Rutland and Beyond.... an OAP's Adventure

For those of you who read my last post, Driven by Targets,  you will know that following last year's abject failure to achieve the objectives, I have decided to become even less competitive and just pootle around.  However a friend, a keen audaxer, has set himself the target to complete 10 Baby Audaxes ( 100km or less ) this year and after many discussions in a local coffee shop he persuaded me to join him on the first one, the Leicester Forest Cycling Club's  Rutland and Beyond Audax.. A gentle introduction with some beautiful scenery he said.

The weather forecast promised arctic weather and high NE winds, with the winds having the cruel capability to alter direction dependent upon the cyclists heading.

In the event my friend decided that the combination of zero temperatures, high winds, and a very early start made staying in bed at home a preferable option, leaving me to attempt a solo ride with the aid of my trusty garmin and an old fashioned bit of paper with writing on it .. I eschewed maps as I can never read them properly, but more of navigational issues later.

I have joined Derby Mercury RC this last  year, not with the intent of cycling with them, far out of my league but just to help out as a gofer at events, and I mentioned that I was undertaking this event. This inspired Team Mercury to also have a go and so Mark, Debbie, Phil and Nigel, the Mercury Marvels, entered.. For this foolhardy crew, a mere 100km was not worth getting out of bed for and so they decided to ride both to and from the event to raise a more respectable 200km ride.  In order to assist them they had recruited two sacrificial lambs in Mark and Sarah from Cycle Derby to act as their lead out team.

And so, around 160 cyclists converged on Ride HQ at 08-15

I had a plan. Not to be put off by all these fit young people and to ride at my own pace. I know I dont climb well and there were plenty of climbs on the course so I had stocked up with my home made malt loaf and flapjcks and a bottle full of fluid to lessen the risk of dying completely on some far forgotten hill. Eat little and often was my moto.

And so, positioning myself at the rear of the peleton we set off and encountered the first climb after 800m. It became apparent that perhaps I am not the world's worst climber as some seemed to start suffering already, indeed quite a few people never managed to complete the course.

Navigation is another skill I lack and as I  approached Rutland Water a couple of riders in front of me whom I had caught up, suddenly veered off left against all the advice of my Garmin!   It was then I discovered that not all riders out on a Sunday morning cycling around Rutland Water are neccessarily in the audax.  And so to the first Control Point

Lots of people came over to chat to me, but it seems it was not my scintillating wit they were interested in, but my Mercian Vincitore Special.

The Mercury Marvels had stormed past me on the hill into Rutland Water, resplendent in their kit, my Mercury jersey was well covered in multiple layers so as not to degrade the image and also I needed layers to keep warm.

Loving numbers, I had flipped through the garmin screens, a big mistake!  From here on in my turn by turn instructions vanished and I had to resort to following cyclists butts ( not always a pretty sight ) or when alone relying upon the cue sheet with its original Egyptian Hieroglyphics

The hills kept on coming and I was beginning to wish that I had chosen a Shimano Groupset instead of the Campagnolo as that would have allowed a much lower bottom gear (30/29 is my lowest ) and though I rarely engaged that bottom gear I did at times  envy the people twirling away on the steepest climbs.

There is a reward from the hills though. At one point the view into the valley with the viaduct stretching out across the peaks is a marvellous sight. It was around here that I saw a large red kite flying low in the sky espying out the young lambs as a potential lunch..or perhaps he was waiting for me to fall.

Just prior to the third control point is The Hill, a leg sapping lung busting monster for an OAP. I was determined not to let it beat me and though my brain was telling me to get off and push, my inner self would not relent, and indeed I passed another couple of riders on this climb.

For those who reached the check point and cafe early there was plenty of food

Some even were treated to a Valentine Lunch!

However by the time I arrived the place was packed with sunday tourists and stifling hot with wait times up to 45 minutes...so a gel, a piece of malt loaf and I soldiered on

The last section was probably the toughest for me, the wind was horrendous and the terrain very exposed...but I made it!!


