GordonB
Guru
- Location
- Somewhere just north of Ipswich
Glorious day yesterday on the pigs rump that is East Anglia (if you don't know what I'm talking about, take a look at the outline of the UK....), just the weather for the Suffolk Sunrise 100 ride. Rezillo and I have been booked into this one for months now, as it's our local patch, but unfortunately old blingy bike fell ill with flu a couple of months ago, a nasty strain that really hit hard. Fortunately his basic fitness is so good he got back to almost his usual form just in time, assisted by the gently built up training we've done over the last 4 weeks or so.
John has done this ride before but it was my first time, although I did the LtoB six times in my youth (I did the second one ever and five more until it got too big to be pleasant) the furthest I've cycled in a day was 75 miles a couple of weekends back. Still, that one went well but I had an attack of hot foot after 60 miles so I changed the pedals to Look deltas in the hope that they would give better spread of the pressure. The event itself was great fun despite the lack of timing chips at the start caused by the suppliers failing to get them to the start in time (all the volunteers turned up on time and delivered the goods on the day, pity the only paid people failed to perform!). All the food and drink stops were very well supplied and operated and lunch at Peasenhall was stonking, stacks of grub, very tasty, as good as you'd get at many restaurants. My choice of steed drew an number of admirers, very few steel bikes on the course and mine was definitely the only fluted tubing vintage Olmo! I'll take the Mecacycle next time, that'll puzzle more than a few of the younger crowd.
The pedal change worked nicely, no probs with the feet and only one puncture on John's Orbea made it a mechanically uneventful day. It was only in the last 15 miles or so that we both started to feel the strain, by then my legs were certainly making their presence felt especially in the last 5 undulating miles - Suffolk is NOT flat! - but the finish was a joy with our families waiting at the line to cheer us in.
John has now done an analysis of the ride as he had a ContourGPS camera on the front and it turns out we averaged almost exactly 18mph over the first 60 miles - not bad for a couple of 57 year old former fat blokes! Looking around at the other riders during the day I had a dawning realisation that neither of us is a sprightly young thing any more, we were amongst the oldest on the ride and most of participants could have been our children. Never mind, if we can manage this sort of ride and have so much fun for few years more I'll be happy. Just waiting for the Tour Ride in July!
Gordon
John has done this ride before but it was my first time, although I did the LtoB six times in my youth (I did the second one ever and five more until it got too big to be pleasant) the furthest I've cycled in a day was 75 miles a couple of weekends back. Still, that one went well but I had an attack of hot foot after 60 miles so I changed the pedals to Look deltas in the hope that they would give better spread of the pressure. The event itself was great fun despite the lack of timing chips at the start caused by the suppliers failing to get them to the start in time (all the volunteers turned up on time and delivered the goods on the day, pity the only paid people failed to perform!). All the food and drink stops were very well supplied and operated and lunch at Peasenhall was stonking, stacks of grub, very tasty, as good as you'd get at many restaurants. My choice of steed drew an number of admirers, very few steel bikes on the course and mine was definitely the only fluted tubing vintage Olmo! I'll take the Mecacycle next time, that'll puzzle more than a few of the younger crowd.
The pedal change worked nicely, no probs with the feet and only one puncture on John's Orbea made it a mechanically uneventful day. It was only in the last 15 miles or so that we both started to feel the strain, by then my legs were certainly making their presence felt especially in the last 5 undulating miles - Suffolk is NOT flat! - but the finish was a joy with our families waiting at the line to cheer us in.
John has now done an analysis of the ride as he had a ContourGPS camera on the front and it turns out we averaged almost exactly 18mph over the first 60 miles - not bad for a couple of 57 year old former fat blokes! Looking around at the other riders during the day I had a dawning realisation that neither of us is a sprightly young thing any more, we were amongst the oldest on the ride and most of participants could have been our children. Never mind, if we can manage this sort of ride and have so much fun for few years more I'll be happy. Just waiting for the Tour Ride in July!
Gordon
