Up and down in Kent hills

It’s second month since I go my CX bike. Since then I’ve questioned the choice on a few occasions when I feel I could do with a lighter one. It’s also transpired that I spend most of the time on tarmac and less off-road that I envisaged to be the case when choosing the bike. Two months of riding has resulted in about 800 miles covered. This mostly in M20, M25 and A2 triangle. There.

This is veloviewer view of my Strava rides. I guess that going at the same rate the aforementioned triangle will be indistinguishable by December (as in covered in red).

veloviewer does one more cool thing to show off your achievements – year in figures infograph. It reflects the activities pulled from Strava to veloviewer, and yes – you need to be premium vv subscriber to get more than 25 recent activities. If it’s a light year, then this might suffice.

Though that subscription sets you back by £10 which is 25% of a reasonably good jersey, or a pair of socks. and it’s well worth it as it helps to keep the service afloat (one-man band) and supports independent and valuable software development. I’ll write up a post on the service later, promise.

I haven’t done many long rides yet, with Fool’s Errand on top of the list for now. This is likely to change in May when I’m in Geneva. Route 46 that follows Lac Leman shoreline is 180’is km long. Early start should see it wrapped up within 10 hours (including lunch).

Happy riding!

Two days, two rides = 98 miles

Saturday seemed to be a good day to ride to Westerham Cyclery for a coffee, and to pick up my rear derailleur hanger. Getting there was a bit sluggish as we took a slight detour adding another 15 minutes to the expected 90 min / 24 miles ride.

Mark surprised with a note that business is going too well to waste space for clothing. Hence everything’s 60% off. Returned with a jacket and gilet. The latter was spot on as it started raining as we rode into Eynsford.

As soon as it finished raining I started to contemplate about Sunday morning club run. As it tuned out I had almost perfect excuse.

As we were drawing our ride to a close my bike decided to fly off from under me… Or it could have been rather slick Gatorskin tyres. Or my poor cornering and choice or angle. I had watched GCN video on the very topic a few days earlier so should have known better. Either way I went skidding and so did Sequoia. On a wet tarmac. Result can be seen here.

So I spent the next two hours getting my ego aligned with reality again and cleaning the bike. Alin was kind enough to ride by later and adjust the gears.

Fast forward to Sunday morning and I’m up at 7:00 stirring porridge and downing electrolyte drink. And then I found having mere 25 minutes to cover 30 min distance from home to Cobham memorial where the GCC gathers on Sunday mornings.

It’s amazing how quickly body heals itself with strong (semi-competitive) mental state. With left side grazed on four spots that touched the tarmac and slight knee pain I did expect to turn back half way. However it showed again that group ride can have its benefits.

A few words on the chosen road. I had drawn the route and by the time we got to Farningham forgotten the latter third. So one of the group suggested we ride through Farningham to Eynsford, and then climb casually up on Bower Lane. It’s nearly five miles starting with a struggle and then gradually rising up. And to top it all I took my first climb on Exedown Road. I can confirm the notion it’s worse than Vigo Hill – similar gradient, but just longer.

52 miles, four tough climbs and nearly four hours later I was back at home ready to consume a horse. I had eaten a couple of energy bars and two gels during the ride (though was still in recovery mode from Saturday). Quick glance at supplies produced champion’s lunch – scrambled eggs on cheese spelt toast with parsley and tomatoes. And salami.

What and how?

• two slices of granary bread – I had Waitrose spelt bread which is an excellent choice, IMHO
• a knob of butter, no substitutes – you are in recovery mode and need energy at this point!
• two slices of cheese of your choice – Edam, Gouda or Cheddar are probably best as they melt easily
• 4 medium to large eggs
• ~50ml milk, the fuller the better
• three small tomatoes
• parsley for scattering over
• a few slices of salami. Why? See note on butter above.

Beat the eggs and milk; heat pan at 7 (I don’t have gas, so no idea what mark, but it takes far less to get pan ready on gas). When it’s sizzling hot… wait! Preparation is everything, so have everything else ready. So, toast the bread, spread the butter on and add cheese; leave on toaster rack (not on plate, where it’ll turn soggy). Tomatoes on the plate and then the pan is sizzling hot. As you pour egg mix to the pan, start working it with a spatula of some sort. When eggs are still a bit runny, pull it all together to a mound and turn the heat off. Transfer cheese sarnies to the plate and scoop scrambled egg to top it. Attack with fork and knife.

