Here is today's ride. Strava has it down as 84 miles at an average of 14.4mph, with just under 5000 feet of climbing. You can see from the string of PRs between 26 and 36 miles that I got a bit carried away on my home turf, pulling the group along at 20mph or thereabouts, and then paid for it in the hills later on. I was feeling the strain almost as soon as we left Manchester, and once we hit the actual hills I was no use. By the time we get to the last climb - a cat 3 up Higger Tor near Hathersage - my right hamstring cramped and tried to strangle my femur and for a minute or so I wanted to die, but I slogged on and made it up at a whopping 6mph. It was murder. The weather was overall better than expected. The forecast last week had been for thunderstorms and heavy rain (I typed "two plop rain" first time out, which is what it gets called in our house, after the BBC weather forecast picture, but I realised you'd all think I was mental
), and by this morning it had been downgraded to heavy showers, and in practise we made it through with just three serious bits of rain, though one was a thouroughly dispiriting hailstorm, and the other hit as we were climbing Mam Tor which was pretty grim. We were split up into 4 groups (there were over 30 people riding overall, so we had to split everyone up really) so it's quite possible that one of the other groups might have had a totally different experience if they managed to stay under the clouds the whole way.
There was loooooads of food at the rest stops. This was a work event, and a couple of ladies from the Manchester office drove with a car boot full of cakes and the like to meet us at a couple of points en route, and to provide a load of food for lunch at the Manchester office. We'd all been given a High 5 nutrition pack as well, so I've bought back loads of gels and energy drink mix with me as well, so that's helped to restock my food tin.
There's 4 guys who are riding round the whole country this month. They're already over 1200 miles in, and I think the total will be about 2400 for the whole month. They've had some very long days - I think the longest was about 135 miles - and they've ridden pretty much every day this month. Yesterday they did a leg in Northern Ireland and then got the ferry from Dublin to Liverpool, arriving at 6am this morning to get things set up and ready to get out on the road again by half nine. They're absolute machines. One guy paced me back to the group for about 6 miles after I dropped off on Mam Tor, and then lost the group again on the descent down Winnatts Pass. I was just useless by that point.
Massive credit is due to 4 girls from our office who decided to challenge themselves and take part - this being a charity event - in spite of having next to no recent cycling experience, some of them not even owning bikes until a couple of months ago. Having set off from Liverpool at half nine this morning they eventually made it to Sheffield at 10pm!! I think they were rather below the expected standard of ability, as while each of the 4 groups we rode in had one of the "national" riders in it, they were eventually ruthlessly dropped by their national rider and most of the rest of their group who pressed ahead without them. There was a coach laid on to get people back to Manchester after the event (though I took the train, as I wanted to get home this side of midnight) but that was leaving Sheffield at half eight, so they missed that. They'd rather anticipated that, though, as one of their husbands was driving a van as a support vehicle just for them, so they had a way back! Huge achievement for them, all things considered.
My bike performed well, though I could have done with a lower gear for those hills! I'm vaguely planning that my next bike will be a carbon affair with SRAM on it and I'll be sorely tempted by the WiFli kit with a 32t on there, as even with a 28t it was hard work. It was comfy enough, and I must have been doing something right because I didn't get the lower back pain I sometimes get. The saddle got a bit uncomfy, particularly as I had a wet bum for much of the ride, but I imagine most any saddle gets a bit nasty over the course of 84 miles. My Pro 4 SC tyres ferried me safely, even with 2000 miles in them, and I didn't get any punctures. No one in our group did in fact, though one guy did have a rear derailleur related mechanical near Marple and ended up having to get the train to Sheffield where he went to Evans Cycles and got it replaced and then rejoined us as we did battle with inner city Sheffield! No one came off or had any run ins with the traffic, though some stupid woman who was sat in a queue of traffic heading the other way did feel the need to advise us that we should be in single file, though God alone knows why or what that had to do with her.
So, there we go. Biggest ride in nearly two years, and pretty hard work. I tell you, I'm having second thoughts about the OCUK North ride given how hard 84 miles with a wedge of hills was on this occasion...
(I've mentioned before my RHR is very low, low 30's, so think my range just might be a bit lower than the norm).
