The London to Brighton British Heart Foundation ride was my longest cycle to date.
These are my experiences and tips for beginners like me – I think this is probably jam packed with obvious comments, but I need these things pointing out to me as I am a bit of a cycling newbie, any tips greatly appreciated!
*STRAP IN – THIS IS A LONG ONE!*
TRAINING…………………………………………………
I hadn’t really done any training in the week proceeding the London to Brighton ride. In fact that week had probably consisted of the least sleep and exercise that I’d had in a good few months. About 3 weeks before the ride I had cycled my furthest distance to date, from London to Fleet, Hampshire, and 3 weeks before that I had cycled my previous furthest distance to date, doing a picturesque and hilly loop from Crystal Palace to Kent and back.
I had increased my distance each time I did a long cycle, but rather sporadically and not at an even pace and amount of training at all. I sandwiched in a couple of sessions at Cadence Performance in Crystal Palace beforehand as well. They have indoor Watt Bikes, so you can change your resistance, measure how evenly you pedal and change your pace. They do an early morning session called ‘Sufferfest’, where you follow a professional race on a big screen and match their resisence and pace – all whilst listening to up beat musics like Tina Turner. I thought that getting to Crystal Palace for 7am on a school day would be torture but it turns out that if the sun is shining then getting up and about is not so bad after all, and the hour session goes really quickly when you are trying to keep up with everyone in the class (ranging from hardcore cycle lycras, to older ladies, and to jerks like me). Turns out I need other people around me to spur me on. This is definitely a lesson I have learned in the miniscule amount of training I have done so far. So Cadence Performance is a place I would highly recommend for your training needs if you find yourself in the area. Delicious coffee and snacks in the cafe, cycle repairs, a cycle shop including clothing and accessories, a yoga studio and excellent cycle training facilities. And it is not intimidating in the slightest – bicycles and cakes: you can’t go wrong. I also didn’t feel too put off when the guy taking my payment said: ‘WOW, you look….RED’ after I had come out of the session and back into the world of normal skinned people. So that is a good sign – you’re amongst friends there. Friends with no tact, but friends never the less!
So that, along with pootling around London, was the extent of my training up to the ride.
Stupid Brain…………………………………………………………………………………
Foolishly, the night before the ride I had a couple of drinks and decided that this is the year I WOULD get into the world cup so I MUST watch England’s first match (that idea was short lived and kind of not worth it). You could choose when you set off from Clapham Common and we had opted for 6.30am. The football finished at about 1am and as we live about 6 miles from Clapham this meant that we ended up having less than 5 hours sleep. Therein lies another lesson learned for next time, for me – it is definitely a good idea to have a good night’s sleep before doing a long ride. Luckily this didn’t affect me as much as I thought it might throughout the ride – it only hit me when I stopped moving about 7 hours later at the end of the cycle. I then became a bit dead and so tired that I couldn’t really say words or have the clarity of mind to turn off terrible 90’s Jennifer Aniston films from the TV or finish my well deserved pint that I had been really looking forward to. But that was my own stupid fault. This ride is perfectly excellent and doable for someone with a medium level of fitness and the right amount of sleep! Being too tired at the end of a cycle also makes you less likely to stretch afterwards which I think is really important for next time. My calves and hamstrings were as tight as anything the next day and still are a wee bit. On my ‘To Do’ list I definitely have ‘learn more about stretching’.
My Bicycle & road bikes for beginners………………………………………….
I recently bought a second hand b’twin triban 3 road bike, so chose this over my hybrid to do the cycle on (mainly because I had left the bike lock key to my hybrid in Brighton the day before – just another tiny mistake I made in my prep for this cycle that I shall gloss over) but it was fine – it threw me into testing out my new bike and the world of road bikes head first – thankfully not literally. Here are a few things I learned about the good ol’ road bike on the journey:
Firstly, it is pretty scary to get into the drop handlebar position straight away. I am used to being way up there high, even though I have lowered myself with each bike I have owned – starting with a proper sit up and beg bike, through my hybrid, to the new tiny wheeled, tiny framed road bike – so this took some getting used to. I have discovered that you don’t get told when you purchase a bike with drop handle bars, that your default position is not actually down low, with your hands in the drops (that position is for making yourself streamlined in headwinds and to go super fast down hills – this takes some practice!) but actually with your hands on the hoods. I think I managed to get in the drops twice on the whole London to Brighton ride – and we went down a lot of hills hitting c.30mph at times (which was ace! But think how fast you could get in the drop position…eeee). So if you are new to road bikes and need some obvo advise like I do, then don’t make that your default position – you’ll get a bad back.
