Prudential RideLondon 100 2013

Anna and me at the finish

I won't ever forget the freedom I felt careering through the traffic-free streets of London at the start of the inaugural RideLondon 100 sportive. "This is not a race" was our repeated instruction from the announcer at the start line, but I don't think anyone was listening.

I've done a lot of long cycle races, and had decided to take this one at a steady pace with my girlfriend Anna. I have no idea how it happened, but the adrenalin kicked in and we found ourselves racing each other at stupid speeds through the Limehouse Tunnel and along the Embankment until eventually somewhere along the A4 we called a truce - at least for a while. I was afraid we would be burned out, and would really suffer later, but this never happened. Being on the open roads with no traffic, and even as important no traffic lights, surrounded by other cyclists pulling the air around us forward in a Tour de France peloton style meant that though the speeds were high, the extra effort to maintain them wasn't proportional. So I felt great all day.

Logistically, this event was tricky for me to visualise, and plans were only formulated at the last minute - I was even wondering if it was all going to be worth it. To get to the Olympic Park by 5:30 I had to set my alarm clock for 2:30 - this is, only slightly I admit, the stupidest time I've gotten up for a sporting event. I left my flat and walked to the car past all the Saturday night clubbers staggering around looking for a taxi. Drove over to Anna's place and repacked the car with bikes. The roads were empty so we got to the next rendezvous point - Olympia, by 3:45am.

My cycling club, London Dynamo, had set up a meet point outside Pizza Express for all the west London participants. The plan was to go to the start together - someone knew a route that would avoid all the closed roads. I knew how to get to Bank, but wanted some help with the east London section, so this seemed like the best idea. But I had to think hard about what to wear. I expected a warm sunny day, so shorts, sleeveless jersey and sunglasses. But it was still only 4am. I decided to risk it rather than carry a jacket in a backpack, which in hindsight was probably a mistake; I'll explain later. I did apply my sun-cream in the dark though which was a good move :)

The group formed, and at 4:15am, on schedule, we set off towards Kensington High Street. I'd forgotten that Dynamo is a cycling club (doh!) and the speed we hurtled along at was a bit surprising - no mercy at the traffic lights - accelerate hard or get dropped! I'm fairly used to London commuting, but the dark glasses meant I had to hang back a little to watch for pot holes, so I needed some quick spurts at times. It was a lot of fun, and having been a little chilly waiting beforehand, I warmed up a lot immediately.

Racing through London

The Prudential RideLondon 100 website had assured me that there would be signposts to the start - I looked out for them, but did not see any, which was a bit disappointing. Joining the Dynamo train was therefore a good choice, and we got to the Olympic Park just after 5am, in plenty of time. This is where I wished I'd brought a backpack - I started to shiver in the pre-dawn as my body cooled down after the ride. A coffee and bacon sandwich helped somewhat, but then the sun started to appear and I forgot all about it.

Anna and I didn't have the same official start time, so we were a bit worried about how we might meet later if they didn't let one of us switch. We spoke nicely to the man at the gate and he let us go together, which was nice. The start queue was very civilised, the sun was up now, and eventually we got to the line and we were off. The first couple of miles was a warm-up, but soon we hit a timing mat and the official ride had started.

Getting to the first food stop in Hampton is a bit of a blur. Everyone was pushing the pace and it was impossible to resist. The Limehouse tunnel I've mentioned was a highlight, as was Piccadilly and the A4 Hammersmith flyover. All the stops were well stocked with the usual energy bars, bananas and drinks, but there were also gels which was great. We decided that this frenetic cycling was unsustainable (my fault, Anna, I think would have liked to continue) and so for the next couple of hours we kept it a bit more steady.

Box Hill

I can't remember ever climbing Leith Hill before, but if I have, it was never like this. It is narrow, and looking up I could see bicycles lining the road from hedge to hedge all the way up. I like hill climbing, and challenged myself here with a fast spurt, but it was very difficult to weave around the other riders. l did OK though, and it was a lot of fun. The next hill was Box Hill, and there was no possibility of getting a good speed up there, so we took it easy.

With about 70 miles done, and still feeling good, Anna took the lead and surprised me by deciding this was a good time to start pushing for home. I just about held on in her wake, until my legs got used to spinning fast, and for the next hour we took turns at the front on the largely flat roads in a chain-gang of two. It was only now that we fully realised that the road really was just for bikes - no cars anywhere. We were going a lot faster than the other riders around us, so we switched over to the right side of the road, which was almost empty, and barrelled along happily, overtaking everyone.

Medals!

Coming into London, we overtook our friend Libby. She was doing really well, but cycling alone, and feeling tired, so we stayed with her until the end. It was fun to wind down and enjoy the last stretch, along the Embankment and up the Mall to the finish line.

Official time was 5:49:59 - average speed of ~29.6km/h  - which is really good considering how long we spent at some stops getting drinks and food.

Links

Results: My number 16966 seems to be linked to Paula Robertson - don't know how that happened. General results page here

Photos at Marathon-Photos - for now.

Strava here