Another ride to and from Dad’s and an opportunity to test some more kit & tactics.
With 1667m of climbing over 144km, this is just over the 10/1 ratio that denotes a hilly ride. That’s a crude measure and it’s obvious that most of the climbing is in the first half, where the route crosses several river valleys. The hills are pretty steep and testing, especially the one out of Lyme Regis. The second half is much easier.
I’m lousy at eating and drinking enough, so for this ride I was going to have a try at doing it properly. Nutritional wisdom says that I need 85g of carbs per hour (1g per kg of body weight per hour). I worked out how much food & drink I’d need to meet that target and had 6 bocadillos, a couple of bananananas and 2litres of Torq Grapefruit energy drink in the backpack. I’d also chopped a 300g block of guava paste into four sticks, which I wrapped in cheese and greaseproof paper.
Each stick had about 300kcal and 56g of carbs. The cheese adds a bit of fat, protein and salt.
I managed to eat and drink pretty much everything I took – unheard of – at a rate of two items an hour.
The bocadillos were an absolute, unalloyed triumph. They’re delicious and very easy to eat, especially if you store one in a back pocket. The extra warmth softens them slightly, making them even easier to chew. I’ll be taking a supply on every big ride now, and working out how many I can take (or put in drop bags) for LEL. The leaf wrappings are easily disposed of, although I always felt a bit shifty doing so as it probably looked like I was just dumping rubbish.
The cheese and paste blocks were a success, although the paste is much firmer than a bocadillo. The combination of fruit and cheese was particularly good. They became a bit sticky in their wrappings, so I had to handle them carefully. In future I’ll make them a bit smaller. In fact what I could do is make up kebabs, with cubes of paste and cheese! That would be easier to eat as well. Obviously they’re no use for LEL, but for shorter rides I can see them being very useful. The paste is cheaper than bocadillos and the addition of cheese turns them into a really tasty snack. As with the bocs, I’d eat them off the bike very happily!
Torq Pink Grapefruit energy drink doesn’t need an explanation. It’s not cheap, but it’s tasty without being overpowering. I drank two litres of the stuff quite happily.
Did all this by-the-book make a difference? Arrived at Dad’s in good shape, but I can’t say that I was better or fresher than I’d be if I did my usual thing. I guess that the difference lies in how I would feel the day after. If the body isn’t depleted and wrecked it’s likely to recover better. It wasn’t a fast ride, but I had a lot of knee pain for most of it – likely because I’d put a new cleat on the right shoe. Once I got to Dad’s some judicious twiddling of the position sorted the problem, but on the ride there I was being a bit cautious and not pushing too hard on that leg, which explains why it was a slowish ride.
For the return leg I chose a more direct route using the main roads. Similar amount of climbing, but less savage.
There was a tailwind, my knee didn’t hurt and I was a lot faster.
I’d used up my supplies riding to Dad. I wasn’t bothered by calculating carbs this time and planned to forage. The backpack had 2 litres of M&S Lemon Iced Tea, which actually has more carbs than the Torq Pink Grapefruit! So much for science. It’s also absolute nectar – no ghastly sweeteners. I rode most of LEL 2013 on Liptons Iced Tea, but that’s been polluted with sweeteners since then.
Also on board, two spare bocadillos and a couple of bananananas. That’s not much really, but it’s much closer to my usual load-out. I also wanted to ride within myself, to burn off fat rather than fuel and apart from a Gregg’s cheese baguette half way round, that was all I had.
Took it steady on the hills and got home feeling that I hadn’t pushed myself too hard and that I could have ridden faster if I wanted to. That’s a win. My strategy for all of these rides and audaxes is to treat them as exercises in pacing, finishing in a fit state to ride another day, rather than being so wrecked that I need a day off to recover. I’m feeling stronger and my endurance is definitely better, even if I’m not quite as fast as I’d like.
The cheap and cheerful Not A Camelbak proved it’s value. It’s so much easier to drink more, especially after I fitted it with a better bite valve. Drinking more makes a big difference and if iced tea or Torq isn’t available I can fall back on things like fruit juice and Coke (full fat, leaded). By the end of LEL the contents of the pouch will probably resemble the dregs of a punchbowl after a very long student party.
I barely noticed the new Gyes saddle, so that’s definitely coming on LEL. Achilles is still being a bit skippy, especially in the smaller gears. He’s got a new chain and cassette, so it’s probably the cable. It either needs tightening or replacing. The new Continental Grand Prix 5000 All Season TR tyres I fitted a month ago seem very nice, although it’s hard to judge how fast they really are (or how reliable). The new cleat clearly isn’t brass – anodised aluminium I’d guess – so I’ll probably replace it with a better quality one at some point.
Well Chuffed Cycling 