The sound of the alarm at 6.30 on my day off didn’t fill me with joy and I confess my first thought was “do we really need to cycle 100miles”, but it was a fleeting thought and up we got.
Carsten loaded the car while I made porridge and tea, so I didn’t realise until we left that there was a layer of ice on the cars and he’d used de-icer on the windscreen. It was going to be a winter layer day.
We drove to the start point and kitted up. Carsten braved it in shorts but it was full leg covering for me, with toastie toes stuck to my feet and three layers of gloves for warmth and padding. Carsten resembled darth vadar with his buff up to his eyes but it was a good idea so I followed. Our glasses kept steaming up so they were pocketed for later when the sun came out.
Set off with the garmin and real maps as backups (which I left behind at the first tea stop), bit of fiddling with the technology but we soon had it under control. Carsten likes to navigate to give him something to do and I’m happy to just follow. Fingers froze almost instantly but then suddenly, bar one finger, mine warmed up nicely. I think the merino wool glove liners had kicked in and I wondered if you could buy merino wool body suits! Sadly Carsten didn’t fare so well in his slight old and worn gloves.
The route was recommended by my cycle club (Kent Velo Girls) and had been very nicely split into 4x25miles with a tried and tested tea stop at each. We added a short nature/nutrition/stretch stop in between each 25 miles too.
The air was nippy but the sun was out, it keeps you warm and makes the world look brighter. Cycling along quite country lanes on a sunny autumnal day with the Kent countryside rolling by takes some beating. Often the only noise was the sound of our wheels turning and the wind whistling through our ears.
First stop was Headcorn. It took us about 2hrs, a bit slow but we hadn’t pushed it. We had a lovely little table for two in the sunshine with a pot of tea and toasted tea cake. It was all so civilised, well until Carsten put the tea pot on his toes to warm them up! The shop was a fascinating little place, a large collection of witches hanging all over the place, for those that don’t know I use to have a few myself. I could have sat there longer but there was a matter of another 75 miles to do.
With no mechanical, navigation or personal issues, we arrived at the half way point of Romney Marsh feeling really rather good. We’ve been shattered at the end of our two previous bike rides of this length. Though they were hillier, they were also a few months ago so hopefully we’ve got fitter and more competent on the bike.
Another table in the sunshine for lunch. Two old boys left the café commenting on how lovely their shepherds pie was and how good the about to be consumed whiskeys would also be. I had to comment on how good that sounded and though we were welcomed to join them we knew we couldn’t. It did however get Carsten to dreaming about a celebratory glass of Brandy and he vowed to stop off on the way home and buy a bottle.
We’d warmed up nicely by now but the wind and cloud increased as we left Romney. We made it to around 60 miles before my chain came off and it then happened twice to both of us. But they were the only hitches for the entire journey so not bad at all.
Third and final tea stop was a very funky garden centre in Biddenden. Carsten took a shine to the sound of it and said he’d like to live in a place with such a great name. However we didn’t get to see the town itself so we won’t be moving just yet. Third and final table for two in the sun, surrounded by plants, Buddha’s and wind chimes…it was just too good to be true.
We set off happy we only had 25miles to go, but not under estimating how hard that might be. Things were starting to ache. Shoulders and butt for me, legs for Carsten.
Discussing my shoulder issues with a fellow cyclist last week she recommended imagining holding a lemon under your armpits. I added that piece of advice to my previously identified turtle neck posture and spent the entire 100 miles with the mantra of “turtle and lemons”. Still, it must have worked as my shoulders weren’t too bad when I finished. Though there’s still room for improvement and I hope the stance becomes natural soon as I was pretty fed up with lemons by the end.
The route was pretty flat so plenty of opportunities to practice on the aero bars, though I’m not sure what to do with the turtles and lemons in that position. It feels quite comfy and it’s always good to change position for a while. I’m sure more practice is required though to perfect it for race day.
The quiet lanes and long distances provide ample thinking time and we turned our thoughts to race day timings. We’re both expecting to finish in around 15hrs, though I think Carsten will be nearer 13. I’d love to do it quicker as 15hrs is a long time to be exercising.
I flagged a few times and was disappointed I was lacking energy and lagging behind. I’d had bars, drinks, gels and food so not sure why. For the last few miles the peaceful lanes had gone and we were back with rush hour traffic, a rude awakening. I’d had enough and was looking forward to finishing. We both hoped we’d hit the hundred mile mark and not have to do laps round the block to reach the target (we’d cut 5k off the route in Romney). We were in luck, we did 100.5miles! I was pleased to get off the bike, though it wasn’t easy, the legs were more tired than I’d thought. We stretched a little, packed up and sat in the car with huge sighs. Could we run a marathon now? No way, could we run? Yes, not far, but we could have run and our legs would have welcomed the change in motion.
The next time we hit a 100 miles will probably be on race day. I don’t think our training takes us back to that distance. And of course on the day we will need to push on to 112miles. Sadly it won’t be flat and we won’t have time for tea. But it should be pretty, the roads will be closed and as it’s in Germany I’m not expecting to see any pot holes. I’ll be praying it’s dry and sunny.
Overall a fantastic day, it was pretty perfect and we feel very pleased with ourselves. Carsten got his brandy and I had a port. I lost 4.5llbs on the day so more cake for me!
Total cycle time: 7.05 hrs, Overall time 9hrs.
