Ed, my younger son, is doing the Rapha Festive 500 this year. It's a fairly long-standing annual event where you have to ride 500kms between Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve. It used to be a bit of a niche thing, but, since the advent of Strava, has become a global phenomenon. It's certainly a handy counterbalance to the turkey.
Anyway, on Christmas Day, Ed got in touch and asked whether I would like to join him on his Boxing Day ride. He was doing a 100 mile loop from his home in Canary Wharf and would pass along the ridge near Titsey, which seemed a convenient place to meet.
It was, and was also the first indication of the difference in cycling styles from my generation to his. He sent me a link to a tracker, which would show his progress on my phone, and asked me to send him a text when I was in position, so that he would know where I was. It would come up on his display, apparently.
It worked well enough, a bit of finger trouble on my part where I rode down the road to meet him, but he was coming up another. We soon surfed over that one and set off at a steady pace.
Which was the next difference that I noticed. The pace was not so much steady, as metronomic. Ed's bike was equipped with a watt meter and he was wearing a heart rate monitor, and he rode at a pace which knew he could easily sustain over a long period. This was quite a decent pace - about 15.5 mph - but he never strained on the hills or worked too hard in headwinds. Just like Team Sky, really.
Anyway, round through Outwood, though Brockham, where the village store was open but the Reading Room shut, up Box Hill - Ryka's open but National Trust shut, and a very brief stop at the top for a feed (for Ed - I didn't bother. I had plenty on board.) and a photo.
Box Hill was like a madhouse. There were loads of bikes, all of the car-parks were full and there were people everywhere. Time to go time.
We parted at Headley - tea van open there - and I came home over Epsom Downs. I was able to have my bath and a lunch, and to watch his final miles on the tracker. 100 miles in 6:43, which would get him a CTC badge. My mileage was just under 50 miles, at 15.5 mph.
Funny that - but I was on an e-bike, of course.
Mark
1 comment:
Interesting what you say about the metronomic pace. I like the idea as I’ve always wondered why we appear to speed up on hills. Not straining on the hills or in a headwind sounds far more enjoyable!
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