The Race Against Time
Been rubbish about updating recently, this is mostly because all of my efforts have been focussed on training and raising funds for The Race Against Time (TRAT) in late June and then the Marmotte a week later.
The Race Against Time (TRAT) is a fast, six day supported group ride from Land’s End to John o’ Groats. Yes, you read that right - the length of the country, by bicycle, in only six days - this means an average of 146 miles a day (it took me just over 12 days on my own last year).
It’s going to be very tough, both mentally and physically and is the most challenging thing I have ever attempted on a bike. Then, a week after that ride finishes I will be at the start line of the Marmotte in France, one of the toughest one day amateur cycling events in the world (about 108 miles in length with over 5,000 metres of vertical climb, taking in four Alps, including one of the highest mountain passes in Europe).
For once I’m doing all this specifically for charity. I’m doing it in aid of the Bishop Simeon trust who raise and apply vital funds to deal with the effects of the AIDS/HIV pandemic in South Africa. I’ll write a bit more about the charity in a later post, about what it does, were the money goes and how you can help. The one thing I want to assure you is that everything involved in organising this ride has been paid for already by the riders themselves and by a corporate sponsor , the support crew are volunteers giving up their valuable time to help - so any donation you are able to give goes directly to support the charity and it’s vital work. It also helps to motivate me to train because I don’t want to let down the people supporting me.
My training hasn’t gone as well as I would have liked - I’ve been dogged by illness and minor injuries this year, from an Achilles injury hanging over from last year, to flu early in the year, then a frozen shoulder/back problem quite recently.
This means that I’m nowhere near as fit as I had hoped to be and a fair bit heavier than I planned for. The weight will be less of an issue for TRAT as having ridden much of the route in a more leisurely fashion last year, I know what to expect and there is little in the way of extreme climbs on the way. So barring a few of the bigger, steeper hills I think I’ll mostly be ok. This will be less true for the Marmotte but again, I’ll post about that ride a bit later.
For TRAT I have had to train for a lot of different things. Speed and power so that I can keep up with the fast group pace (the quicker we are the less time we have to spend out on the road), endurance to cope with the six long days of cycling (we will be getting up at five in the morning every day) and climbing to help deal with what hills there are on the way (Shap Fell, Helmsdale and Berriedale being some of the main ones to worry about).
Also, as TRAT is a group ride, I have been practicing my group riding skills - this is an essential skill, both for the safety of other riders and to get the most aerodynamic benefit from riding in a group. To get better at this, I recently joined a cycling club and now regularly meet up for their group rides. I’m no longer in the slowest group on their Saturday rides round Richmond Park (and the ‘slow’ group are no slouches either).
I was pleased to (mostly) keep up on the club run round the Surrey Hills on Sunday - this was a 60 mile hilly ride. With me in the group, it may have been a slower ride for the other riders but for me it was the fastest I have been round those hills ever - I think I was almost an average of 3mph faster than I would normally expect to be on such a ride. I’ve got better at descending too, in days past, the group would have shot away from me on a downhill, now I’m keeping up and even overtaking a few of the others.
I’ve noticed on my commute that I’m getting some of my old power back - I managed a very creditable 32mph after a sprint from the lights after Vauxhall Bridge - as well as being great fun, it blasts me away from all the chaos and jockeying for position that takes place immediately after the lights.
More updates to follow soon.
Cheers,
Iain
http://www.justgiving.com/iain_houston
The Race Against Time (TRAT) is a fast, six day supported group ride from Land’s End to John o’ Groats. Yes, you read that right - the length of the country, by bicycle, in only six days - this means an average of 146 miles a day (it took me just over 12 days on my own last year).
It’s going to be very tough, both mentally and physically and is the most challenging thing I have ever attempted on a bike. Then, a week after that ride finishes I will be at the start line of the Marmotte in France, one of the toughest one day amateur cycling events in the world (about 108 miles in length with over 5,000 metres of vertical climb, taking in four Alps, including one of the highest mountain passes in Europe).
For once I’m doing all this specifically for charity. I’m doing it in aid of the Bishop Simeon trust who raise and apply vital funds to deal with the effects of the AIDS/HIV pandemic in South Africa. I’ll write a bit more about the charity in a later post, about what it does, were the money goes and how you can help. The one thing I want to assure you is that everything involved in organising this ride has been paid for already by the riders themselves and by a corporate sponsor , the support crew are volunteers giving up their valuable time to help - so any donation you are able to give goes directly to support the charity and it’s vital work. It also helps to motivate me to train because I don’t want to let down the people supporting me.
My training hasn’t gone as well as I would have liked - I’ve been dogged by illness and minor injuries this year, from an Achilles injury hanging over from last year, to flu early in the year, then a frozen shoulder/back problem quite recently.
This means that I’m nowhere near as fit as I had hoped to be and a fair bit heavier than I planned for. The weight will be less of an issue for TRAT as having ridden much of the route in a more leisurely fashion last year, I know what to expect and there is little in the way of extreme climbs on the way. So barring a few of the bigger, steeper hills I think I’ll mostly be ok. This will be less true for the Marmotte but again, I’ll post about that ride a bit later.
For TRAT I have had to train for a lot of different things. Speed and power so that I can keep up with the fast group pace (the quicker we are the less time we have to spend out on the road), endurance to cope with the six long days of cycling (we will be getting up at five in the morning every day) and climbing to help deal with what hills there are on the way (Shap Fell, Helmsdale and Berriedale being some of the main ones to worry about).
Also, as TRAT is a group ride, I have been practicing my group riding skills - this is an essential skill, both for the safety of other riders and to get the most aerodynamic benefit from riding in a group. To get better at this, I recently joined a cycling club and now regularly meet up for their group rides. I’m no longer in the slowest group on their Saturday rides round Richmond Park (and the ‘slow’ group are no slouches either).
I was pleased to (mostly) keep up on the club run round the Surrey Hills on Sunday - this was a 60 mile hilly ride. With me in the group, it may have been a slower ride for the other riders but for me it was the fastest I have been round those hills ever - I think I was almost an average of 3mph faster than I would normally expect to be on such a ride. I’ve got better at descending too, in days past, the group would have shot away from me on a downhill, now I’m keeping up and even overtaking a few of the others.
I’ve noticed on my commute that I’m getting some of my old power back - I managed a very creditable 32mph after a sprint from the lights after Vauxhall Bridge - as well as being great fun, it blasts me away from all the chaos and jockeying for position that takes place immediately after the lights.
More updates to follow soon.
Cheers,
Iain
http://www.justgiving.com/iain_houston