RideLondon100

aclivity

Couldn't see a thread on this, so thought I would start one ...

I may have done something very silly. I've signed up to ride the RideLondon 100 next August, if I get through the ballot that is. My thinking was all about the closed roads in London, rather than the 100 miles, but as the enormity of it sinks in I'm wondering if I will live to regret it!

My current riding is between 5 and 7 miles a day, on a Brompton. This last year I have covered 980 miles commuting, lus probably another 150 or so at weekends, and up to 12 months ago I hadn't cycled anywhere for 20 years, although back then I was quite a prolific cyclist and did between 20 and 40 miles most days (not that this counts, to be honest; 20 years and several additional stones of weight make it irrelevant).

So, assuming I get through the ballot, I have 12 months to get into shape. Or rather, a slightly different shape, currently closer to spherical than I would really like. In that 12 months I will also need to get a decent road bike (100 miles on a Brompton may be a bit of a challenge), clothes (I commute in combat pants and Dr. Martens!) and of course, being altruistic to a fault, to get sponsors for my chosen charity.

Am I heading for a massive failure, or is this doable?

optimisticbiker

Not silly at all and easily do-able if you put the training in. A colleague of mine completed London Revolution (2days, 101 + 85 miles) on a BSO bought from Amazon with only an 8 mile commute 3 days a week and some weekend rides, the longest being 40miles and he signed up for that only 6months before. Admittedly he wasn't overweight to start but he was far from bike fit.

The trick here is to get into a training programme gradually extend your commute, find alternate routes to increase the amount you ride, not every day to start. Its not about how far but the quality of the miles you ride. Also try and find someone to ride with at weekends and gradually build up the mileage. You need to be aiming for a weekend run of around 50-60miles on a regular basis - 3 - 4 hours in the saddle - as you need to get your body to adapt to being able to be in the saddle for 7+ hours.

Also you'll need to work on your eating and drinking, make sure you carry enough to keep you going and get into the habit of using them.

I saw several people ride Lodon Revolution on clunky old MTBs and normal jeans/t-shirt, but its not to be recommended. Comfortable, bike-specific clothing, esp padded bib-shorts will make the experience more enjoyable and not memorable for the wrong reasons! There was one particular woman, I recall, on an MTB who was entirely spherical. She did make the end of day 1 in about 14hours but could hardly walk and was seriously saddle sore - a good example of how not to do it.

There was a whole posse of Bromptons on the Dunwich Dynamo - 120miles - so its doable on a Brompton. I wouldn't recommend it though.

*edit* Signed up as well...:)

sketchley

I think I may end up doing this too....

edit: entered...

Paul E

This is the cycling legacy from 2012 that Boris was banging on about, great!

Agent57

aclivity wrote:

Couldn't see a thread on this, so thought I would start one ...

I may have done something very silly. I've signed up to ride the RideLondon 100 next August, if I get through the ballot that is. My thinking was all about the closed roads in London, rather than the 100 miles, but as the enormity of it sinks in I'm wondering if I will live to regret it!

My current riding is between 5 and 7 miles a day, on a Brompton.[...]

Am I heading for a massive failure, or is this doable?

I hope it's doable - I've entered the ballot as well, and I also commute daily on a Brompton (10 miles total, spread over 4 rides).

optimisticbiker

You might want to look at this training guide:

http://www.action.org.uk/sites/default/ ... uide_2.pdf

as one of several examples dotted around the web... it pretty much says what I said but using more words

adm1

I think it's only 100km, not 100 miles.....

optimisticbiker

adm1 wrote:

I think it's only 100km, not 100 miles.....

The RideLondon 100 will start in wave starts between 06:00 and 08:00 on Sunday 4 August 2013. Participants will be seeded, with their starting position indicative of ability and fitness, to deliver a safe and enjoyable event for all. All participants will need to be able to finish the 100 miles within around 9 hours in order to finish safely in advance of the RideLondon Classic finish and ride safely within a large group.

adm1

OptimisticBiker wrote:

adm1 wrote:

I think it's only 100km, not 100 miles.....

The RideLondon 100 will start in wave starts between 06:00 and 08:00 on Sunday 4 August 2013. Participants will be seeded, with their starting position indicative of ability and fitness, to deliver a safe and enjoyable event for all. All participants will need to be able to finish the 100 miles within around 9 hours in order to finish safely in advance of the RideLondon Classic finish and ride safely within a large group.

Even better. I entered the ballot earlier today, thinking for some reason it was a metric century. That's me corrected, and a happy bunny to boot! I checked the box for riding for the BHF, so not sure if that's a guaranteed entry or not. I'm on holiday, so can't be bothered to read the fine print!

gbsahne001

Entered but haven't really thought about how I'm going to get there! Cross that bridge later!