Ride London 100

Hey jazzythumper. I'm really sorry to hear about your dad and I can only imagine the stress.

In terms of the ride, try not to worry about it too much. In the grand scheme of things it's only riding your bike. I know the distance sounds daunting if you're not used to it (and apologies if my assumption is wrong), but it's very doable with even a modest amount of fitness. The important things on the day will be not to go off at a pace you're not comfortable at and to make sure you eat and drink little and often.

Try not to panic and 'crash train', as most likely all you will do is injure yourself and have a fairly miserable time. The most important thing to do now is ride as much as you can and make sure the miles you can squeeze in count. If you only have an hour free, find a hill and get some hill repeats in at a level that pushes you. Eat and recover well too.

I'm doing this ride too and am struggling through a knee problem that's dramatically reduced my mileage over the past several months. I know that a century ride is going to hurt and that I won't be riding it at a pace I'd normally expect to, but I'm going to just try to enjoy the event and those closed roads.

If you fancy a Sunday morning stretch at some point let me know.

Take care,

Tom

Thanks for the reply Tom, would love to get out on Sunday, but am stuck down in Somerset, there are lots of Hills around here, to I have started to do an hourish loop that takes in about 400mm of climbing.

It's all I can squeeze in, but it's not enough prep for the big hill.

I cycled the Olympic Road race course last year, could manage Box Hill, but not Leith Hill!

jazzythumper - sorry to about your dad.
I'm similarly untrained having just emerged from a months worth of heavy workload during which time bike was out of action and I didn't have time to fix it. finally got round to it last night so tomorrow plan to get on the bike for the first time in weeks! argh.
argh but at the same time, don't worry about it. I'm trying not to, at least.
did you ever get out to reccy the hills? I haven't yet but still want to, despite busy weekends (seem to have a wedding to go to every weekend in july...).

Leith Hill is my only worry from having cycled the Olympic Road Race route last year, took us about 9-10 hours including a pub lunch and only one lap of Box Hill!

Jazzy, Really sorry to hear about your Dad.

I'm doing a 100k sportif this Sunday from Dulwich and around a very similar course before coming back to Herne Hill. My training has been very haphazard and only went for my first decent run last weekend. I figure to start slow and get comfy and hope to get through it without too many errors. Will report back and let you know how it goes but i think that if you are getting some training in and doing some regular hilly stuff you will be absolutely fine. Around for training rides in London if you make it back up at any point.

Simon

Hey Jazzy, am new on here but am doing the Ride100 (and that FT sportive on Sunday), am based in your hood, and my training hasn't exactly gone to plan - work/life events got in the way. So I'm a bit nervous too. And my bike's not great...
Would be very happy to go on some rides with you over the next 5 weeks. I'm a steady pace cyclist, but need some hill practice, always! Drop me a line if you're back in London any time soon. Hope your dad's health picks up.

Hey there, Sadly my Dad passed away last week, so I have had little time for training, been out on a couple of rides, a 20mileish one last night (you can look at my stats and see how woeful my cycling was!) on this pace i'll complete the course in about 7 1/2 hours, although I did have to get off and walk up the big hill this time!

Could only running a double chainset be causing issues. My need that granny ring!

I've might be about on Saturday for a ride if I can get my bicycle back to London, is anyone interested?

So sorry to hear that, Jazzy. I may be around on Saturday - keep me posted on your plans if you do make it back and I'll try to come along. Take care.

I may have to single speel it, it's the only bike i'll have in London but some miles would be good nonetheless!

I see I can't pm you Bacci? Drop me a pm if you like?

Sorry to hear about the loss.

I have a Ride100 place but can no longer make the event. I have called the organisers and they have said that I can't transfer my place to someone else. The only option is to defer my place to next year and pay a deferral fee. What a load of codswallop.

If someone can figure out a way round this or has any contacts, then you are welcome to my place for free - jersey included!

I was wondering about that.
This happened last weekend I will be in and out of surgery for the rest of the summer so I'm defo out.

