The Event
The London to Bournemouth Bike Ride was in its first year as an event.
The 112 mile (180 km) road course starts in Wimbledon, south-west London and finishes near the seafront in Bournemouth on the south coast. Taking you on undulating roads through the North Downs and over the South Downs.
Further details on the event can be found here.
This event was to take place on Sunday 12th July 2009.
My Event
So, a nice little 112 mile (180 km) bike ride then! Upon successful completition, this would be the second greatest distance I had ever travelled by bike in one day (day 6 of my Land's End to John o'Groats bike ride was only 1 mile longer at 113 miles). Again, Andy joined me on this gruelling challenge.
Another early Sunday morning beckoned, and the bikes were loaded onto the bike rack on the back of Andy's car. The journey to Wimbledon was fairly uneventful apart from near the end where we got a little lost. However, after a minor delay, we found our way and parked the car fairly close to the start.
We arrived at the start in Wimbledon Park Athletics Stadium in good time and picked up our race packs from a tiny office. Many people were already there by the time we arrived and the one thing struck me straight away was how "professional" everybody else looked! Everybody was in the full cycling lycra gear, everybody had the special cycling shoes that clip into the pedals, everybody had what looked like very expensive road bikes! We turned up wearing t-shirts and jogging bottoms with trainers and our cheap road bikes! I was conscious immediately that we probably stood out a little from this group of people!
I was a little nervous about the ride before the start but took comfort in the fact that I had done similar distances before. This was going to be something new for Andy!
In terms of competitors, this event was a lot smaller than other events I had taken part in previously - only around 160 cyclists had registered for this. I guess the fact that the event was in its first year and that not too many people would have been keen to cycle 112 miles (180 km) would have been the main factors for a small crowd. Because other cycle events I had taken part in included much higher numbers of participants, I had always another competitor somewhere nearby along the entire route. I guess this wouldn't be the case today with 160 cyclists stretched out along a 112 mile (180 km) route.
At 8am in the morning, the ride was started! Within the first mile of the route we passed the famous Wimbledon tennis stadium - the first time I had ever seen it "in the flesh". In the first few miles, people jossled for position and it wasn't long before the riders thinned out. I guess it was going to be a lonely ride for Andy and me!
We quickly began to rack up the miles and noticed after a while that other competitors were in groups most of the time. I had heard of the benefits of riding within a pelaton before,
but today I was to learn from experience the benefits. When Andy and I
caught up with a group of cyclists or clung on to the back of a passing
group, it was much easier keeping to a good pace. Of course, it was vice
versa when you were at the front of the pack and you felt compelled to
work as hard as you could before someone took over from behind you. We
encountered many of these groups for the first 20 miles (32 km), which enabled us to keep a good average speed of around 18 mph
(29 kph).
However, problems began to occur at around 30 miles (48 km)..... Andy was beginning to have problems with his leg, so much so, that it was really preventing him from keeping up. We stopped on a couple of occasions whilst he stretched his leg to try and ease the pain. However, at around 34 miles (55 km), it was game over for Andy. He said that he would get the train back to the start and pick up his car and meet me in Bournemouth. I now had to face the fact that the last 80 miles (129 km) would be done on my own.
From this point onwards, the packs of cyclists I encountered on the route became more and more scarce which meant I was to tackle most of the route on my own from now on! The conditions were fairly kind on this day though. It was warm, without being too hot, but there was a little bit of wind - enough to notice anyway!
I reached 50 miles (80 km) and still felt fairly good. I decided I would try and get to the next checkpoint at around 75 miles (121 km) and see if I wanted to stop or whether I would carry on to the last checkpoint before the finish on the 90 mile (145 km) mark. However, soon after the 50 mile (80 km) mark and the course seemed to become especially hilly. I decided at around 60-65 miles (100 km) that I would stop off for a water refill, a snack to eat and a short rest for the legs at the next checkpoint.
Eventually, the 75 mile (121 km) checkpoint arrived, which convienently, was a pub! It was tempting to settle down to a nice lunch and a beer at this point, but I remained focused on the final part of the ride which inevitably, was going to be the toughest. The organisers had laid on some snacks in the pub garden which I gratefully munched away on! I had a chat with another one of the competitors who did seem a little puzzled and surprised by my lack of "proper" cycle gear! However, at this point in the ride, I was amongst the first half of people along the route, so I had made good progress so far. After a stop of around 30 minutes, I had refuelled, and was ready to tackle the last part of the race, with the view that I would try and push on to the finish without stopping now.
Immediately after restarting, I was faced with a huge steep hill which set me on quite a negative pyschological state from the off. Everything was beginning to hurt now and I was no longer able to "be aggressive" on any of the hills. It was just a case now of dropping to one of the lowest gears and dragging bike and body up any slopes that came my way.
As the 90 mile (145 km) mark approached, and the last checkpoint, I was thinking about stopping for a short break. I was struggling but managed to convince myself to carry on. From this point the route joined the busy A road into Bournemouth which depressed me even more. Speeding traffic passed me and the weather seemed to get fairly hot at this point. I was quite annoyed with the organisers for this part of the route. The last thing you want to negotiate with after around 100 miles
(160 km) of cycling is heavy traffic.
Time seemed to stand still from 90 miles (145 km) and it seemed forever before I got to the 100 mile (160 km) mark. By now the wind had got stronger, as I got closer to the coast and this just made everything harder still! It had been around 15 miles (24 km) since I saw the last competitor and as I approached the last 5 miles (8 km) or so, I could see one in front of me. I gradually got closer to him, which I thought was amazing really considering I was poodling along at such a pedestrian pace. I took comfort from the fact that I was not the only one suffering! We had a brief chat as I came up beside him and then I moved off in front.
In the last few miles the wind got even stronger and I must admit shouting a few choice words in the final stretch. But, suddenly a pleasant surprise! I knew I was near the finish, but did not spot it as I came cruising through! Basically, the finish was on the main road on the seafront, with a van parked on the side of the road with a small sign saying "FINISH"! I'm glad the organisers saw me as I would have probably carried on! Suddenly, just like that, it was all over! I limped over in a sorry manner to a grassy bank, where a few other finishers were recovering and picked up my medal and additional drinks and snacks. I found out later that I was one of only around 30-50 riders to have completed the course and that there were another 100 or so to come in!
Results
My time "in the saddle" for this event was 7 hours and 30 minutes, which I was very happy with. However, if you include the stops with Andy and my rest at 75 miles (121 km), my final time was around 8 hours 15 minutes.