RideLondon100 - what an event (race)

This blog post was not supposed to be a race report!

I had intended on briefing followers of this blog on a relatively easy and enjoyable charity ride with a few friends taking in some great sights around London and the Surrey countryside. I knew it was going to be a large event but generally thought the range of abilities would be very mixed and the majority would be inexperienced riders on all kinds of bikes - I was wrong! The thousands of riders I started with were hardly inexperienced, nearly all owned high-end road bikes and you could sense that they were going to ride this hard from the start.

The commentator at the start of the event also highlighted a number of times this was to be a charity event and not a race. The first 2 miles didn't even count towards the overall time (a timing mat was positioned 2 miles from the start to provide what is known as a rolling start), however riders were already in race mode before the official time was even recorded.

I must have been averaging 30-35km per hour in the 2 mile warm up and even then it seemed I was one of the slower riders. My thoughts at the time were that these speed merchants will blow up and I will be passing most of them on the Surrey Hills. Well that didn't happen either, the pace seemed relentless throughout.

Whether it was the wide closed roads, the perfect conditions (not too hot or cold, no rain), the overall quality of cyclists (may be a 100 mile event put off the first timers) or simply that it was a fast course, most riders seemed to be up for the challenge and to give it their all.

My overall time for the 100 miles was 5:42 and I registered just over 20 mins of stops according to my Garmin. During my main stop (at 71 km in) I did check my phone, made a few texts, Tweets etc. to let everyone know how I was doing. I certainly needed some nutrition at that stage and a few minutes to rest my backside but to be honest should have headed off sooner. At that stop it was also an opportunity to let one of my friends who started a few minutes behind me to catch up so we could cycle the second half together. In the end it turned out that he was stronger than me in the second half and I recommended he go ahead and we met again at the finish. Generally it was difficult to cycle with one or more riders for any length of time as the numbers (20,000 in total) were so large. To be honest, I was very surprised not to see any accidents during the day, again probably because of the quality of cyclists. It did have a much different feel compared to say the London 2 Brighton charity cycle event.

Our pre-planning for the event was excellent (and a little lucky) - we booked a Premier Inn in the City, near Tower Bridge, which was comfortable enough. We drove up, sorted out registration at the ExCel centre on route, and parked in a NCP car park around the corner from the hotel. Because the City is generally empty during most weekends the parking rates are very reasonable. However, we were amazed that the cost for parking the car for 1.5 days was just £2. We had booked a restaurant (Zizzi) in the very fashionable and upmarket St. Katherine’s Dock for 7:30pm and were in bed by 10:30pm ready for a 4am wake up as we had to be at the Olympic Park (approx. 5 miles away) before 5:30am. Breakfast was in our room (a few supplies purchased from the Tesco Metro near the hotel).

The event finished on the Mall at Buckingham Palace and we spent an hour resting in Green Park topping up on nutrition (whatever we found in our finishers bags) and waiting for some of the other riders in our group. Thereafter we cycled (still on empty closed roads) back to the City and jumped in the car for the journey home. I am so pleased we didn't have to try and get home via train, which could have been a real hassle with bikes (British Rail not always helpful in supporting cycle events and travel to and from London - one of my 'pet hates').

My old Ribble was rebuilt for the event and with a new cassette (big '29' ring on the back - great for hills), cranks, chain and bottom bracket was looking pretty good. Still interested in a new bike but in no panic to upgrade immediately - I do like Ultegra Di2!

I will be back with additional blog posts on Ironman UK (2 of my friends competed in this event) and further training soon but no current events in the diary - I was considering Xterra in September (another Vachery event) and Barns Green half-marathon later in the month. I also have some interest in a 50-mile ultra running event (probably off-road) and possibly trying Crossfit to help with strength / core training. Lots to cover!

At Olympic Park, start of RideLondon100