Chiltern 100 reccie

I took some time off work on Thursday before our baby son Jasper is born (due Friday) to enjoy the weather and go for a long ride on the ElliptiGO. The plan was to join onto the Chiltern 100 route which passes close to where I live and long it out along the Chilterns as far as Whiteleaf Hill.

It was a great ride and I now know in no uncertain terms how tough the Chiltern100 is going to be. The whole route has 21 climbs (see profile below) and looks pretty scary stuff. I tackled 5 of them on Thursday (Aston Hill to Whiteleaf Hill) on a 26 mile out and back route from my home. And even those 4 really hy home how hard he climbing on this event will be. But I love climbing and think it is one of my strengths so perhaps I've found the perfect event.




Chiltern 100 elavation profile - 111 miles in total - 2,600m of ascent

  The steepest climb I ascended was a 14% gradient so pretty STEEP! They are generally not short either as once in to the Chilterns you are generally climbing up and over the ridge line to get back down the other side and then repeat this 21 times! It was actually the descents that were the scariest on the GO! The high riding position jut makes me more nervous wh flying down the backside of a steep hill. 14% gradients look even steeper when you are going down them!!

Getting to half way having scaled Whiteleaf Hill was a real treat. I came across the local pub where I pulled up and enjoyed and nice pint of full fat coke and a jacket potatoe and chilli. I sat out in the sun and soaked up the moment. So much the better as the alternative was sitting in front on the computer at work.

The return leg home felt half the distance which is always nice. This is also ominous though as the anti-clockwise direction of the C100 route is obviously the tougher route! Back home I had clocked up exactly a double marathon which made for a extremely satisifying and enjoying Thursday jaunt. I should do this more often!