I entered for the Peterborough 100 (100 miles, 168km) which is run by Action Medical Research. Not entirely sure what they do but I’m sure it’s a good cause. For me it was all about training for the upcoming Liege Paris trip which is about a month away now.
John Lane picked me up at 5.45am (ugh) and we drove up to the start. Met Andy McGuinness there and basically set off right away. It was incredibly cold in the morning and since it was forecast to be warmer later, there was a bit of compromise about the clothing which turned out to be a mistake first thing. At one point I was cycling with my hands down my shorts just to try to heat them up.
Predictably enough, John and Andy dropped me after about 30km so I was on my own for most of the trip. I always find the 2nd quarter of cycle routes particularly difficult and this one was no different. It had got a bit hotter but it had got a lot more hilly. The countryside is beautiful near Peterborough. Rolling farmland and quaint little villages built from the local Midland stone. The villages were nice but the “rolling” made for a lot of pain since you’d think that you’d got to the top of a hill only to see another downhill stretch followed by yet another uphill stretch. Really horrible. However, it is classic “English Countryside” filled with little villages called stupid things like Batterston cum Trouserwyke and Little Snogton etc. Also, it was quite noticeable that there were no jet contrails in the sky. Thank you Eyjafjallojoekull.
There were a lot of feeding stations on the way which enabled me to keep my caffeine intake up and my intake of crap sandwiches. I was too knackered to do much except take a picture of my crap sandwich. Despite the sandwiches being a bit crap, the whole event was very well organised indeed.
The rest of the ride was a bit better. These events are full of men and women in ill advised lycra which leaves little to the imagination and is probably the least flattering clothing in the world. The rather depressing thing is one gets passed by tubby men and women and some men with beer bellies large enough to look like they’re in the terminal stage of some a strange fertility experiment where they’re attempting to give birth to octuplets. More hill climb practicing for me I think.
So the last section was a lot better since I got on the wheel of a few groups which were doing 30km/h+ and as long as I drafted them I could keep up. It’s a nice feeling cycling in a larger group especially when other people are doing the work at the front.
Rolled into finish line after just under 7 hours on the bike. 168km at an average of 24.3km/h. 1339m of climbing and 5607 calories expended (although the Garmin is notoriously generous on its calorie estimate. Probably could have done another 30k or 40k but not another 140k like Chris does when he does his 300km rides. Map of the route and the stats.
The first day Liege Paris is about the same distance but 2000m+ climbing. Oh dear.
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