Double Century Cycle, my first ever 200 mile ride!

After recently doing the 160 mile ride a couple of weeks ago I decided that I was going to have a crack at riding a 200 miler!

After speaking with my good buddy Alwyn and roping him in; I decided on June 7th and now I just needed to decide on potential route. A few days before the big day I decided on a route that involved heading down to Boston, the rest I could make up en-route! I agreed to meet with Alwyn at Great Limber, which sits evenly between us both.

The alarm went off at 5:30am and I dragged myself out of bed to get a substantial breakfast! I was now feeling a bit nervous about the challenge and after getting my gear ready, headed off to meet Alwyn. The weather was gorgeous although the wind was quite chilly, so took the opportunity to try out my new Castelli Gabba II which was truly fantastic at keeping the temperature just right.

We decided to head off towards the coast and aim for Alford, this gave us a mix of a tail and cross wind, although we also knew we would have to turn back into the wind at some point!

Alwyn was looking to try and keep our pace between 200 and 220 watts which seemed to translate for me a heart rate of 158bpm

Our first stop was Skegness where we stopped to refill our water and take on food, the place was packed with tourists! Getting out of Skegness proved to be a real pain and we had to retrace our route a good way before we could continue to head South towards Boston.

We held a good strong pace down to Boston and this saw us reach 101 miles and time to grab some more food and water and take a short break but not for too long! We then headed out of Boston on some of the straightest roads around with a cross headwind which made tough going; especially on the straight that lasted well over six miles from Frithville to Revesby!!

We then headed to Horncastle and then on to Market Rasen, all of which seemed to have an annoying head/crosswind. Alwyn decided at Market Rasen (135 miles) that he was going to head home and settle for a 150, he already had the 200 mile T-shirt and was mainly supporting me on my quest for the same which I greatly appreciated.

That left me at Market Rasen with 65 miles left to do on my own and so decided to do the Paul Kirk 100 km route in reverse with the Brandy Wharf loop to finish off! I was pleased with my pace and felt strong, however the headwind over towards Spridlington and Stow was a bit of a killer but knew once I had made it to Stow it would get easier.

The miles were slowly starting to tick over and now my objective was to crack the 200 mile point below 11 hours (riding time). This kept me pressing on, however at West Butterwick I needed to take a pitstop as my right foot was suffering from hotfoot something chronic! I also took the opportunity to scoff my face some more and finish off the dregs in my bottle. I called at the Co-op in Messingham to get some water for the last leg over to Scawby and around the Brandy Wharf loop.

Once on to the Brandy Wharf loop I was still pressing on well and the pain seemed to have just turned to numbness in my back and neck! I could see the clock ticking and kept on the drops eventually hitting 200 miles five minutes under the 11 hour mark. Chuffed to bits and the final mile was just a blur, my first 200 miler cracked! A double century, that’s worth a T-shirt. 🙂

Check out the Double Century cycle ride via Strava below;

Nutrition – I didn’t do anything particularly out of the norm!

• 

  Hydration!

  Breakfast: Crunchy nut cornflakes, boiled egg a slice of salmon, fresh orange juice and a coffee.

• On the bike: 2 x 750ml bottles with High5 EnergySource mix + 1 spare, 2 x Energy gels, 2 x Nutrigrain, 2 x peanut bars and 1 x banana.
• Purchased along the way: 2ltr’s water, a large Jamaican ginger cake, a tin of Dunns River Nourishment drink (strawberry) and a lucozade sport.