Riding with a C19 Lockdown

In a Covid 19 year when all racing was off, it was an opportunity to keep ourselves amused with some challenging bikes rides. Anything that had the word ‘toughest’ in the headlines attracted out attention!

 

5^th February Madeira circumnavigation 9:05 166km 5065m

As always, our training for the up and coming season is kick started with a week somewhere warm and hilly. Madeira delivered on warm and over delivered on the hills. The rides were only up or down with big chunks being 20%+, blowing out tyres and brakes on the descents. One day we got lost at the wrong end of the island, leading to an epic day out ending in a crawl back to the hotel in the dark!

 

4^th March Mallorca End to End 7:14 156km 3958m

With Race Across Italy in the diary for April and Race Across the West in June soMe serious miles were required in preparation so a trip to Mallorca fitted nicely. The daddy of rides out there is a bus ride to Andrax and then ride back to Pollenca. The out and back drop downs to the coast were a mental battle with Sa Collabra as the last treat!

 

16^th May Round Rutland 5:38 165km 1691m

We entered lock down with the rule that you could only ride as two households maximum. For some light-hearted competition between friends, we set a contest to ride around all the villages in Rutland with a prize for the fastest and another for the shortest route. Just great to have sone banter and fun with friends amidst the misery of the lock down.

 

 

20^th June Summer Solstice 11:46 338km 1379m

By June the restrictions were lifted but all racing had been cancelled. Loz mentioned what fun it would be to ride long on the longest day and so the concept of this ride was born. After much detailed planning, we ended up with two groups riding either a metric or an imperial 200 for the day. For part of the routes we could ride together and enjoy an ice cream at Mablethorpe and fish and chips at Skegness. We were blessed with wonderful weather and made some great memories.

 

21^st July Peak Epic 8:12 229km 4165m

22^nd July Tour of the Peaks 6:59 158km 3100m

A google search ‘toughest Peaks’ yielded two results so just to up the challenge a gang of about 10 of us made the trip to do both back to back. The first day was a gnarly route around local back roads in a pretty compact area. The hills were super steep and relentless leaving us wasted but the end of the first day. Day 2 was a more classic route around the peaks with some challenging climbs but some respite between them. Nevertheless, we were so knackered from the Epic that only one of us (who only came up for the day) went on to complete the whole route, the rest of us felt like we had a decent day and headed to the bar.

 

6^th August Etape Du Dales 7:01 175km 3176m

We were on a roll now and during the search under ‘toughest’ I had come across a couple of routes in the Yorkshire Dales. A little less cavalier now, we resolved to do them on separate days and also to allow more of the group to come along for at least one of the road trips. Once again blessed with great weather we really did feel fortunate to drinking in the highest pub in England although it was our first stop after 4 hours of hard riding – we were very ready for it. 

 

14^th September Moors Struggle 7:36 181km 3860m

Last of our C19 toughest rides so a post ride night out in Harrogate was the lure for this one. The C19 social distancing rules were back on and we were limited once again to a maximum of 6 riders in each group. Kinda ended up being a race between the two groups as we messaged each other for cake meet ups but failed. This was a tough route with some classic climbs.

The meet up in the bar was more successful and some pushed on for a longer route back to the hotel with additional refreshments. Pleased I headed for an earlier night (as usual)!

 

24^th October Red Bull 24 hours 7:30 285km 450m

For all four of us, 25 hours and almost 1000km as we raced a virtual Zwift team TT. We were a team of 4 riding for 24 hours plus a power hour when the clocks went back, and the distance ridden was doubled. We entered as a mixed team of triathletes competing against cyclists so not so much about winning as just taking part. We split the ride into 30 minute stints, all out efforts then 30 minutes rest then go again. The other two riders rested up for 5 hours then did their on/off tag team. It was a long night and our power numbers slowly diminished as the deep fatigue and lack of sleep took their toll.  The team effort was just amazing to be part of with everyone fully committed to giving their all and when not riding, cheering on fellow teammates. The end of the race was emotional and much to our surprise we came 10^th out of 60ish teams. Made some great memories with great friends.

