"It's the damned heat Carruthers........"

Entering the final phase of preparation for the LR100 and we have the hottest continuous spell of weather for many years. Its been very hot out on the bike, something you only really notice when you stop pedalling though. Drinking plenty is key and riding a little more conservatively as performance does drop off in the heat. Hasn't stopped me at all though in fact I quite enjoy it and it may be similar weather and being prepared for any eventuality is all part of the planning process. "Fail to prepare and prepare to fail" I was once told, actually more than once!

Looking to hit the surrey Hills today and Sunday just to be prepared for what to expect for Leith Hill especially which I've not been up before. It always pays to know what to expect. Everything is going according to plan though, the final week I will taper down just doing a few much shorter rides and getting into the "Timezone" so going to bed early getting up and eating at 5am and then riding at 7am. Its going to be a good day!

On a different note I'm thouroughly enjoying the Tour De France this year, being able to watch the live coverage has been a bonus. Chris Froome has been outstanding so far but with 3 big mountain stages left anything can happen.

To sponsor me for the Ride London 100 in aid of Prostate Cancer UK and to motivate me on those hard training rides then please visit my fund raising page.   

Summer weather! A hosepipe ban is surely not far away?

Firstly thanks to all my sponsors to date, my total stands at £1165, it would be really nice to get to £1500 so if any readers of my blog have been inspired by it or would like to donate to Prostate Cancer UK you can do so on my Virgin Money Giving Website http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/AlanFretten

Summer is finally here and its been lovely and hot. The heat doesn't affect me anywhere near as much on the bike as it did when I was running the cooling effect of the wind as I fly through the countryside must be the reason. Making sure I drink enough before, during and after is also so important. I wonder how long it will last? Surely a hosepipe ban is on the horizon?

I love this time of year for sport too, I watched far more of Wimbledon than I have for many many years and it was great to see Andy Murray win. Its also Tour De France time which I have been watching since it first started being televised by C4 in around 1986. The TDF has to be the most extreme endurance event in the sporting calendar, how these guys do it day after day is beyond me and at such speed. I did a 25 mile Time Trial last week on a very flat course where I averaged over 20.5mph I was very pleased with my average until I watched the TDF average over 25mph for 122 miles on a not so flat course! Anyway 20.5 shows progression in my training.


Sunday was another Sportive ride, 85 miles starting and ending in Reigate, quite hilly and VERY hot, my Garmin recorded a high of 33c. It went quite well, I finished a few seconds over 5 hours and was one of only 10% of riders to achieve the Gold Standard time for the ride which I was very happy about.

Yesterday I did a 50 mile ride taking in a number of climbs in the area, I did PB's on 4 out of the 6 biggest climbs which again shows that the training is really bearing fruit, even better was how I felt at the end of the ride.

It's now less than 25 days until the main event, I have my final instructions book, its still a bit of a logistics exercise to get to the start and back at the end. I have a hotel booked near the start and I think what I will do is drive up in the late afternoon/early evening park at Westfield Shopping Centre and then at the end (after 102 miles!) I will have to cycle the additional 9 miles back to Westfield  from the Mall.

So I think I am going to be as ready as I can be for the 4th, a couple more weeks of training and then tapering down before the big day.

And finally I had a starring role as part of the (very small) audience in the recording of The Cycle Show on ITV4 last Monday. It is available on the ITV player and from 39 minutes on is my finest appearance :-) https://www.itv.com/itvplayer/the-cycle-show

A big update!! Milestones and records.

Its been a couple of weeks since my last update and quite a lot has happened. The most exciting thing was getting my start time for the RL100, its 7:06am but I have to be in the Olympic Park for 6:06am. That means getting up at 5am stuffing some food down getting my kit on and then leaving my hotel at around 5:50am. I hope its not raining and that its warm!

The logistics of getting to and from the ride are quite a headache. At the moment I am thinking I will be travelling on Saturday morning by train to Waterloo and the riding the 9 miles through London to get to my Hotel in Stratford. Then its a quick dash to the Excel Centre to register for the event in the afternoon. After the ride its just over a mile to Waterloo station to get home. Excited!!

Sunday saw another Sportive this time in Reading, a bit of a late entry really as I wasn't intending to do it because of an exhausting day the day before as the event photographer at the Chalfont Feast Day. The start was really hard, I don't think I had eaten or drunk enough the day before and so started out a little dehydrated and lacking energy which would have been ok had Streatley Hill not been 3 miles into the ride!! Tough doesn't describe it. Anyway got to the top after a fashion and the rest of the very hilly ride went ok. With 2100 metres of climbing it was a tough old day in the saddle though! The ride details are here.

Overall though the training has been going really well, June saw over 1000 miles ridden the first time that I have managed this in a month and I also completed a total of  over 5000 miles ridden on the road since September. On the 20th June I did a 25 mile course that I use as a timed route, I averaged 19.7 mph round the course by far my fastest ride to date. So its all looking good for the 4th August which is now less than 33 days away.

To sponsor me for the Ride London 100 in aid of Prostate Cancer UK and to motivate me on those hard training rides then please visit my fund raising page.   

Rain, wind and my first King of the Mountains

Since I started cycling again I have become much more aware of the weather, I know us Brits have an obsession with weather anyway but I now look at it in much finer detail. Things like wind direction, wind speed have much more interest than before. Wind is definitely not the cyclists friend and this week has been particularly unfriendly in that respect and for the first time I almost aborted a ride because the wind was so strong - I didn't but it was hard work with the crosswinds. One of the advantages of the wind is having a go at some Strava segments where the wind is shall we say, helpful. Strava segments are parts of rides that people have registered and then everyone who rides them can compare their times against everyone else. King of the Mountains(KOM) is the fastest person on that segment. I can proudly announced that I am KOM on the Swinley Road Sprint!! In fairness it isn't particularly well contested but hey! KOM is a KOM!

Sunday saw another sportive as preparation for the RL100 this time in the Cotswolds one of the Evans Cycles Ride It series. these are exceptionally good value as they give away High 5 nutrition goods equal to the value of the entry price which is already at a very reasonable £15. The course was a fairly flat 60 miles followed by two really big and at times steep climbs and then a gentle descent to the finish just over 88 miles in total.
The weather forecast had been dismal all week but the ride started in cool but dry conditions and at one point it looked like the sun was going to come out. It didn't last though and for the second half of the ride the conditions were absolutely horrible, heavy driving rain and lots of surface water, spray and muck from the roads. These were the worst conditions that I have cycled in and rules 5 and 9 of the rules for cyclists definitely applied. If you don't know what they are, then they can be found here!

I completed the ride a bit soggy but in a respectable 5hours 6 minutes an average speed of 17.3mph which is roughly what I was aiming for. A bowl of hot Chilli and a coffee went down very well at the end.

This last week has also been the Deloitte Ride Across Britain (John O'Groats to Lands End) ride. 984 miles in 9 days through some of the most beautiful countryside in the UK. This is a ride that I am planning to do next year so I have been keeping a watchful eye on progress. Most years they get a few well known people to ride it usually sportsmen or women. This year Kelly Sotherton (Heptathlete) and Danny Grewcock, Lewis Moody and Dave Flatman all Ex England Rugby forwards undertook the challenge and completed it! So well done to them. Rugby forwards are not built for cycling especially going up hills. Have a look at this video of Dave Flatman doing a piece to camera halfway through the ride. The fatigue is there for all to see, keep an eye on Danny Grewcock trying to open a packet of biscuits.














To sponsor me for the Ride London 100 in aid of Prostate Cancer UK and to motivate me on those hard training rides then please visit my fund raising page.