Long Slow Ride

After the 21 miles of the Meon Valley Plod, the start of this week was never going to be great but with the cold still lingering and my knees still feeling the hills, I decided to make it an easy week. Some small rides to keep the legs turning over was all I did but it was probably for the best.

By Saturday I was feeling OK. The knees weren't hurting and my quads were fine. Even the cold had all but gone. So I was really looking forward to my long ride with Ed. We had planned to do the 80 mile, 6 hill loop through the Surrey Hills. We'd done it before and knew it was hard but we both were keen to up the training. The main hills were Staple Lane (Hungry Hill), Brook Hill, Winterfold, Hoe Lane, Raikes Lane (with the hairpin), and Box Hill. Its about 5500 - 6000 feet of climbing so not bad for a training run.

I got to Wimbledon at 7:45 and after Ed got himself ready, we headed out at around 8. It was a little chilly but the sun was out and I was hoping it would heat up. I'd chosen my normal fingerless gloves rather than my winter ones and my fingertips were cold. Fortunately, that didn't last long and within 15 miles, I was warm.

Ed was plagued all day with minor bike problems. His gear indexing was off and his rear breaks were sticking in the on position after we rode through a rather large puddle. I have to say I didn't mind the odd mechanical stop as I wasn't in the best of forms. It was a bit annoying as I'd had an easy week. I could only put it down to running 3 hard events on three consecutive weekends.

I followed Ed up most of the hills as he was in better shape then I (even though he was complaining of a chest infection). I didn't want to be last on every hill so I sprinted a couple which helped my ego even though no one was racing. I did try and hammer it up Raikes Lane but I had forgotten how far the hill goes after the hairpin and I soon blew up and had to watch Ed ride past. Never mind.

It is pleasing to be able to go up Winterfold and Raikes without needing to stop which is a great improvement to how I was 6 months ago. My recovery rate is also much shorter once I reach the top. An obvious sign of my much improved fitness levels.

We finished up Box Hill, had out cup of tea and then bombed it home. We did pass some runners on the other side of Box Hill who were presumable training for the Ballbuster. They looked really fast which made me very worried.