I've lost track of what week it is in my SNOD training schedule mainly because I don't have a schedule. Nevertheless after last week's uneventful week due to work commitments I was back pushing myself to my limits on Sunday. It was the Bucks100 (miles) cyclesportive which I was riding on the EllitptiGO with my mate Dave who was pacing me on his Canyon carbon racer. I wanted to go sub 7hrs which is an average speed of 15mph. There were 3 stops on route for fueling and filling water bottles. We only planned to stop at one of them at half way to refill are bottles. We had everything else we needed in terms of gels and bars. It was a good route through rural buckinghamshire passing through many villages and hamlets. We covered the first 50 miles with an avg speed on 16mph which was well ahead of target pace. I wanted to push as hard as I could go and thats exactly what I was doing. The second 50 miles was inevitably a lot tougher not because of the terrain which was actually flatter than the first 50 but the head wind which was constantly in your face. My legs were definitely feeling it by now too.
However we pressed on and after a bit of a purple patch where my pace dropped to 12mph I found a second wind with 20 miles left to go. I pushed on now joined also by Alan who we had caught up with who is a fellow ElliptiGO rider. Its always fun riding with others especially at this stage in the race when everything is hurting.
The course was actually measured at 101 miles but I wanted to know my 100 mile split so kept an eye on the Garmin which we completed in exactly 6h:30m. I was well please with that. Six minutes later dave and I crossed the finish line. It was job done, a new PB and the second fastest 100 mile time in ElliptiGO history! Only bettered by the co-founder and CEO of ElliptiGO. I'll take that.
Its the Leighton 10 in two weeks time so its a bit more of the same with more speed sessions planned whilst also turning my attention to the long runs with just 6 weeks to go til SNOD
