So the first training rides have come and gone and so have my legs.
It is one thing to ride 28 miles three days a week to work and back again, it’s another to jump on a bike and do 50 miles straight.
Your body kinda wakes up, thinking, I remember this stuff as the old muscles and nerves begin to stretch and contract and the only thing that’s missing are the creaking hinge sound effects.
First up was an into London and out again. One of my usual-ish routes, it goes through Richmond Park, pass the swishing of club and group rides as like lycra-clad rodents they ride around, and around and around…
Over Putney Bridge but unlike my commute, I decided to go through Kings Road and onto Parliament via Victoria. There were a few weekend wheelers abound but I was pleased to note that the legs were getting up to a decent nick after lockdown restricted the commute.- trust me, regular cycling is far more useful to me than simply going out on a 50 miler every weekend - a group of them looked quite surprised as I popped out ahead of them after my detour and their shorter route.
A nice spell up to Tower and then upwards onto Drayton, avoiding a hipster group ride and homicidal London buses. Over my old manors of Stokey and Finsbury then the short climb over to Camden and a surprisingly quiet Regent’s Park. Usually absolutely packed with hamsters, I counted about five as I headed back out towards West London.
There is, imho, a misguided argument that cycle lanes cause traffic jams, not traffic itself. I personally subscribe to the traffic fills space argument having seen jams pre and post Super Cycle highways (let alone the continual traffic jam that is Upper Richmond Road every commute where there's no cycle lane). And one road seemed to prove my point on this ride. Now I don’t normally jump onto three-lane carriageways but as the Western. Avenue/Westway into London was solid, I was the fastest road user down to Acton. Quick hop though Bushy Park and home.
The second training route was again an old favourite. Bushy Park, Heathrow, Windsor but today was the battle of the wind. Now anyone who’s read this blog before knows I generally put up with most things but the thing I hate the most is wind - the devil’s trumpet I say!
Especially a wind that was flipping between North and north East. One minute you had a head on, the next you were leaning into it to keep upright. And where does the BBC get its app descriptions from? A small breeze? Try riding a bike!
So once I turned at the Queen’s gaff, I thought I may get some benefit? No chance. As soon as I hit King Bill’s and the playing fields, I was hit by a wind that blew at me all the way to Runnymede.
Over Staines and pass Chertsey, I headed back via Walton, hoping to at least tack my way home but to no avail.
Still, it is the mileage, and the workout, my poor neglected body needed...I think...
Training ride:1
Distance: 49.86 miles
Elevation: 838 ft
Average speed 14.2mph
Time on bike: 3h 30
Training ride: 2
Distance: 39.1 miles
ElevationL 235 ft
Average speed: 16.5mph
Time on bike: 2h 22
Total distance: 88.96 miles
Time on bike: 5h 52
Days to go: 81
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