For once, training has been going fairly to plan - hurray! Last week my lovely friend, Reinet (in the picture) took me for a 61 mile ride round all the Surrey hills that feature in Ride London - Newlands Corner, Leith Hill and Box Hill. It was brilliant as I realised that I can actually do hills (if not particularly fast!) Interestingly, I think the spin training has really helped me with the hill climbing - I only do half an hour a week (on the turbo trainer at home that my friend Ed very kindly lent me) so it doesn't take much time but it has definitely made a difference.
Annoyingly, by the time I got home from that ride, my left knee was quite swollen and painful, which is the last thing I want at this stage. I managed to get into see my physio a few days later though and apparently its just muscular which is good. So lots of stretching and not too much pressure on it, and hopefully it should (just about) be able to cope with the 100 miles. I was extremely sensible (by my standards at least) and took a week off cycling.
Well, with the exception of a (gentle) spin session on Thursday, anyway. As I didn't think my knee would take hill training, I concentrated on getting my cadence up in the spin session. For those who know as much as I did when I started training for this, cadence is how fast your legs spin round (i.e. how many rotations they do per minute). To be the most efficient you can be, you apparently want to be aiming for about 90rpm - this higher cadence reduces the forces you have to apply to remain at a specific power output. At the start, I had an average of about 60rpm which is pretty standard for most cyclists. Advanced and elite cyclists tend to be between 80 and 100rpm. Lance Armstrong cycled at an average of 110rpm! So I figured, if I can get my cadence up a bit, that has got to be a good thing. Nick bought me a cadence monitor (little gadget which you strap to the crank arm of your pedal) and its linked to my Garmin watch so tells me what cadence I'm cycling at. Being able to see my cadence and having a bit of time on a turbo trainer to focus on that rather than hills etc. makes such a difference - my average on my last (admittedly much flatter) ride was 86 rpm, so I'm frankly super pleased with that.
Last Sunday, Reinet took me out again - this time on a longer, flatter route - 71 miles to Windsor and back. The picture above is of us enjoying a mouth-watering cinnamon bun at a fantastic, very cycling-friendly cafe in the middle of Windsor. The buns are huge and I thought there was no way I was going to finish it. A few bites later and it was miraculously all gone and I was thinking about another one (I restrained myself!)
It was really interesting, and useful, to experience a flatter route as I don't tend to get much of that around the Surrey hills where I am. It was incredible to realise what a difference drafting can make, for one thing. This is where you sit behind another cyclist and take advantage of the reduction in wind resistance that you benefit from. I've always thought that it couldn't make that much difference really, but taking turns riding in front and behind over a 70 mile route, I realised just how wrong I was. It is incredible how, up front, you can be fighting and pushing yourself to keep going. Then you drop behind someone else and, all of a sudden, you are having to sit on the brakes to stop yourself cycling into the person in front (who is pedalling just as hard as you were). Studies have shown drag reductions of between 27% and 50% for riders who are drafting (depending on the size and on-the-bike position of the rider in front, likewise with the rider drafting, the distance from the wheel in front, the direction and strength of the wind etc.)
This is going to be really important for me, particularly at the start of the ride. I had already been told this by a number of people who have previously done RideLondon but I didn't appreciate how useful it could be at the time, or how much energy it could save me. The map below shows the 100 mile route and the route profile below that shows how flat the first 40 miles of the ride are in comparison to the hilly Surrey section.
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So, for the first 40 miles of the ride, I am going to do my best to get in with a nice bunch of like-minded (and similar speed) cyclists and make full use of drafting. And I am also going to be good and make sure I take my turn at the front (as much as I'm sure I'll just want to sit in the middle of the pack!)
Now I just have to keep myself uninjured for the next 10 days and make sure I get to the start on time ... surely I've had all my bad luck already?!
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