My first long distance training ride

It was always in the pipeline that I was going to have to get out on the bike and ride further than my previous furthest distance. The London 2 Paris is 4 days, all of which are above 55 miles per day one of which is 95 miles. I have a sportive in April, the Lakeland Loop, which is 100 km ... So my previous best distance of just 33 miles wasn't going to cut it. Bearing in mind that this 33 miles was done in and about the town centre and surrounding areas with a grand total of 2 climbs, one of which could be done in my tightest gear and out of the saddle ... Not exactly a true representation of my ability as a cyclist and therefore much must be done to get me to where I need to be to complete said goals.

Saturday 5th February was the day I should ride my bloody socks off to see just where I fit in the grand scheme of things, riding with a couple of lads who are doing the coast to coast in a single day I knew my work was going to be cut out. I let them deal with all the route planning and times and I basically turned up and tried my hardest not to slow them down anywhere, a feat in which I would say I achieved 90% of the time in my opinion, maybe the lads would disagree with this ? Ha ha.

The lads in question if you are interested where Adam Brookes and James Guttridge, both of which can be found on Twitter if you wish to follow their progress with their fundraising for the Neonatal Unit at North Tees Hospital or any of their rides ... Just follow @Ad_brookes and @Jamesg747.

Anyway ... My bag was packed with everything I thought I was going to need the night before, my energy drinks where mixed and in the fridge, my bike was clean, my Camelbak was filled and adjusted for the ride ahead and also in the fridge cooling for the off. I had 4 inner-tubes packed, a miniature tool shop, 3 carb filled flapjacks, 4 energy gels, money and spare glasses. I was certainly prepared for whatever could be thrown at me.

8 o'clock was my go time and my destination was Mr Brookes flat to start the ride, away we go ... 100 meters into the ride it becomes apparent that my Cateye computer wasn't picking up my speed but only my cadence, great ... It was too late to do anything about it now. I couldn't be late on my first ride with the lads. I was out to impress today. So I arrived at the flat ... Waited, waited some more ... Kept on waiting ... Still no show, panic was starting to set in, had I got the day wrong, the time wrong ? I checked my texts, nope ... I was definitely right. I know ... I will send a quick text. I got a reply, result, it was on. 

Pre ride nerves, ha ha ... What nerves ... Bring on the hills.

So away we went, the route taking us through and out of the town via the A689, still with no speed reading I might add, it was going to be a long day, I could sense it. 

Conversation was flowing and the question was asked as to what I had in my bag, so I listed it all off ... I felt VERY over prepared considering Adam just had a few things in his pocket and 2 drinks on the bike. Had I over estimated the scale of this ride ? 

We arrive at Wolviston Cricket Club where we scheduled to meet Mr Guttridge ... He wasn't there, apparently running late just as we where. No problem, we will just wait ... The conversation turned to other events we had ridden in and how far we had rode and then punctures, the bane of my life ... Adam was talking about the puncture problems that James had previously encountered on other rides and I started to think I wasn't the only one. Adams phone rings ... 

Guess who has a puncture, ha ha. James is about a mile down the road and he has a puncture already. It now becomes apparent that I am not over equipped but I am keeping this show on the road, ha ha ... James was in the same boat as Adam, no puncture repair kit, no pump, no spare inner-tube ... I have all 3. We opt for the quick fix, new tube, pump it up, lets get rolling. We did just that ... 4 or 5 minutes later we where off. This convoy is moving.

I wasn't sure what to expect because all of these roads are new to me, and still remembering that my previous furthest distance was 33 miles this could be a killer of a day. The pace seemed good, Adam was giving me plenty of pointers about drafting and staying on the wheel of the rider in front and how to change my speed in this position without using my brakes. A lot of this ride was about trusting the riders your with and considering I didn't know either of them properly until about an hour before, I already felt pretty comfortable in the saddle and relying on the pair of them to keep me out of the pot holes and not under some car wheels. 

Again like I said the pace was good, I was having no bother keeping up until coming out of Wynyard when I spied a bit of a downhill section, I nailed it, crunched through the gears, I was out of the saddle and enjoying the speed, I wondered why the other two hadn't followed, I turned the corner and it became instantly apparent, a nice little climb, momentum didn't carry me up it, I was at the wrong speed in the wrong gear and now burning my legs out, lactic acid was building up and Adam and James had no bother overtaking a very red faced me. I hit the summit and quickly got in the right gear and had to spin it out to decrease the lactic build up, recovered and quickly caught up with the lads, apologised about being quite naive and then got on with it. Next time I would be far more reserved about when I speed up and leave the group, ha ha.

A couple of wrong turns later we where on course and everything was flowing nicely, I was most definitely warmed up, I even rode my part at the front of the group to do some of the spinning. The hills where rolling so there wasn't too much going on in terms of effort, it was just keeping the pace up, keeping my cadence high and enjoying the views and the perfect roads, well ... Nearly perfect ... They where a lot better than Hartlepool roads.

I was trying to keep myself right with the amount of fluids I was taking on whether it was just water or the pre prepared energy drinks I had in my Team Gazzetta cycling bidons ... BUT there was a mental seed planted in my head by Adam that played havoc with my body and drive ... Unbeknown to me we had just about encroached on a distance of 30 miles and Adam had told me we would be stopping in Hurworth for a drink and a bit of a break ... He said it was about 5 miles away ... Hurworth came and went, Hurworth place came and went and bearing in mind that Hurworth and Hurworth place are both very long climbs, not exactly climbs that toil on the legs, but the type of climbs that when your expecting to stop, every pub you pass just makes you want to cry ... Well its hard work and needless to say that I wasn't on the wheel of either of the lads right now. So the next sign I saw was Croft and thank God it looked like we where stopping.

