Ride London-Surrey 100

Warning: This is likely to be an exceptionally long blog post.  100 miles is a long way to drive, let alone cycle, so beware.  You have been warned.

Where to start.  This race was filled with a lot of apprehension.  After gaining a ballot place in February, I naively thought the only thing between then and me riding 100 miles was some training on the bike, which I've been doing.  But as the event drew near, various emails suggested this would become expensive and be quite a logistical nightmare.

1) your arrival time at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park an hour before your start time - mine was 7:22
2) No parking at the olympic park
3) No trains running from Colchester to Stratford that early that morning, and even if there were, you wouldn't be allowed to take your bikes on them that day
4) The finish is different to the start, so getting back to your car was a hassle.
5) The email about a bike courier service costing £50 to get your bike back home
6) No idea about whether after cycling 100 miles, that ridiculous expenditure would seem like a good idea.

So, in the week leading up to this event, my mind was really not in a good place, together with the fact I hadn't trained properly. My longest long ride should have been 75 miles but I only made it to 57 5 weeks before, and I hadn't actually cycled (other than to get to the doctor's) since then.  I was scared the ride would cause me injury that would affect my running since I was so undertrained as well.

But, when the expo opened on Thursday, and I got there on Thursday morning to the jolly expo workers, I was inspired by their enthusiasm for the event.  I picked up mine and David's race numbers, a few t-shirts, a jacket, and some medal display hangers.  Stopped off to have an erdinger alcohol free beer, and then went to the SiS stand to stock up on energy gels, but unfortunately it was so busy, I couldn't get in, and I had to go back to work.

We spent most of Saturday getting things together for the ride, and putting the bike rack on the car, then bed at 9:30pm, as we had to wake up at 4am.  When the alarm went off, I surprisingly felt ok, and like I'd had a decent amount of sleep, but you don't expect to be waking up before sunrise on the 4th August.  I got up and got to my usual pre race schedule of tea + beeple + oats, and then bathroom... Only it was far too early for that effective and essential pre-race bathroom activity.

We were on the road by 5, and really had to have no mishaps to get there in time for my start time of 7:22.  On the way I realised I had forgotten my sunglasses, and then David really needed the toilet, so we stopped at a petrol station, after searching for 5 minutes for it.  We got to our allocated car park, a primary school in the Plaistow area, for the attendant to tell us that one side was full and the other side hadn't been opened up, so we had to park on the road... why did you take my £10 for that then?  So rather than easy parking, we had to look around for a space, which thankfully didn't take too long, and then get ready to cycle to the start.  There were supposed to be signs for this, but I couldn't see any.  We cycled back to the car park to ask the way, and the attendant directed us.  I was a bit concerned that I wasn't seeing lots of other cyclists, but soon we were, so it was ok.  Incidentally, the signs were quite small, and an unnoticeable yellow colour- the same yellow as other traffic signs, so were not that easy to spot.  They should have been bright pink!

David was on the blue start and I was on black, so we couldn't even go to the same start zone.  I was meant to be starting in wave N, but they had long since set off by the time I dropped my bag off.   Now I needed the crucial toilet stop, but got into another wave.  Wave R - here I left my bike on the railing and went to the portaloo.   Felt much better for it, and was also feeling good that I could leave my bike unlocked and not fear it would be stolen.

It was starting to get exciting now, they were playing pumping music, and encouraging people to ring their bells to the song 'You can ring my bell'.  When you started, you didn't actually cross a start line, but had 2 miles to cycle to cross the start line, so I had probably already cycled 7 miles before crossing the start line.

Wow, the start was fun.  Cycling on roads like the A12 with only other bikes as company.  You could cycle really fast without having to brake.  My speed was regularly above 18mph.  When you went under the tunnels, the wind resistance went away and you could go even faster.  I though having lots of other bikes around would be scary, but generally people were behaving road aware, and giving indications if they were moving into anyone's path, as well as pointing out hazards like potholes and drain covers.  What else was really nice?  No exhaust fumes.  Its great to cycle on well maintained roads without having pollution to contend with.  In our training we either went on country roads with little traffic, but they were so poorly maintained that it hurt, or busier roads with a smoother surface, and cars whizzing past you all the time.  In no time we were travelling along The Highway, and I was surprised there were barely any spectators.  Here is the point in the London Marathon where all the charities are cheering and spectators are 6-deep.  I suppose it was early, but seeing all these cyclists through London was surely quite a spectacle.  We had only done around 5 miles at this point rather than 22, so perhaps the spectators were saving themselves for the tough latter stages of the course.

By the time 30 minutes was done, I was already cruising along Picadilly, thinking to myself. this would take me a lot more than 45 minutes if I had tried to travel from Stratford to Green Park by car.  Less by tube as there is a direct link on the Jubilee line, but still, tells you why Boris's obsession with bikes is so good and necessary.  A bit further on, past park lane, and up an incline to go over a bridge, and everyone started sticking their hands in the air, meaning slow down.  I assumed it was a water station, but not seeing any signs thought there may have been a crash.  Eventually got to a point where there was a drain who's grates were aligned parallel to the road.  With thin tired road bikes, you could easily have an accident- the cover they had put over this drain had shifted, so we all cut our speed.