Secondly, and this depends on your hand size, I found it quite hard to reach my brake levers with my hands on the hoods, so I had some little shims added to mine – basically some little plastic block things that make your brake handles rest closer to the handlebars so you can reach them better when more upright. Genius! And they cost about 3 quid and anyone can fit them (so my boyfriend tells me but I am sceptical on that front).
Thirdly, know about your gears and how to change efficiently on a long cycle. On this ride, you would be surprised how many pro looking people, dressed in all the gear and on thousands of pounds worth of bikes, could be heard crunching their way up hills in the distance. Some poor bikes took a right beating – including mine because I am not used to controlling both back and front sets of gears. Obvious tip alert – but if you see a hill approaching then start to change gear as you approach and once on the hill do it gradually and gently. Also, if you stop at lights or for whatever reason, change to an easier gear just beforehand so that you can start up again faster and easier. Essentially, if you are on a bike that you are not used to changing gear on, go out and test it first (which I did a bit the night before but not enough – I am still getting used to my gears and feel a bit sad to batter my lovely bike so much). So in the future I will be more equipped and understanding of my own bike – it makes your ride a lot nicer and it doesn’t wreck your chain. Pretty simple really but something I didn’t really consider before I went out – and it seems others didn’t too.
Another consideration with a road bike are your hands. I had a bit of a hand ache throughout this cycle as road bike handle bars are a completely different shape to what I am used to and you have a lot more pressure on your hands. I am told that you can get some gloves that can help this for long distance cycling. Now – a specific glove for any sport freaks me out to be honest. It is a bit too Alan Partridge driving glove-esque for me, and I get CRAZY hot hands during such activities, but I really think that this could be an important adjustment for me to make. No-one wants to end up with long term hand/ tendon/ muscle problems just because they want to avoid looking like Partridge. I’m going to suck it up and test some out and I will share my findings on this blog….hopefully a pair that aren’t too ugly…eek.
The ride itself….
Other than a few new bike rusty moments for me, this route made me realise how much I love this bike and cycling. This London to Brighton route takes you across the city through beautiful coutryside with a variety of small and big climbs including Turners Hill and topped off with the biggest climb at the end – the Ditching Beacon which is a mile long slog with a very steep and continuous incline. It was such a nice experience to ride on closed roads and to fly down country lanes with a big group of people. There was the occasional stand still at certain points towards the beginning as people got off and walked up hills causing backlogs which was a tad frustrating as I really wanted to test what my bicycle could do, but I guess the glory of this ride is that it is for all levels. As we went on, we kind of broke away and joined a more manageable group size. I did this with my boyfriend and two of my bestest pals which was super. We found ourselves cycling together and chatting, then heading off alone from time to time to speed up and practice hill climbing and then re-grouping at the very many well stocked stopping points and having a nice cup of coffee and a WI supplied fruit cake. THIS is how cycling should always be. As mainly all of the experiences that I have are defined by the food or drink that I eat then this is probably a good time to go on to how well stocked I was for the journey.
Fuel!……………………………………………………….