20th December vEveresting+ 13:28 253km 10000m

Last up for 2020 was the Everest challenge. The plan had been to do it earlier in the year but that proved not to be possible so nest best was to do it virtually. Simple enough, just on Zwift, find a big hill (Ventoux) and ride up and down until the 8848m is done. The bikes were all set, Game of Thrones box set locked and loaded so off we went.

To scale Everest, almost 6 reps of the hill were required and of course, we set off at a pace that was full of enthusiasm but without sense! The nest four were at a decidedly steady pace as the task started to wear us down. 

Once we got to the summit we ploughed on as planned to crack the 10k of climbing, slogging through the next rep and a half to get the job done and call it a wrap for 2020. We started in the dark and finished in the dark with a mixture of relief and exhilaration. 

Final target for the year ticked off:

Thats wrap for 2020

Distance	21,736.6 km
Time	850h 47m
Elev Gain	262,027 m
Rides	445

 

28th/29th June 2020 Nene Smarathon - Woodford To Wansford UK

The idea for the swim, like all of these things, was a throw away remark matched by throw away bravado. In the world of Covid 19 lock down, a race season with no races is a recipe for dumb challenges.

All swimming pools had shut down indefinitely so we embraced open water swimming as the only way to get wet and cold and call it training although we were not sure what we were training for.

The local tri club had a swim route on the local river Nene that they swam over the course of 3 months or so, roughly doing a 3km session each week, very sensible. A little rudimentary research and we had a route and a plan. We were acutely aware that we were not in the right physical condition to swim the 42km over two days so we did a couple of 6km swims as preparation....we remained hopelessly underprepared and hopelessly optimistic about our ability to complete the challenge.

We cobbled together a support crew on land and some canoes water based to keep us fed and motivated...what could possibly go wrong.

0900 treading water, posing for photos, brimming over with excitement only matched by our deluded confidence, after all, how hard could it be?

28th June Day 1 Woodford to Oundle 25km 7hrs 26mins

The four of us set off eager to crank out the kms and get to the first break for food at the hour mark. The time flew by and we were a little ahead of schedule. The picnic was all laid out for us when we pulled ourselves up the bank and out the water. Some craic, coffee and cake and we were back in the water 

By in large the day 1 went without a hitch, the weather was kind to us for the most part, all swimmers and crew were in good spirits, there was much hilarity, some surprise visits from friends en route, and we managed to avoid being attacked by the hundreds of Swans that we encountered.

 Just after the Oundle Mill I got a searing pain in my shoulder and it felt like a tear it was so sharp. I headed to the bank and just sat there for a minute or two to think what to do next. Ok, got it, swim one armed......nope that didn't work, plan B was to just kick but that was sooooo slow. Plan C just crack on and bear the pain.....ouch. Finally, take some salt as it could just be localised cramp. That got me back swimming with one and a half arms and there was only a 3km left of the session. 

After 7.5 hrs of swimming we reached Oundle Boat House, absolutely knackered and sore but elated at our achievement and super excited about the following day. 

29th June Day 2 Oundle to Wansford 18.7km 5hrs 49mins

We awoke to heavy grey skies, strong winds and a significant drop in temperature from the previous day. This was going to be a tough second day. 
Unfortunately it was going to get tougher for 2 of us. Over night it became apparent that Dylan and Zoe had picked up bad shoulder injuries on day 1 and to even start day 2 would mean months of rehab. So they did the hardest thing possible, stood on the bank, waved Dave and me off on the final leg. I didn't tell them I had been taking pain killers all night and it was touch and go whether I could carry on but with two out I was back in the water. I started to swim very conservatively and just figured I would take each km as it came and if the shoulder felt terminal then I would pull out. At best the shoulder was bearable and with the support crew and Dave out there I just had to harden up and get the job done.

The weather was a complete contrast to the first day, cold, strong westerly winds making the air temperature lower than the water temperature. The fatigue, pain and slow pace meant I ended up putting every layer I possibly could wear in the water and minimised the time on the bank, shivering cold. 

There was no show boating on day 2, just a dogged determination to finish what we had started. It wasn't fun, it wasn't great craic, it wasn't good training, it was just a mission to get to the end and call it a wrap.

We made it to the end and were taken aback by the number of friends that had turned up to cheer us in and share a drink and some celebratory cake. Note to self, don't be so dumb/arogant next time to think you can swim over 40km off pretty much no training....onwards