RideLondon is 100 miles and you have to do it in 9 hours. I was aiming at 20 miles so that's 108 minutes. Which is 5 minutes 20something seconds per mile.
I changed my clever watch thingy into miles (and accidentally set 'auto-lap' at the same time - no, I've no idea what that is but it beeped at me every kilometre throughout my ride. Very helpful) and worked out the flattest route I could think of - for those who are local, it's home - Cedar Tree roundabout - Ystrad Mynach Big Roundabout By Hospital - Roundabout by Dump (mmm, scenic) - Ystrad Mynach Big Roundabout By Hospital again - home. This is predominantly on a dual carriageway and I set off before 7am to avoid traffic. There was still traffic - most of it gave me a very wide berth but to the Utter Numpty in the Heat-Therm van - that was WAY TOO CLOSE mate. And he was doing about 60 miles an hour. Scary.
Anyway, the route was flat. Sort of...
It felt remarkably 'uphill' as far as the Ystrad roundabout - and look, it was! (That's about 12k) then there was a lovely mostly downhill bit to the dump, then back up to Ystrad, down again and home - definitely easier coming back.
My target for my 20 miles was 1 hour 48 minutes. I did it in 1 hour 25. Yay! Or rather, not yay. If I'd gone slower I could have improved next time, instead of which I was wellying it most of the way and pushing on where I could so I'll have to go even faster to better my time in four weeks when I do it again. Doh!
A new mountain bike centre has opened up near Merthyr Tydfil - really keen to go and play on the trails some time soon. Although the Melodeon Master and I have just watched some of the videos...
Gulp.
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