Optional components – olives, salami, peppers, fried onions, etc. If you are vegetarian, leave meat out.

I have no idea of calories but reckon it’d be somewhere around 1200 in a good mix of carbs and protein. Fitbit guessed I’d spent about 3000 calories in the effort, so this meal lasted about two hours.

I’ve turned this exercise into route. If interested, find it here.

Wide Horizons “Fool’s Errand” recap

2nd of April saw my first longer ride around North Kent roads and countryside. It was at times a bit exhilarating and then fun. There were two routes – 65km and 120km. I opted for the latter thinking “well, I’ve ridden half of the track sections already, so what’s new?”. This statement turned out to be 1/3 correct as I didn’t know half the climbs…

The ride stared and finished at Hadlow Colleage grounds. Getting there from Gravesend is about 35 min drive. The Girl used to work in Kings Hill for the past decade so there were no surprises in getting there. Starting with carb-loading on bananas and biscuits I found myself very quickly at the start line, and off we took.

Wait! Just a note on admin – timing chips were in two shapes and I found it easiest to strap it to the cable housing near bottom bracket.

Rider and support crew

There were a couple of ups and downs and riding in a group we managed to maintain average speed of 17 mph for the first 10 miles which was nice and fast. At least for me on my Sequoia – most others were on road bikes with skinny tires. I’ll come back to that later.

Then came village of Ryarsh and decent towards Vigo Hill. I had gone up Vigo Hill a few days earlier with a friend, so it wasn’t new. But challenge nevertheless. Four and half minutes later it was left behind and it was generally flat with a few ups and downs towards Longfield. And then up to Knockmill, and down again to Horton Kirby that was the first and only official feed station. It was pleasure to find Mark from Westerham Cyclery there with his van giving helping hand to those in need.

After Horton Kirby it was mainly up the hill towards Westerham Hill – a route which I’d never ridden before. Once I turned left towards Westerham the decent seemed to be never-ending 😉

Westerham saw a somewhat scheduled coffee and cake stop in the Cyclery Drop Bar. And then came two climbs that I didn’t expect (ignorance on my part, I guess…) – Hosey Hill and Toys Hill. After Toys, I didn’t even notice Ide Hill – it seemed a doddle. Down from Ide though was another fun decent. We use the same road when going to Hever by car and I used to think – this must be extremely dangerous for cyclists. Well, it is up to a point.

And then an hour later… it was done. By Toys Hill climb the group has spread out so much that I found myself riding mostly alone.

Ride recap in Strava. Total time to cover the loop 5:28, total moving time 5:05 (for deluding myself whilst in a race). Average speed of 14.6 mph is rather pleasing considering the six climbs that slowed everyone right down. Average cadence of 67… this could be improved a bit.

A few noteworthy things:

• as Jack mentioned in his post road signing should have been better. I almost took wrong turn after a climb out of Horton Kirby.
• road quality varies. I realised how good my 42mm Sawtooth tires were on often rattling B-roads. Many riders noted they felt every crack with their skinny road tires.
• local drivers are generally sensible and give space to riders. Emphasis on word “generally”.
• For a long ride like this it’s highly advisable to have ample of electrolyte-laced water and food. I opted for saddlebag full of gels and energy bars. After  five and half hours I was hungry enough to accept a portion of chili.

Battleplan

I thoroughly recommend riding this route fro Sunday morning club ride.

Fool’s Errand sportive coming up…

The first longer ride attempted is Fool’s Errand on Sunday, 2nd April. It’ll go through lovely country lanes in Kent and is challenging enough for most cyclists. Why? Well, there are many ups and downs and ups are often near 20% gradient over half a mile…

I started training a couple of weeks ago. Last Sunday went out with a friend to tackle some of the hills and survived. 36 miles with relatively strong head and side wind were completed at 2:30’ish.

https://www.strava.com/activities/915045442/embed/4033b43d8893de3415296cc56a2d0a914f25ca56

And this is how it looks in 3D thanks to VeloViewer

The ride itself will be double the distance and climbs. Hope to complete it in 4 hours.