It's been a busy and therefore disruptive couple of weeks. I was asked if I wanted a small part in Evita at the Hall for Cornwall and couldn't turn it down even though it meant a full week of commitment and I knew I wouldn't get much training in, if any. Sure enough I missed every session yet, worse than that, some bad news during an MOT on our car meant I spent the week beforehand cutting and shaping panels to save literally hundreds of pounds to keep the beast on the road.
Two weeks later and I've had to pick it up again, starting as ever with the indoor bike but vowing to get on my RideLondon machine at least twice this weekend. I had plenty of notice of the theatrics and so decided I would dedicate my time to the ride afterwards...which is now. I've recently discussed RideLondon with a finisher from last year and he confidently told me that 50 miles on Cornish roads would see me through 100 in London and, given the buzz of the crowd and the adrenaline, I can well believe that.
With that in mind I cheekily thought about a 50 mile ride today having done 20 on Friday, realising that it's too early in my training to really attempt it. I've struggled with 30 milers recently, putting it down to a lack of energy from food and so I packed some Soreen malt loaf, another suggestion from a fellow rider, and some sweets to keep me going and it really did make all the difference this time.
I'd been worrying myself about the route all week as I chose the busiest road out of the county excluding the A30 just so I could get the distance without too many steep climbs and it was definitely stressing me out. I changed my route the night before and mapped out a beautiful trip from Helston to Hayle through Camborne and Redruth and back. I was expecting it to take me around four hours with the distance eating away at my normal 12mph average but I made it almost to Helston with an hour to spare. What to do but go out again...I turned off by Poldark mine and stuck another ten miles on the bike, popping out at Rame for a gentle ride home.
I'm feeling a whole lot better having done it but am wary of how early it is and how easily I can get bored so will scale back the long ride to around 30 miles next week which should also allow me to recover from the extra mileage.