We where stopping ! 

A cheeky little Best Western, Raffles Restaurant at The Croft Hotel ... BIG SMILES from me ! We got sat at the bar, a couple of coffees for the boys and I was tucking into 2 flapjacks loaded with carbs and energy, plus 1 energy gel also loaded with carbs. Plenty of water to wash them down to keep my hydration levels up because according to my little Camelbak monitor I wasn't drinking enough. My toes where numb as I expected them to be, this wasn't because of the cold because to be fair it was quite mild but because of my shoes / cleats / pedals ... This was only my 4th ride on them and I am still adjusting the tension in them to get them right.

We had rode 35 miles ... So part one of the ride was already the furthest I have ever ridden, how would I cope with the ride home ? 

About 20/30 minutes later and we where ready for the off again ... Stepped outside and it seemed about 20 degrees lower than it was before we went inside ... I had started tightening up, my toes where still numb ... To be honest I wasn't looking forward to the return trip home ... Not one bit ! 

We set off and it was tough, the first mile, mile and a half killed me ... I was stiff, I was cold, I was hurting and I desperately needed to hit the pace again to stay with the lads. Finally it came to me and I hit my rhythm again, things seemed good, I was back on pace, I was on the wheel and the sun came out, good times ! Drafting started again, I did my stints at the front as much as I could ... It wasn't as much as the other lads because it was now that I realised I didn't know where I was, I didn't know where I was going and more importantly I was now having to push every single mile out of my body that I could.

Everything seemed to roll nicely, the speed was nice, the pace was good, my cadence was steady  in the rolling hills and then we hit Yarm ... The traffic was awful, drivers turned into frigging maniacs, pulling in front of people, horns beeping, fists getting shook, looks being thrown, and to be honest, rightly so ... What a bunch of Muppet's, we couldn't get out of the place quick enough in my opinion, the only problem was the 4.3% incline we had to climb to get out of there ... At the peak all I could do was laugh and feel like crying, what a slog.

So its plain sailing again, Adam and James inform me that there is really only one climb left to endure but its a killer and then its relatively flat and rolling until home ... That gives me a huge mental boost, its amazing just how far a little comment can effect the way you ride, like the Hurworth comment earlier on in the day and now this little remark that just made me feel a million times better. So we kept on riding and then things started to look familiar and I knew the climb was coming up because I remember coming down it earlier on in the day ... We turned a corner and bam, there it was, right in-front of me ... A 5.0% incline to Wynyard Hall ... Adam, was flying, he was after the king of the mountain jersey and he took it with what appeared to be a relative ease. James held back and basically pushed me up that bank, he stayed on my back wheel and encouraged me all the way up. I don't know if this was because it was the last big climb or because Mr Guttridge was encouraging me or what but that last climb seemed almost too easy. Result.

That seemed to be it ... The rest was just plain sailing apart from the fact that I had 55 miles already under my belt so everything was hurting now, my arse, my wrists, my neck, my shoulders, my legs, my feet and my toes ... I was definitely ready for my bed. It was getting to the time where James took his way home a different way to myself and Adam ... We departed ways and I was informed later that James encountered another puncture but this time I wasn't around to lend him an inner tube or any equipment so it was a walk home for the big fella with socks and shoes in hand. Unlucky to say the least. 

Myself and Adam where still steaming having ran the risk of crossing the carriageway at the Wolviston roundabout ... We hit the A689 and still riding 2 a breast rolled into town. All drivers where very accommodating of the two of us side by side along the carriageway apart from one wanker who took the time to beep his horn, wind down the window and then shout some abuse ... All I can say is, I hope he fucking breaks down and gets stuck in the middle of nowhere in the pissing down rain ... I would like to say that he suffered a worse outcome but I am not that nasty. Anyway, onward we rolled and we went our separate ways and I was homeward bound to my nice warm house and my lovely full bath and more importantly my lovely soft bed.

Please note that from 35 mile onwards the above image data has been manually plotted because my trusty old iPhone, which I feel the need to point out is completely buggered let me down, the battery died so I had to copy the route from Adam's log and therefore I couldn't put an accurate pace on it, only an average as you can see in the elevation profile, from about halfway onwards it just seemed like we rode pretty much the same pace, obviously that wasn't the case. Roll on next month so I can buy my Garmin Edge 800, no more issues, just trusty data I can rely on.

So that was my day ... No drama, just good times in the saddle. Thoroughly enjoyed it and I sit here typing this the day after the ride and I am pleased to report that I feel good, I am in fine condition and I could have gladly rode it all over again today should I have been required to do so ... Bring on London 2 Paris in June ... I'm going to make you my bitch ! For anyone who is reading this that may be riding the L2P and thinking its going to be a doddle, let me tell you that riding these kinds of distances in a single day and then 4 days back to back, is no easy task so I will suggest you train, train and then train some more. You can never be prepared enough for a distance like this. 

Big thanks again to the boys for inviting me, hopefully I am good enough to be invited again ... The first of many ? Watch this space.