I'm riding for MHF and was told that my place and my sponsorship could be carried over to next year with no issues,
They didn't mention a fee.

Jazzy, really sorry to read your news, defer your place til next year.. suggest another weekend a gang of us ride with you to box hill and back if you want. last year when my mum died days before hell of ashdown, i made everyone promise not to leave me, it was still shit hard and they abandoned me 5 miles from the finish :(

almac x

Sorry to hear about the loss.

I have a Ride100 place but can no longer make the event. I have called the organisers and they have said that I can't transfer my place to someone else. The only option is to defer my place to next year and pay a deferral fee. What a load of codswallop.

If someone can figure out a way round this or has any contacts, then you are welcome to my place for free - jersey included!

Can someone else ride as you or is there an ID stage? Have a buddy who is keen for a place....

Anyone got the 6am start? If so, and you fancy sharing the load let me know.

How do you find out your start time?

They send you an email

fuck. last wave start, along with the other feebles. so, last to start, first to be diverted/swept..? I can't find a way of seeing what details you registered with them but probably put down quite a slow time. it also seems I've run out of training weeks. bah.

Dammit how are you getting to the start? not finding their road closure map hugely helpful, I assume London Bridge and Rotherhithe will both work for crossing the river but Tower and Southwark Bridges will be closed at the top end?

Erm, I had not planned that far- I have to be there at 5am apparently, ready for my 05.24 "insertion", which I am taking to mean "assemble in the starting area", then at 6am it's "let speed by equal to "smash it"".

Anyway, I had assumed that at half past four the bridges would still be open, or at least sufficiently open for me to cross them.

Well my start time is 7.56 so I'll be making my way after the roads have closed and potentially after the first wave sets off. I'll try and be a bit early to avoid that.

I must admit the numbers are making me nervous. All this assembling and so on. I just keep thinking of the marathons and half-marathons I've watched, and how little the massed activity appeals to me... I am trying to look forward to it as a valuable experience - I've never ridden on closed roads or in a big group, after all. But i'm having to battle some feeling of dread. And the heat. If it's anything like today I don't know if I'll make it.

Ah well. I'm off to norfolk for a few days, sans bike. My "training" is not going well at all. I just climbed a hill, by foot, in austria - does that count?

Not sure about the "specifity" part of training, but it certainly sounds like aerobic exercise.

I am in for this. Just rode my bike for the first time in a year, to and from work.
Am hoping 3 weeks of commuting will be enough training for this.

^^ it wasn't greatly aerobic but there was a lot of gradient involved, and gradient is my main nemesis so the more I see of it the better.

^ good luck! how long is your commute?

I think a saturday morning outing is in order. I'll post again on friday probably, but at the moment thinking of heading west from south london, around 9.30, if anyone would like to join.

Commute is only 6 miles each way but I figure the course is reasonably flat and with 20k entrants there should be no lack of big groups to hide in. Am reasonably confident that provided I eat and drink properly it should be doable.

@hoefla Do post on fri - am interested in a saturday run! What pace (roughly)? I do not want to slow you down if you're a speedy one!

@jazzy Ah, this is because I am new, I think. Shall drop you a line.

pace - unknown, I'm not very good with stats. but definitely not speedy. I do a 10 mile commute in 1h, although that includes a ferry(!).
at the moment I'm thinking I really need to do this, could do with practicing in the heat as well as reccying the hills. will try and work out a route in the next few days, I'm in a place of little internet at the mo.

Bacci where are you based? do you have a computer/garmin thingy? I am actually curious what >12mph average, on the course, feels like.

I've heard rumours that the DLR is NOT letting bikes on the trains pre 7:30.

Can anyone confirm this? I can't find a sausage on the TFL site..

well, it's a sunday, so DLR trains don't run before 7ish anyway...
often when there are bike-related events they decide to ban all bikes on trains, in a really unhelpful way. (yes I understand the logic but it still makes me cross).