For those who like statistics the Strava Ride is here 

To give an indication of how I coped, my normal ' Suffer Score '; for my T-Shop Pootles is around 50...this ride was 388  .... I have never been tis close to the edge before

But did I enjoy it?  Yes

Did I feel a sense of achievement ?  Yes

Would I do another Audax ?    Well.......

Review of the Year

I love numbers

As such I tend to set myself targets, create spreadsheets to monitor progress and scour articles about gear ratios, rotational mass, power to weight ratios and other arcane things.  Needless to say, none of this affects my personal performance and I potter along as before.As a result of all this my favourite essential cycling accessory is probably my Garmin 800 which provides loads of data to keep me out of mischief for hours.
Having taken up cycling only recently, about 5 years ago now, and being an old age pensioner, I do have to accept that my ability on a bike is only going to go one way...downwards.
The act of retiring, and the receipt of a pension,  gives one a crystal clear perception of one's own mortality. The annuity bean counters make an estimate of one's life expectancy and payout accordingly, in my case they placed their bets on my lasting until I was 73 years old, anything beyond that then I am winning! My son tells me to be more optimistic and so for the purpose of target setting I assumed I would live until I was 80 years old. So, being a cycling novice I decided, at 60,  upon a distance target of 2000 miles ( 3200 km ) a year with the aim of reducing this by 100 miles per year to allow for growing infirmity. This then acts as the main yearly goal and for this year that translates into a minimum distance of  2400 km or  1500 miles .
Having so far ridden 7030 km and climbed over 50000m  then this first target has been achieved.

My second aim was to explore more of our countryside on my bike. Here I count this as a partial success. I have been invited to join in with other cycling groups in Cheshire, Shifnall, Leicester and a lung busting ride in Derbyshire. At all the places I have made new friends and been  made exceedingly welcome despite them all having to travel at a much slower pace than they are used to in order to accommodate me. Thanks go to Mark, Andrew, David and Scott for letting me tag along on  their rides. I was hoping to do a short cycle tour but in this I failed, not wanting to cycle alone and being unable to find others who had the same desire.

One of the main reasons for being wary of cycle touring was my lack of ability as a bike mechanic and a fear of  breaking down in the middle of nowhere. During the year I have tried to address this deficiency and regular readers will have seen my efforts as a Novice Bike Mechanic.

Not having been a lifelong cyclist, I do not possess the fund of stories of the trials and tribulations of times past when all the hills were steeper, the wind was windier, the rain was  wetter and carbon was a thing confined to pencils. Indeed climatic and geographical change seems to have happened in the 40 years prior to my getting on a bike!  One of the things I did learn from these tales of yore was that "Steel is Forever "and that Mercians were the Prince of Cycles. And so the highlight of my year was in obtaining my own handmade, personally fitted Mercian Vincitore Special on my 65th birthday in March. This is an example of engineering beauty and excellence and draws spectators wherever I go.

As my interest in cycling has grown I have become aware of the competitive side to this sport. Whilst I am now too old to take part,  I have enjoyed watching the sleek riders on their aerodynamic machines as they compete in local Time Trials, probably the purest form of cycle racing. At the other end of the spectrum I have revelled in the mud spattered and bedraggled riders as they attempt the Cyclo Cross challenges that our  autumn and winter can throw at them. Muffled up against the driving wind and rain I am glad that I AM now too old to participate in this peculiar form of personal pain.

Perhaps my greatest achievement this year was to undertake Wiggy's Challenge. Wiggy was an excellent and enthusiastic cyclist who for a variety of reasons had fallen into the state of becoming a " Lapsed Cyclist ". His challenge was to resolve this problem by undertaking to ride every single day for a week and he asked others to join him on this venture and share their experiences. I wrote an article about this and as a result of the Challenge I have encouraged many others to get on their abandoned bikes and ride again. It mattered not how far, how fast or how often; the important thing was to cycle again and experience the joy and companionship such an activity can bring. So far I know of about two dozen people who have returned to cycling from me telling them this story.

