Cycle India

My first proper Cycle Around India blog entry and its about Cambodia, but heh the India challenge is still a year away.

Last Saturday (4-12-10) was the Angkor Wat 100km Bike Race, which myself and a few friends (the Weekend Warriors) had been training for over the course of about 7 months or so. I was the best prepared out of us due to a few fortunate factors: 1 – having a bit of a cycling background, although not having seriously cycled for about 7 years, but I guess the legs never really lose it; 2 – ‘not having a proper job’ as my fellow ‘Warriors’ would claim, thus being able to get out for training rides 2 to 3 times a week; 3 – not having to go back to England for about 6 weeks due to a wife giving birth; 4 – not having to travel abroad a lot for work, etc. etc. So yes my training was more or less as good as it could have been without becoming obsessive – although it did feel a bit like that at times.

I have been using DailyMile www.dailymile.com to log all the training and in summary before the 100k race last Saturday I had cycled 4529km over 66 rides which was 2.4 rides a week averaging 67km per ride (and a total of 730 donuts burned off!!). The last month or so I must admit I was getting a little bored so my regular 3 times a week dropped down to twice a week – the incessant strong winds didn’t help my motivation either… 

My average speeds had kind of fluctuated between 25 and 29kph, so my target time for the Angkor 100km race was 3hr 30mins. 

As the big day arrived myself and the other ‘Warriors’ gradually arrived in Siem Reap – our ranks being swelled by an ex Rugby pro and an ex French Legionnaire, as well as a friend from Vietnam, so in total we were 7 out of the 350 of so entrants. 

Arriving at the start line at 5:45am in the dark the nicest surprise was it was still, no dastardly wind to fight, a big relief from the previous months in Phnom Penh. And then we were off, being the strongest of our group I quickly pulled away from them and found myself cycling along at over 30kph – how long could I keep that up for?? After about 5km the riders were thinning out and I found myself more or less on my own with a small group up ahead which I couldn’t seem to catch – wanting to get on to the back of their mini-peloton. Fortunately after about a further 5km a guy went past me and I managed to tuck in behind him and benefit from his slip-stream and it wasn’t long till we reeled in the small group ahead. I’ve never been a road-racer, preferring mountain biking, but I must say I was surprised of the benefits of peleton riding. I was now in a group of about 10 riders and there were times I didn’t feel as though I was putting in that much effort, thinking I was cycling along at about 27kph, but looking down at my cycle computer showed I was doing 32kph. This heady speed continued as after the first 25km lap I crossed the line in just over 47mins. I was impressed and thought to myself, ‘Make hay whilst the sun shines coz I can’t see this speed lasting’…

Over the course of the second lap a few riders dropped away and by the time we completed this lap there were just the 3 of us, but still averaging 32kph – things were looking good! What pleased me even more was that the two other people with me where on top-notch, super light, carbon fibre road bikes rather than my heavy, full suspension mountain bike. Towards the end of lap 3 we caught another small group and as we began the last lap (still averaging 32kph) we were in a group of about 10 again. 

The start of the final lap I started to really feel it but just about managed to stay with the group, being given a little motivational push as I lapped one of the ‘Warriors’ – Tricksey had experienced a puncture and a short trip into the surrounding jungle with a friendly policeman to get it fixed. But come 85kms I just couldn’t keep up the 32kph average anymore and agonisingly I was dropped from the mini-peloton, having to really dig in as I saw them spin off into the distance… The last 15km was pretty lonely and hard going apart from a couple of interludes… With about 10km to go I lapped the ex Rugby pro and ex French Legionnaire with a big smile on my face, disguising the hurt I was feeling at that point. Then with about 3ks to go I thought I saw JH up ahead, the one ‘Warrior’ that would have been truly gutted if I had lapped him. Digging in I managed to get back into the 30s for a few hundred metres until I realised it wasn’t him and the motivation ebbed away as did the speed… 

But by then it was only a couple of ks to the finish line which was a really welcoming sight!! A quick glance at my watch I could see the overall time was good, and after crawling off the bike and flicking through the cycle computer functions I was really impressed when I saw I had finished the 100km in 3hr 13mins, 17 minutes ahead of my target, and at an average speed of 31.3kph!! Very chuffed and pretty smug is I guess how you could sum up my feelings. 

Over the course of the next hour or so the other ‘Warriors’ came home, all (bar Tricksey and his adventures) putting in performances better than expected… 

After a soak in the hotel pool, and a little afternoon nap, we all met up in Siem Reap town for liquid refreshments of an alcoholic nature that were well deserved and continued on late into the night… 

During 2010 the motivation to stay fit and cycle was the Angkor 100km cycle ride. During 2011 the motivation to stay fit and cycle is going to be my 2012 Cycle Around India 20,000km challenge…