Only two active days this week but I made them count.
Tuesday 26th April
Yes, Zwift Racing League. A flat course for sprinters with a kicker at the end of the climbers. It was tough.
Managed to finish 30th and come 7th in one of the sprints. Wasn’t really happy with that but again it was a bit warm in the office and I struggled to recover after big efforts. Thankfully only one more round proper to go and that is a TTT so hopefully no all out sprints!
Saturday 30th April
With the Lincoln 262 approaching it was time to see if I could get anywhere near the distance so a 100 mile ride was planned.
The weather was just about perfect – not too warm and no wind. We set out at a stead pace heading towards York for our cafe stop at Cycle Heaven. We made steady progress averaging around 17mph until we hit the city centre where we had to ride through some kind of regatta with boats and spectators everywhere.
The store on Hospital Fields Lane is a good one and the cafe didn’t disappoint. I have a bacon, avocado and chilli jam bun washed down with a very large Americano. Not a bad price either – I added a cookie and it cost £10.50.
Then we set off back and I felt my legs stiffen up at the 60 mile mark. Maybe we’d stopped too long? Maybe I’d eaten too much? Whatever it was I tried to battle through but as I edged over 70 miles I started to have a wobble and was thinking about abandoning in Boroughbridge. Every time I turned the pedals I thought my legs would cramp. I was in hell.
Boroughbridge came and I had a Calippo – it saved my ride! For some reason that gloopy icy magicness gave me just enough relief to ride the final 27 miles home. The legs didn’t even feel too bad on the way in.
They say team work makes the dream work and today it certainly did. The lads gave me the boost I needed (along with the Calippo) and we got it done.
Looking back with no real distance training I was pleased to get round averaging over 16mph and I think it stands me in good stead for the big ride. Going forward I’ll try and get another couple of 100 mile + rides in before the event and hopefully one of at least 130 miles. If I can do 130 miles I can do 160 – I’ll just crawl the last 30 if needs be!
Well that’s that for this week. Got some my final ZRL race coming up and hopefully the weekend brings some more climbs ticked off the old list. Have a good one!
The Yorkshire Beast 
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