Finally, this year I learnt something about the importance of nutrition to a cyclist. Whilst there are many tomes written about this and experts a plenty; at my level I have discovered it is all about CAKE. Being the generous sort of guy that I am, I wanted to share this knowledge with others and so have produced a little pdf booklet  entitled " Cycling Food on the Go  - Recipes for Success ". If you would like a copy you can get it from :-

http://thediaryofmybike.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/cycling-food-on-go_15.html

Leicester GoSkyRide Strong Plus

Solo cycling is fine but the enjoyment for me is magnified when cycling with others. An opportunity to share past experiences, discuss future ambitions and someone to listen when you are moaning about the steepness of the latest hill. In addition for me, I find that I need to ride with cyclists who are fitter and stronger than me to take me out of my comfort zone where the average heart rate rarely, if ever, gets out of Zone 2. And so this year I have taken to seeking out groups to ride with in various parts of the country in order to meet new friends and explore different parts of the country. The added benefit is that I ride harder, faster and for longer which is what I need if I am ever going to be able to complete LondonRide100 with my son next year.
And so it was that David suggest I tried a SkyRide, and in particular the Leicester GoSkyRide Strong Plus. Reading the blurb this promised a 50km ride at a fast place, the lower limit of which was still 10% greater than my normal average. However, with David’s encouragement, I entered and got my bike prepared for the day.
However it was not a very auspicious start even though the weather was fine and the forecast good. I live about 70km from the start point and don’t know Leicester City centre at all so decided to set off early to give myself plenty of time to park and reach the start venue. In preparation I had identified a local car park near to my destination and printed off a map to get me from car to start. I arrived in Leicester about 45minutes before the ride was due to commence..only to discover that the car park was closed! I was then forced to follow the one way system around the city racing circuit until I at last espied another Car Park which was open. Time was ticking on and whilst parked, I was also lost. The local denizens had never heard of Western Boulevard and so it was Android Phone to the rescue (?) as I attempted to navigate myself across the city. By now it was 09-10 and the ride was scheduled to commence at 09-00. I was about to give up and go home when I turned a corner and saw a group of men in lycra!  Could it be them? It was and they were just setting off, so with a quick hello I tagged on with the Assistant Leader waiting for me and bridging me back to the peleton. Making up a gap of only a few hundred metres can still be damned hard as the fresh legs in front sped along.
There were about 12 on the ride but after about 3km, two dropped out as they discovered that the step up from Sky EasyRide to Strong Plus was bigger than they had anticipated. We were soon out out of the city streets and heading for the country lanes towards Market Bosworth. The Leaders were excellent, setting a fast but  steady pace with one always acting as Lanterne Rouge to coax and encourage anyone who was in danger of becoming detached. Despite once again giving most of them 20+ years I  was surprised  but grateful to manage to hold my own. The halfway point was at Market Bosworth and when we arrived the place was crammed with cyclists taking part in some road race. You could distinguish them from us as they had numbers inked onto their arms, had bikes to drool over and looked incredibly fit. Indeed it made me feel properly worn out as I sat there eating my cake and watching them storm past.
But soon we were on our way again. The route was fairly mild compared to the Derbyshire  Peak District and one could chat quite easily as we rode along. There was more cycle trail riding than I had expected which tended to slow the pace down but that was probably good for me as it allowed recovery time.  As we headed back to Leicester and into the back streets we turned a corner and suddenly I espied the car park where I had been forced o park. Not sure if i would ever find it again, I said my goodbyes and dismounted.
For me, an excellent ride and a very good work out with average  heart rate in Zone 3.
Thanks to the Leaders for the company and encouragement and I would recommend these rides to everyone.

Details of the route are  http://app.strava.com/rides/20569490

Now to find another group to impose myself on for a day :-)