Mega Meon Sportive - Going The Distance

There are two things that anyone thinking about riding 100 miles should know before setting off. Firstly and this hopefully will be no surprise to any aspiring ersatz racer and that is: 100 miles is a very long way. The second thing that you need to know is that you do experience a degree of discomfort hitherto unnoticed during say a 100km ride. I discovered my discomfort threshold at the 76 mile point, after which I just focused on finishing whilst attempting to distract myself from a) the pain in my legs, shoulders and other parts, and b) the distance left to go until the finish. The latter part of this internal self agreed deal was more difficult to uphold than the former. I caved in with 20 miles to go and became manically obsessed with the decreasing figure; I was overjoyed to see the number fall to below 10 and in no small way was this related to the knowledge that the discomfort would soon end. At 62 miles, I felt great. I had enjoyed consuming a fig roll in a way that a gastronome would feast upon the finest champagne and oysters. At 76 miles, standing up on the pedals became necessary every 10 minutes in order to maintain sanity and a degree of comfort. At 90 miles, I felt like I had travelled through the obelisk (2001 space odyssey) and was a bit beaten about. My shoulder was aching like never before.

http://www.bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=581092

Pacing is very important in such a long event. In one of my weekly training rides I have tried to maintain a 65-75% of max heart rate (Zone 2) in order to build endurance. I knew that to survive a 100 mile ride and ensure a strong finish, I would need to operate mainly in zone 2 and 3. This proved to be very difficult. I got on to the wheel of a very strong rider straight off the bat and noticed that I was at 86% Max HR to stay on his wheel and whilst this wouldn’t be a problem over a shorter distance, although you may be a bit knackered at the end, all manner of problems could become manifest in the latter throws in such a distance event. In plain, if slightly americanised English: you will run out of gas.

Looking at my Strava profile, I didn’t break any personal bests, but rather a long procession of 2nd fastest times over a lot of the sections, an indication perhaps of the consistency of effort. There was headwind on the route down towards Portsmouth that had me struggling to find speed. This section was mentally tough but after hooking onto a group of riders, the time passed quickly and in no time at all I had gone from the 80 mile marker in pain to 95 miles with relief. The route was excellent I have to say and Wiggle does a very good job in organising the event. The Hampshire countryside looked glorious and with so little traffic was/is/ will be again a joy to ride.

Why is there always a hill at the end of every sportive? At least you know it’s the end I suppose and can theoretically throw everything you have at it. This hill, Southwick Hill, leading up to Portsdown Hill which itself looks over onto the island city of Portsmouth was 2Km long with an average gradient of 4.2%. Nothing horrific, but after 160Km it felt like a wall. At this point the route met up with the shorter courses and inevitably there was a long string of riders of all abilities along the road. I passed the now regular site of a larger gentleman in a Mark Cavendish world champion’s jersey. On this occasion there were two kings of the mountains. I passed by them too. Finally on to Portsdown Road and a swoosh into Waterlooville college grounds. I had completed my first 100mile ride and in a gold standard time. It didn’t feel fast but I was consistent. 6hrs of riding without a break. Surely I was now ready for the Pyrenees?