Mapster1989
Senior Member
- Location
- Sheffield, England
Check out the ride on Strava here.
Living in Sheffield, the vast majority of my rides include going up, down, up, down etc. so last monday I decided to take a ride out on flatter land so I thought, why not head to the coast. Now in terms of mileage the furthest I've rode prior to last week was a measly 45 miles. Sheffield to Cleethorpes is a total of 75 miles. *gulp*
I was excited at the prospect of riding to the coast and had already booked my ticket for the train ride home as 150 miles just wasn't going to happen. The 75 miles would be hard enough. I woke up, ingested 4 slices of toast and I was on my way just after 7.30am.
Now the weather was poor to say the least. Dull, cloudy and light drizzle in the air.
I headed up Meadowhead, which probably was the biggest climb of the entire ride, before making my way out to Swallownest and out of Sheffield. I'd downloaded the route onto my Garmin 500 and it was the first time that I'd used it for navigation and on the whole it was brilliant. That was until I reached Todwick Road, or should I say got diverted away from Todwick Road due to roadworks. Now being the 500 it doesn't have the Sat Nav capabilities of the 800 so I was a little stuck. Luckily it was well signposted and I managed to find the route and I was back on my way again.
By this time I was around 18 miles into the ride and I was feeling good despite being wet through to the bone but my heart rate was up and I managed to go past the feeling of being cold. I was heading into Blyth when I saw another cyclist in the distance. Now if you're like me this spurs you on and I managed to increase my speed on the flat by around 4-5mph in order to catch him... which I did with ease. Sat on the guy's wheel I was able to preserve my energy before pulling along side and having a nice chat, which relieved the boredom which was beginning to set in.
I had already pre-determined a stop on the route which would come at the half-way stage at Gainsborough. Looking for a Café to pick up some breakfast I stumbled across McDonalds so nipped inside for a bite to eat and refuel. The food part was good, the stopping, becoming cold and shivering wasn't but I jumped back on my bike and within half-an-hour I was back on my way.
Now the route into Cleethorpes seemed to go a lot quicker than the first half. The route wasn't particularly interesting as it took me along busy A-roads but I was able to keep my speed up and increase my average which was good.
I flew through Waddingham, Caistor and Laceby before, once again, catching up with two fellow riders who duly accepted my request to sit on their wheels for the final 5 miles into Cleethorpes.
I'd made it. My longest ever ride to date taking me 5hr 45m in total.
I ended up on the promenade and truth be told, it was a little anti-climax. I was there, but there was no fanfare, no-one to meet me, no nothing. I was just there by myself but I'd done it and more importantly I was in one piece.
I've certainly got the bug now and this has given me the enthusiasm to go out and complete a 100 mile ride before I take on the London to Paris later on this year.
Living in Sheffield, the vast majority of my rides include going up, down, up, down etc. so last monday I decided to take a ride out on flatter land so I thought, why not head to the coast. Now in terms of mileage the furthest I've rode prior to last week was a measly 45 miles. Sheffield to Cleethorpes is a total of 75 miles. *gulp*
I was excited at the prospect of riding to the coast and had already booked my ticket for the train ride home as 150 miles just wasn't going to happen. The 75 miles would be hard enough. I woke up, ingested 4 slices of toast and I was on my way just after 7.30am.
Now the weather was poor to say the least. Dull, cloudy and light drizzle in the air.
I headed up Meadowhead, which probably was the biggest climb of the entire ride, before making my way out to Swallownest and out of Sheffield. I'd downloaded the route onto my Garmin 500 and it was the first time that I'd used it for navigation and on the whole it was brilliant. That was until I reached Todwick Road, or should I say got diverted away from Todwick Road due to roadworks. Now being the 500 it doesn't have the Sat Nav capabilities of the 800 so I was a little stuck. Luckily it was well signposted and I managed to find the route and I was back on my way again.
By this time I was around 18 miles into the ride and I was feeling good despite being wet through to the bone but my heart rate was up and I managed to go past the feeling of being cold. I was heading into Blyth when I saw another cyclist in the distance. Now if you're like me this spurs you on and I managed to increase my speed on the flat by around 4-5mph in order to catch him... which I did with ease. Sat on the guy's wheel I was able to preserve my energy before pulling along side and having a nice chat, which relieved the boredom which was beginning to set in.
I had already pre-determined a stop on the route which would come at the half-way stage at Gainsborough. Looking for a Café to pick up some breakfast I stumbled across McDonalds so nipped inside for a bite to eat and refuel. The food part was good, the stopping, becoming cold and shivering wasn't but I jumped back on my bike and within half-an-hour I was back on my way.
Now the route into Cleethorpes seemed to go a lot quicker than the first half. The route wasn't particularly interesting as it took me along busy A-roads but I was able to keep my speed up and increase my average which was good.
I flew through Waddingham, Caistor and Laceby before, once again, catching up with two fellow riders who duly accepted my request to sit on their wheels for the final 5 miles into Cleethorpes.
I'd made it. My longest ever ride to date taking me 5hr 45m in total.
I ended up on the promenade and truth be told, it was a little anti-climax. I was there, but there was no fanfare, no-one to meet me, no nothing. I was just there by myself but I'd done it and more importantly I was in one piece.
I've certainly got the bug now and this has given me the enthusiasm to go out and complete a 100 mile ride before I take on the London to Paris later on this year.
Do you reckon its possible to get fit enough from now to summer?
