(no subject)
And so the week of fear begins.
On Thursday I start a new job. I *will* be fine, I know that, especially as they can't involve me too much in the first few weeks (until my security clearance comes through), but it still is a bit of a drop into the unknown. Still new boss seems like a nice guy, so that's a massive plus.
Then there's sunday. Sunday is the D-day of the cycling training - 100 miles which I need to complete in 9 hours. Thething I'm not enjoying at the moment is the fact that I'm gonna have to get up at 4am on sunday - to which end I'm currently waking up at 6am all week, which is guaranteed to put me in a good mood. At least I can be pretty sure I won't be late for my first day in new job. All in all I don't think the early start will be that much of a problem, on the scale of everyone, I'm not too bad with no sleep, but getting up, that's going to be *difficult*.
When it comes to the ride itself.... well then that's where the fear mainly lies. I've never done anything like this before, and I know that, since it's a closed corse with no cars or traffic lights, I should in theory be a few miles per hour faster than I am normally, there's still the fear. Part of the fear is the food. Every ride I've gone has involved a food stop - with proper food, either through stoping at a planned place, or carrying the food with me/us. The Ride 100 has 3 food stops - at roughly 25 miles, 50 and 75. what we found out this week is that the "food" stops basically consist of a banana, a bag of pretzels and a couple of other things which are presumably provided by sponsors. Totally not enough calories to be able to survive the course. That leads to carrying your own food, which wouldn't be a problem if that's what I'd trained my body for..... Either way it seems like a combination of a ridiculous amount of energy gels, some peanuts and jelly babies will be all I can count on. If it seems like an OTT concern, it's because the single biggest problem I've had with cycling further and further distances is hitting the "fuel wall" where my body goes "right that's it, I have no more energy, your performance from this point onwards will be laughable".
The corse has 4 "purple zones" (make your own jokes) which are parts of the course where they believe the cyclists will struggle. One of them is richmond park, which didn't seem like a challenge at all when we did it (so I'm expecting the corse to not go the way it appears to go), the second, newland corner is tough but doable. Leith hill is an inhumane monstrosity and I wouldn't be surprised if I end up walking up some if it, and box hill is a long slog, especially at that point in the race. If I can get to the water refill point at the top of box hill, and have a 10 minute rest, and still be not that for off my projected 12mph average speed, then i know I can do it.
The one thing that's given me hope is the weather. When it was hot, the sheer amount of sweat made everything uncomfortable, and the amount of water one needed to consume was prohibitive to a good speed. Now, assuming the heat-wave doesn't make a unlikely return, all I've got to worry about is wind and rain. Rain will be the ain problem, but I'd take that over heat, any day. If it rains enough to make the roads properly wet, then I'm never going to be able to make the required speed, and thus maybe have to do the shorter route, but that's just a what-will-be-will-be type thing.
The big worry is an accident - a puncture, a loose bit somewhere or whatever. I'm thinking I might leave all the repair kits and portable tools at home - to save wait and leave space for food, but that means a single bit of damage and I'll not be able to finish the race. Since I moved to puncture resistant tires, I've not had a single issue, but murphy's law says that if anything was going to happen, it would happen when I left my tools at home.
Either way my mum and one of my oldest and best friends have decided that they want to be at the finish line to watch me collapse and or cry, so that's some motivation to actually finish.
On Thursday I start a new job. I *will* be fine, I know that, especially as they can't involve me too much in the first few weeks (until my security clearance comes through), but it still is a bit of a drop into the unknown. Still new boss seems like a nice guy, so that's a massive plus.
Then there's sunday. Sunday is the D-day of the cycling training - 100 miles which I need to complete in 9 hours. Thething I'm not enjoying at the moment is the fact that I'm gonna have to get up at 4am on sunday - to which end I'm currently waking up at 6am all week, which is guaranteed to put me in a good mood. At least I can be pretty sure I won't be late for my first day in new job. All in all I don't think the early start will be that much of a problem, on the scale of everyone, I'm not too bad with no sleep, but getting up, that's going to be *difficult*.
When it comes to the ride itself.... well then that's where the fear mainly lies. I've never done anything like this before, and I know that, since it's a closed corse with no cars or traffic lights, I should in theory be a few miles per hour faster than I am normally, there's still the fear. Part of the fear is the food. Every ride I've gone has involved a food stop - with proper food, either through stoping at a planned place, or carrying the food with me/us. The Ride 100 has 3 food stops - at roughly 25 miles, 50 and 75. what we found out this week is that the "food" stops basically consist of a banana, a bag of pretzels and a couple of other things which are presumably provided by sponsors. Totally not enough calories to be able to survive the course. That leads to carrying your own food, which wouldn't be a problem if that's what I'd trained my body for..... Either way it seems like a combination of a ridiculous amount of energy gels, some peanuts and jelly babies will be all I can count on. If it seems like an OTT concern, it's because the single biggest problem I've had with cycling further and further distances is hitting the "fuel wall" where my body goes "right that's it, I have no more energy, your performance from this point onwards will be laughable".
The corse has 4 "purple zones" (make your own jokes) which are parts of the course where they believe the cyclists will struggle. One of them is richmond park, which didn't seem like a challenge at all when we did it (so I'm expecting the corse to not go the way it appears to go), the second, newland corner is tough but doable. Leith hill is an inhumane monstrosity and I wouldn't be surprised if I end up walking up some if it, and box hill is a long slog, especially at that point in the race. If I can get to the water refill point at the top of box hill, and have a 10 minute rest, and still be not that for off my projected 12mph average speed, then i know I can do it.
The one thing that's given me hope is the weather. When it was hot, the sheer amount of sweat made everything uncomfortable, and the amount of water one needed to consume was prohibitive to a good speed. Now, assuming the heat-wave doesn't make a unlikely return, all I've got to worry about is wind and rain. Rain will be the ain problem, but I'd take that over heat, any day. If it rains enough to make the roads properly wet, then I'm never going to be able to make the required speed, and thus maybe have to do the shorter route, but that's just a what-will-be-will-be type thing.
The big worry is an accident - a puncture, a loose bit somewhere or whatever. I'm thinking I might leave all the repair kits and portable tools at home - to save wait and leave space for food, but that means a single bit of damage and I'll not be able to finish the race. Since I moved to puncture resistant tires, I've not had a single issue, but murphy's law says that if anything was going to happen, it would happen when I left my tools at home.
Either way my mum and one of my oldest and best friends have decided that they want to be at the finish line to watch me collapse and or cry, so that's some motivation to actually finish.