Reaching August’s goal in July
August 1, 2007 in Cycle, Uncategorized
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by Adrian Fitch
July was quite a month for me.
I spent over 66 hours on my bikes and covered nearly 1,600 km (1,000 miles).
It helped that I had the British Cyclosportive on the first weekend of the month and the Dunwich Dynamo on the last.
So far I’ve cycled 6,393 km (3,972 miles) this year which is 75% of my 2007 goal and we are only 58% of the way through the year.
I should have only reached this point at the end of August.
Having regularly scheduled events has helped me maintain focus and keep my momentum up but things should plateau for a while as I’ve only got three more rides to prepare for:
- Archer Grand Prix Chiltern Classic Sportive in August
- Southern Sportive in September
- Ride of the Falling Leaves in October
The Archer will probably be the toughest with 2,500 metres (8,200 ft) of climbing over the 175 km (108 mile) course.
It is revisiting some of the historic climbs used over the past 52 years in the Archer Grand Prix race, some of which were seen as being too steep or too narrow to be used again in a massed start event.
The Southern is likely to be the most fun as I’ve entered with a friend from work so I’ll have somebody to work with.
He is much more experienced – I just hope I don’t hold him back too much.
It won’t be an easy event with 1,583 metres (5,194 ft) of climbing over the 150 km (93 mile) course but it covers some beautiful countryside in the South Downs.
Falling Leaves is run by Dulwich Paragon Cycling Club and starts just up the road from home at Herne Hill Velodrome.
It is a relatively short event at only 120 km (75 miles) but has 950 metres (3,117 ft) of climbing and is bound to attract the cream of London’s challenge riders out for one last thrash before their winter break.
I doubt I’ll get close to 1,600 km in a month again but now that I’ve built a good fitness base I should be able maintain it.
My stats page has been updated.
3 comments
August 1, 2007 at 12:15 pm
karlmccracken
Adrian - Great result so far - thinking of going for 10,000km this year instead of your planned 8,000? It’s only another 2000 miles from where you are now . . .
August 2, 2007 at 2:16 pm
Adrian Fitch
Thanks Karl. I’m loath to change my goal even though I’m likely to reach it in September and will probably hit the magical (for me) 10,000 km by the end of the year.
Once the clocks go back in October I’m planning to back off from training and only commute. Those will then be bonus miles that I can enjoy without any pressure. Also, I’ll take a couple of weeks off in December when we go to Aus for a wedding and big family Christmas. It will of course be tempting to take my bike but it will also be nice to just relax in the sun and get to know my nieces and nephews.
August 2, 2007 at 6:29 pm
edward
Word of hard-earned advice - make sure to take a week off at some point in August. Give your body a chance to recover, and you’ll bounce back faster and stronger. Otherwise you run the risk of burn out, and you won’t enjoy your cycling so much. This happened to me in mid-June, and I had to take three weeks off before I could think about cycling again .