Ride London Surrey was a bugger for a big bear like me. Over 4,000 ft of climbing through the Surrey Hills with two major, one medium and two traps to contend with, especially Wimbledon Hill on the 90 mile mark.
I don’t like hills. Some masochists go out every weekend just to do hills, the steeper, the better. Me? Hills are things that get in the way. If my route means there’s hill there then fine I'll go up it. I’ll curse, I'll swear, I may even get above 10mph, but climb it I will…reluctantly.
For me, the open road. The cruise, the air in the face (not too much mind, bloody wind), as you pedal away at a speed comfortable to you as you enjoy the world around you.
So I was curious about the new Ride London. Ride London Essex. What would it be like? Kent and Surrey have hills, as do Herts, Berks and Bucks, but Essex? I had no idea.
As rumours of the route started appearing, I was pleased to hear that there shouldn’t be too much climbing and that it should be a fairly fast route…and then the route came out.
We start out on Victoria Embankment, head into the East End then up to Epping Forest, around Ongar and Chelmsford then back into London...
Hallubloodylulah
I know, you weirdos seeking out those hurtful; climbs but according to the data, we are only climbing 3,642 ft with a. Max gradient of 4.6%.
Hopefully this can translate to a fast speed. The roads are apparently quite wide, so hopefully no bottle necks and, as I said, I can slip into a nice speed.
But...
But, it is 100 miles. I haven’t ridden 100 miles in two years. Hell, until a couple of weeks ago, I hadn’t ridden fifty for a number of months.
So this is the challenge. One month to get myself to a place that last Ride London, I had six months to get to.
Gonna be fun.
Training Ride: 4
Distance: 50.59 miles
Elevation: 420ft
Average speed: 16.9mph
Time on bike: 2h 59m
Total distance: 246.39 miles
Time on bike: 16h 12
Days to go: 30
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