Not long after, we entered Richmond Park.  The hills were like a warm up for Surrey, but I was concerned with saving myself for the Surrey Hills.  At the point of an hour, I had done 18 miles, so was on track for my 50 miles within 3 hours goal.  I was concerned with the 20mph speed limit in the park.  The narrower roads plus barriers meant there were quite a few crashes here, and this is when people were starting to realise they had gone off too hard at the start.  I was feeling fine, but conscious if I fell behind on my nutrition strategy, it would have significant consequences.  I find it pretty hard to eat an energy gel on the ride, so had to find a safe place to stop for it.

I was doing ok for energy, but a bit annoyed that my camelbak is totally useless in warm conditions.  Who wants to drink water that's been warmed by your body heat when you're in the middle of a 100 mile bike ride in 24 degree temperatures?  I barely had any of it, only had it when my bottle was running low, so it was unnecessary extra weight.  But I did keep my inhaler in there, so I guess it wasn't totally useless.  I didn;t stop at the first hub- wish I had, as it was Hampton Court Palace, but I just wanted to get on with it at this stage - get to the halfway point.

The next goal was to get to the next hub.  I was quite happy at passing 30 miles at 1 hour 50, and still on track for my target.  Continued cycling- this section was fairly boring, greenbeltish type roads, not many spectators, though the road surface was fine.  Eventually passed a sign with Surrey Hills.  I planned to stop at the 2nd hub, but saw David pulled up a mile before it having a gel.  Had a chat- he had bonked already, but I wondered why he stopped here, and not 1 mile on- then realised the next bit was an uphill.  Since I hadn't recalled there was a significant hill until after the 2nd hub, I didn't know what he was worried about, so got on with it.  Turns out, it was pretty tough-  I think it was probably Newlands Hill.  Stopped at the hub, and waited ages for David - found out he had got off to walk!  I just wanted to top up with water, but he was going to have a break here.  I took a couple of pictures, and texted fiona - she was already at Box hill, having a 15 minute break.  I tweeted too.

I got out of the hub, and weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
majorly long downhill section, it went on for ever - at times I wasn't too scared to look at my garmin, it was recording 27mph!  Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.
In Physics, what goes up, must come down...
In Cycling Sportives, what goes down, must go excruciatingly up. . .

Leith hill.  OW!  It went on forever, apparently an average of 7% incline, but there were some parts that looked totally vertical.  I started pedalling standing up, but was in too high a gear, and eventually was getting nowhere.  Because of the cleats/clipless pedals I didn't want to risk changing gear whilst standing, nor could I.  I sat back down, unclipped and walked.  Felt like such a failure.  Usually I'm good on the hills, but the road was pretty narrow, and lots were walking, so with the speedy cyclists passing, and me having lost momentum, I thought it best to save myself, plus box hill wouldn't be very far.

Got on again, and weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!  I love my bike!!  Downhill I was passing some super professional looking people with their bikes that cost £1000s of pounds.  Mine is just entry level, but its really pretty!  weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee....

The Surrey Hills really are beautiful, and despite the disappointment of getting off to walk, I think this was my favourite part of the course-  would quite like to go back there for a bike ride and some picnics.  Now, box hill was the famous one, but I was going to cycle for as long as I could.  This time, sensibly getting into a low gear, but not the lowest so that I had somewhere to go.  I stopped at the bottom to have some energy gel and tweet and facebook update (I wonder if I had spent less time on social media my ride may have been a lot faster).  I went for it.  Now, if I'm honest, box hill was a long uphill, but it wasn't all that hard.  The gradient was fairly constant (though apparently also an average 7%), which meant you could just get into a rhythm and go for it.  That said, this didn't protect you from other riders that were adopting a different strategy, using gears that are so high that one revoluton of the pedals will get u further, but use up 10x as much energy in your muscles, causing the bike to sway all over the place.  There were lots of pretty paintings on the road, plus notes to team GB from last year I expect.

At the end of the hill, a lot of riders stopped to take pictures and get more water, but I wanted to push on.  Here is where you see a lot of people were just treating this like a pootling bike ride - they could ride much much faster than me, but were taking regular stops to enjoy it.

I had now traveled beyond my furthest previous bike ride, and felt good.  I pushed on  to the next hub, but I was starting to require water more and more, and my face was salty now.  My garmin bleeped at me that it had a low battery.  I thought yeah, so do I, but I'm not complaining am I?  At this point, some of the long downhills were getting quite taxing.  I was definitely tired, from the lack of sleep as well as 60+miles of cycling, and they seemed to be getting steeper and steeper, though in reality, my muscles were getting tighter which meant I was feeling the shock of the ground more and more.  Plus these downhills seemed to have sharp turns at the bottom of all of them!  I started braking on a lot of these downhills now.

