2011-07-16/17 Sat/Sun - Dunwich Dynamo DD19

I was already looking forward to this, but my accident in december means I'm not sure I'll be able to do it now, especially not at the pace I would have wanted. Current prognosis is off the bike until March, by which time my leg muscles and CV fitness will be a joke. Hopefully a bit of HTFU will get me trained back to 200k fitness from zero in four months but it will somewhat depend on what the docs and physio say.

Assuming the docs and physio give it the ok, it's almost certainly possible with some HTFU and depending on what your fitness levels were like before. Take the first month rebuilding general leg/ankle strength and a bit of fitness from walking, that still leaves you 3 months to get fit enough for a 200km ride.

I had two months off the bike away traveling around South America back in November/December 2008. I did plenty of walking but no cycling in that time and lost most of my cycling fitness. I had put on half a stone too (medialunas and empanadas).

I tried to ride a DIY 100 down to the South coast a few days after getting back home (just before new year) and had to give up at 70km (Hayward's Heath). Annoyed at this because it was just me being crap, I should have had some food,a bit of a rest, and carried on.

From then I put good effort into the commute (a flat 23km round trip) every day.

Audax wise, I then did:-

31-JAN: Willy Warmer 200
27-FEB: Brazier's Run 100 made into DIY 200 (250km)
15-MAR: DIY 300: Putney to Thorne (310km)
16-MAR: DIY 200: Thorne to Alston (220km)
17-MAR: DIY 200: Thorne to North Berwick (205km)
28-MAR: The Dean 300
25-APR: The Elenith 300
16-MAY: Bryan Chapman 600
27-JUN: Midlander Super Grimpeur 300
04-JUL: Dun Run and back home as DIY 400 (430km)
26-JUL: London-Edinburgh-London 1400km

Monthly kilometerages up to and including LEL were:-

JAN: 600.12km
FEB: 539.92km
MAR: 1306.3km
APR: 581.33km
MAY: 853.4km
JUN: 902.68km
JUL: 1979.61km

So, nothing to 200km in under a month, nothing to 700km over 3 consecutive days in just two and a half months. Nothing to 1400km in 115hours in under 7 months. All but the MSG 300 was on fixed too.

2010 I had done a massive total of 56km on the bike by the middle of March (due to the arrival of Baby GB in December). By mid June I had done a total of 800km on the bike and was able to do a 400km Audax around Wales (Snowdon & Coast 400) with 4700m climbing (on a geared bike though).

I'm not stupidly fit (I'm usually near the back of the field on an Audax) but I've been doing it for several years so I've got a bit of built in fitness and grim determination.