Oooo Me Clackerbag!!

Discipline: Cycling
Distance: 50 miles
Time: 3:17
Av speed: 15.2 mph

Some might call me daft. Heck - I'd call me daft! I haven't cycled for several weeks, but rather than start off gently with a 20 miler midweek and then maybe stretch to 35 today, I decided to go out and do a forty miler. Seemed like a psychological barrier. Then I thought "heck - how do I do forty miles?". I felt like doing two laps (see map - but two of the laps on the left) around Esher and Cobham, and even though I knew that took the total up to 47 odd miles, I decided to go for it. Then it was a simple matter of adding on a few extra miles to crash through the 50 mile barrier.

The ride started off well, except that my left quad had been twingeing a bit for the past few days. It was a bit sluggish going up hills, but overall not at all bad. I tried a new route out through Epsom, but messed it up, and ended up in the one way system! Still - not bad. I was soon on the road to Oxshott and cruising along nicely, although I don't think I quite reached the speeds I have done in the past. No need to push it - even at this point I was going for 40 miles - three miles longer than I'd done before.

I reached the ten mile mark in 36:20, with an average speed of 16.6mph. I put my foot down (can you do that on a bike?) and headed towards Esher at a fair old lick. All was going well and feeling comfortable.

the road out of Esher is a real switchback - a few downhills, but the road surface is extremely rough, and going at high speeds is just plain uncomfortable! My perenium was taking a lot of buffeting - not sure what to do about that - it's the roads really. Some are just so smooth that pedalling is no effort whatsoever, and the bike is smooth as silk on then, but other bits of road just throw the bike around and really stress the arms as well as the bum! There's also a lot of nasty climbs on this bit of road, before a long descent through Cobham, and the road flattens out after that. There's a few ups and downs from there to Leatherhead, and at this point I got a bit lost. I hadn't intended to go onto a dual carriageway (or maybe I had - just hadn't realised the road was that big), but found my way back onto the road to Oxshott.

Another rough bit of road here, and at this point I remembered Viz, and yelled out a phrase I'm sure I've seen it in "Ooooo me clackerbag". Not strictly accurate, it's the perenium, the soft spongy bit behind the aforementioned clackerbag, but ruddy painful when the road's rough. This became a bit of a running joke, and every time I went over a rough bit of road, I yelled it out again! This was fine until another cyclist passed me, and by the look he gave me he'd obviously heard what I said! We did have a nice little chat - he'd been down to the coast :o) There's a great camaraderie between endurance athletes - or to put it another way - nutters like to stick together ;o)

Anyhow - a steep climb in to Oxshott, and then off to start the second lap. I stopped at the top of the long descent down to the A3 to have more drink and some energy bar, as I was feeling a bit spangly headed by then. This in a way is rather worrying - I was only about 1:20 into the ride (half way point - shows how fab my time could have been) and presumably not using as much energy as running, and yet - I'm getting a bit of a sugar low. Perhaps the after effects of the booze last night? Average speed at this point was above 17mph - I was feeling strong. I didn't let up heading towards Esher, but this time the nasty roads and succession of tough climbs really got me. It was about 32 miles by this point, and I was noticeably dropping to a lower gear than the first time on this bit of road. I kept going - the long downhill into Cobham, through there and towards Leatherhead. I stopped just past here for a stretch and an energy gel, and had a leak in a bush! Then back on the back, feeling rejuvenated. I'd needed the gel - more spangly headedness, and the climb to the top of the last hill had left me quite wobbly.

The climb into Oxshott wasn't as bad as I'd remembered, and I turned right back towards Epsom. This was a tough bit of road - I'd avoided it the previous ride by getting lost and going back through Ashtead, but this time it really stretched me. The mileometer was on about 40 miles by now, and my legs knew it. I really lost a lot of time down here. Then I turned left instead of going into Epsom, and headed down towards Horton Country Park. The road here was beautifully smooth, and cyclign felt easy. The downhill probably helped a bit too!! I swung back into Ewell, but there was a road clouse, so I took a mini detour, and then headed left at the lights back towards Northey Avenue. A few wiggles here to avoid the hills of Northey, I headed towards Cheam Village and then right down West Drive, and then back along Mulgrave. I thought that I'd come up just shy of 50 miles, so went along to the far end of Worcester Road before turning back. It worked a treat - 50.02 miles.

Right now my ITB on both legs (but particularly the left) are quite stiff. The quads are sluggish but not achey. I have a feeling tomorrow may see a fair bit more stiffening in the ITBs. A swim seems a good way to get some exercise and loosen them up. I want to run at least six, if not eight on Tuesday.

Early night tonight - glad I didn't do the ride yesterday before M visited - I'd have been sod all use as company!