The third hub was at mile 73, and should have been a good point to buckle down and just keep going.  We were now in Leatherhead, which is where my dad was born, so I thought of him, and how he had probably enjoyed cycling around the Surrey Hills in his youth.  I was also boosted by the support I was getting on facebook in response to me eeeking about ascending box hill.  It was a lovely part of the ride, but I was getting really thirsty, and had drank 3/4 of my water bottle by the time the next drinks station was coming up, so I stopped to refill water there too, around 80 miles.  At around 82 miles, the garmin switched itself off.  It couldn't even last a 100 mile bike ride!  How annoying, now I had no idea of pace and time, right at the point of the race where some information could have made all the difference.  This is the point in running a marathon where you really rely on the support of the crowds, and your positive self-talk to get you through.  There was a bit of a toughie uphill, and I had nothing in my legs.  I figured since I would be cycling for at least an hour more, that it was worth taking on a final energy gel, so I stopped.  People walking past were keen to tell me that at the end of this hill it was all downhill into London.... Amazing how many of 'those' hills I went up between here and getting to London!  Still, it was nice to have some support.   I never saw an 85 mile sign but I was going through Wimbledon- some really lovely residential areas now, but still very little crowd support.  That said, there were not that many cyclists around me either.  I was wondering whether I was really that close to the cut off  of 9 hours - I didn't think I had slowed that much!  And what about David, if he had already bonked at 44 miles, surely he would be struggling worse than I was.

By the time I saw the 90 mile sign, it seemed about 3 miles too late... a lack of garmin information meant I had no idea of my pace, but now I'd passed 90, there wasn't a risk I wouldn't finish, so tried to get my head down and go for it.  I started passing various bridges, and saw the 10km and then 5km to go signs for the other race that was going on.  Great, these were very short distances in cycling and each gave me a boost..  3km to go, so 2 miles, and you start passing all the bridges and seeing all the sites of London.  In a marathon it takes you 30 mins to an hour to pass and take all these in, on the bike you get through them pretty quickly!  I was rather disappointed that even in central London there was just no support on the course, it was just quiet.  I only had 2 or 3 riders around me as well.  It didn't feel like a race with 20,000 people but a surreal time travel where cars didn't exist, but super-fancy road bikes did.  Eventually, went through Admiralty arch and this is where the support started.  I'd run down this stretch finishing so many races with nothing left in the tank.  On the bike, it was nice to go for it and overtake someone, but barely felt worth it over 500metres!

But woohooo!  I finished, and had no idea what my time was!  I went to get my medal and goody bag, and spoke on the phone to my sister, who was sick of waiting for us- since we were taking so long!!
My official time is 7:55:15.

I got to the meeting point, and was really worried about David.  Fiona and I had been sending group texts all the way along the route, but since passing him, I hadn't heard anything from him.  I was scared he had been sent down one of the short cut routes, so I text him to  let him know I'd finished, and that my sis wasn't gonna hang around for long.  But immediately he replied saying he had just finished!  I was so proud of him! (and a little scared that he had gotten a faster time than me too).

Because of the transport issues, we were going to have to cycle 10 miles back to the car, and whist I know the route from Westminster to the Limehouse tunnel, I wasn't sure about the first bit or the last part of the route, and my phone was losing battery from all the tweeting!  But found the route.  We were going really slowly, but after a few miles, my muscles started to loosen up.  Eventually we got back to the car around 7pm with only 1 wrong turn.  The bike routes in London are actually pretty good, and after spending years saying I would never cycle in London, I actually felt safer doing it there than I did doing the training in Essex, where if there are bike routes, they are severely rutted with potholes, and so under-utilised that car drivers don't keep out of them.

Got home to watch some dvds, and have a shower.  We were each going to have a bath, but each had the same fear we wouldn't be able to climb out of it after!

The next day, after charging my garmin overnight, I was excited to look at the data for the first 80 miles, but alas, as well as losing battery, it didn't save it!  So I have no information :-(  Very upset about this, as I really wanted to look at the route on a proper map.

In terms of the event.  Some of the organisational mishaps were clearly due to the event being in the first year.  They will easily be fixed, and I would suggest that as well as closing all the roads, Boris works on making sure that trains that go into Stratford are operational on the day and at the right times to take cyclists.  I was quite concerned having David drive home after waking up at 4am and competing in his first endurance event.  Personally, if I do a cycle race again, it would be a lower key event where you don't have to park miles from the start or finish, and I would probably stick to a shorter distance, so that training for it wouldn't become detrimental to my running.  That said, it was really fun to experience the Ride London-Surrey 100, and inspiring to see so many people who clearly enjoy cycling regularly.  Gives me faith that the whole country isn't full of Layabouts :-)

If you would like to sponsor me for this race, the link to the sponsorship page is here:

www.virginmoneygiving.com/team/SmithIsherwood