On the bike rides that I have done so far, my staple snacks have been summer pudding flavour Mule Bars (look like something you find on the ground, actually taste quite delicious and are jam packed with good thangs) and SIS Go Energy powder, blackcurrent flavour sports drink for carbohydrate loading and fast re-fuelling (which had the tendancy to be a wee bit sickly due to the fakey fruit flavours – so I am going to try and make my own more natural drink I think). Saying that, I have found that they are great for energy and do keep me going. During the London to Brighton we stopped for a 10 minute break about 5 times, as I mentioned earlier the stopping points were great. So as well as nibbling my mule bars for energy (I got through 3 of them during the trip) I also made sure I had a bagel and coffee before I set off and a banana and a bit of cake throughout and drank constantly. I think that people get scared that they shouldn’t eat to much because they might get a stitch – this is wrong and not very good for you, you have to eat the relevent amount because you are burning so much energy. Saying this – I don’t think I ate enough because by the time we got to Brighton I was starving and gasping for a cup of tea! (I had been coffee guzzling for energy due to lack of sleep – which I hear is a good thing – this article says – I KNEW IT!) There are many great high carb/protein and healthy cycling recipes that I have seen around and want to try out, which I will be surely sharing in the future.
Wear……………………………………………………….
BUM ALERT! As is the way when talking about cycling I am just going to mention saddle bum briefly. I wore Decathelon’s cheapest ladies padded cycling shorts for this trip (I had worn them before in the past for the London – Hampshire so think I have used and abused these guys to the extreme now) they are no longer cushioned – definitely invest in a good pair of padded bottoms. I will be doing so next time. Say no more….just kidding, my bum was fine generally but I think it is worth investing a little more in a pair that don’t flatten quite so quickly. They were the only proper cycling items I wore apart from my helmet and this was fine for this cycle length. I do have cycle short tan lines on my legs however even though it wasn’t really sunny – just a warning – you do get weather beaten even if you don’t feel it. I am constantly on the look out for womens cycle wear that isn’t made from a hideous colour palette and covered in butterflies and that is affordable and not too cycley – there are some great resources like Cycle Chic and Total Womens Cycling who do many great reviews on nice cycle wear for ladies.
Look around you……………………………………….
As I said above, I love the the other things that come with going on a long cycling trip too like the views you see along the way, THE stopping for FOOD, being with pals, the pint at the end, as much as I love the cycling itself. There was nothing quite like the last leg of the London to Brighton just after the Ditchling Beacon (which I managed half and walked half – I was SO disappoined that I didn’t get the whole way up!) – bombing it down on the decent from the beacon with the beautiful rolling countryside and the sea in the distance just as the sun came out. Going through the last village where people cheered you on and encouraged you from the sidelines making you feel like a pro, and the finish line on the beach. I took many a picture on this trip as I always tend to do and made sure I looked up and looked around a lot instead of focusing on the direction I was riding. I am definitely going to do this during my training – make sure I go on interesting routes with nice things to look at, as well as focusing on the fitness element and training goals.
Afterwards……………………………………………….
As mentioned, I was so pooped by the end of it that I omitted a very important part of a long cycle – stretching. I did however DAYS later do a nice yoga routine for hamstrings as well as going for a bit of a swim – which did really help. I want to make sure I do work on strengthening my core along with cycle training. This is my favourite Yoga series so far:
Yoga with Adriene:
I like the instructor, she is more bearable than usual relaxing voiced instructers online. I have also seen some cycle specific yoga that I will be trying out and sharing. I don’t know enough about stretching before and after big cycles so that is something I shall be looking into for next time as my legs felt pretty tight for a while afterwards.
So, this was a bit of a hap hazard, learn as I go cycle in terms of my bike, knowing my energy levels, what I was wearing and what I fuelled my body with. But in terms of enjoyment it was sky high! If you fancy the Ditchling Beacon challenge or just like the idea of setting off from London and arriving at the sea – then totally do this route. The ride also raised 5 million pounds for BHF so was not only a fitness and endurance challenge for someone like me but well worth it for an excellent cause. It is just making me more and more excited about doing it every day for a week in Africa. AH! I’ll have another update for you soon.
Thanks for your time pals! X
I ha
ve Just done over 100 miles from London to Oxford then Oxford to Bristol this weekend – I will be sharing my many highs and lows from this trip soon. Hopefully this one will be shorter and include a sexy glove update.
BICYCLES ARE NICYCLES 