Sunday 11 January 2009

The Poor Student 200

Thank you, thank you to the fantastic Fabulous Faccombe Four - and Mercury! No way would I have completed this ride without them! Navigation, company, chats, light! I have only ever cycled at night in a group: Dun Run, FNRttCs and this one, and although I love it, I also find it scary at times. The thought of night riding on my own scares me a lot. Maybe the Willy Warmer will provide me with an opportunity to overcome my fears?

It was a great route, weather better than expected, hills not as bad as expected. I am very pleased with how it went, but it was tough. Its only the first in the season, and fitness and endurance will get better. But for now, I don't know how I will ever do a 400.

We started at 8 AM, cycled from Oxford to Shrivenham, to Malmesbury, to Chipping Campden and back to Oxford arriving just before 9.30 PM. The final control closed at 10.25.

I am very tired. Didn't sleep very well - how is that possible?

The Faccombe Four






LEE and Mercury

2 comments:

Dave urban_biker (yacf) said...

I think the Poor Student was a bit of a "wake-up call" for all of us. It was cold and mucky and the start of the season so we were all relatively unfit.

Yes, there are ways we can improve and speed things up by working as a team but what is surprising is how quickly fitness builds over a season. I remember last year struggling around the Denmead 200k and thinking I would have no hope of completing 300k. By the time I got to 300k I found it relatively OK.

Need to do some more rides between now and BCM though - otherwise that ride will be very very tough.

Best of luck with your LEL ambitions Els

Chillmoister said...

Hi Els ...just discovered your Blog ....that's quite a timetable of rides ...good luck :-) See you in a few weeks for the Kenntt Run ..happy pedlaling ...chillmoister