 6.8 mph in 13m36 (could probably have gone faster but as a first timer I didn't know what to expect and it was a hot day). Wimbledon hill is a bitch but not too long, 0.4 miles. My best time is a stunning 8.4mph! Not after 90 miles though! Will help not getting caught at the lights at the bottom as invariably happens to me :/

 

[byegad]

18st will always take more work to get up a hill than say10st. That said, over a hilly ride I'd be well chuffed to average over 10mph!

 

[livpoksoc]

Thanks again for the continued input. I've got a northbound route to Reading planned for this weekend. It looks a lot flatter, so if I can get that at a decent pace, I'll be a bit more relaxed.

 

[screenman]

You could lose a stone+ in the time you have left, that would give you the most benefits.