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4 June 2007

Review: Chiltern Hundred...

The Ride:

First of all, it was great to do a sportive without the rain. The previous three have all got progressively wetter and wetter. This one was done in glorious sunshine. Bliss. Well a little on the warm side – but you can’t have everything – and it’s got to be good practice for the likely weather of the Pyrenees in July.

The Chiltern 100 is billed as a romp across some of the toughest terrain in the Chilterns and, with approximately 250ish riders completing either the 100k or the 100 miler, I was hoping for both a good workout but also to experience riding in groups – something that had been lacking on the previous three sportives.

Departing Great Missenden Memorial Hall shortly after 8 o’clock in a group of ten-or-so we had not gone more than 500 metres before we hit Frith Hill – a shortish (c 500m), sharp (c 10%) rise – enough to blow apart the group of ten of us; so our group was now down to just three… We pushed on, got ourselves into a sustainable rhythm and started to make some good progress. Enough so, that 30 minutes later we managed to catch a group of five guys that had started in the wave in front us after they had paused for a mechanical. The group was working well and going along at an ideal pace – just faster than comfortable – but just slower than too tough. And pretty we’d reached the first feeding station…

Then came a frantic couple of minutes as I got my brevet card stamped, filled up with water, emptied energy drinks sachets into my bottles, wolfed down a banana and grabbed a flapjack – all the while looking over my shoulder to make sure the group that I had been in weren’t making a hasty exit out of the feedzone. All turned out fine, the group mounted up and I rolled out the zone firmly in the bunch, still chewing on the last remnants of a nutrigrain bar. In retrospect, I can learn from my feeding experience – previous events have been smaller in nature and as there were very little groups, the feedstations were pretty relaxed. First of all, I need to have my food better organised in my pockets so that if I need some energy drink powder I don’t pull out a gel. Second, it would help if I knew in advance of the feedstation what I want to get out of it (i.e. replace a gel and a bar, fill with water and grab a banana). Third, panic less. And fourth, do it all quicker. Simple. The last sportive involved breaks of 3-5 minutes (in fact at the first two sportives we had a sit down tea & bun in a café & pub respectively), this weekend it was less than 3 minutes, for next weekend I want to be ready in less than two (timing chips will at least eliminate the need to stamp my brevet card).robic the

The group continued on at a good pace – fortunately I was even managing too keep my heart rate in check and staying out of the anaerobic zone for all but the steepest of climbs. However, it was this second stretch that contained the toughest climbs and I needed to work hard to keep with the group. The climb of Whiteleaf Hill (1.2k @ 11%) was pretty tough and certainly very anaerobic, but worse was that there was no time for recovery – the 2k descent (taken at upto 60kph), took just 3 minutes and led straight into the ascent of ‘Wardrobes’ (1.1k @ 9%). Then Bledlow Ridge and then Kingston Wood, the top of which was the location of the next feedstation.
The second feedstation was busier and just as frantic. After over 100k and just shy of 4 hours riding I was starting to feel like there wasn’t much left in the tank – I filled my 4 bottles with energy drink, grabbed some gels, a bar, a banana and headed out with the same group which had now picked up a few more riders and swelled to twenty.

I was now at a point in the ride where I felt like I needed an energy boost, yet really didn’t fancy another gel or energy bar – what I really could have done with was something savoury. Nevertheless I managed to keep on sipping the energy drink and working hard to stay in the bunch. A couple of climbs later though and I started to lose touch with the group. This was combined with MM starting to get cramps in both legs so we sat up and rode steady to get through our ‘moment’. After a couple of steady km we built up the pace again in our push for home and it wasn’t long before were pulling into Great Missenden Memorial Hall (with an elapsed time of a little under 6 hours).

In summary… This was a great event, a thoroughly enjoyable ride and some great training/preparation for July 17th.

The Route:



The Stats:

Dist: 156.9 km.
Elapsed Time: 5:54:58 = 26.5 kph.
Ride Time: 5:44:42 = 27.3 kph.
Max Speed: 66.9 kph.
Av HR: 145. Max HR: 173.
Av Cad: 86. Max Cad: 122.
Ascent: 2,625m.
Energy: 4,632 KCals.

And how does this compare with the last sportive. Well…

Chiltern = 156.9km with 2625m ascent (16.7m/km). Speed = 27.3.
SWRC = 139.1km with 1783m ascent (12.8m/km). Speed = 26.4.

The Profile:
Please note the 20+ significant climbs. Not the Pyrenees, but energy sapping nevertheless...

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