My longest solo ride

[Steve B]

Decided to go for a ride this morning but didn't know where to go , so set off from home (sutton) and headed toward the club run route.

As I was going down the Merstham drag I thought maybe it would be nice to go and see my Mum at Turners Hill , as it was new year. So I turned off and headed along the London to Brighton route, which looked decidedly different without the thousands of other cyclists along the way.

It started to rain and I thought maybe I had made a mistake, should I turn back
Of course not, I'm a bloke, I'm 'ard', a little bit of rain can't stop me.

So now I'm soaked through with half the journey out, and all the journey back, still to go. Physically I was doing ok, but not riding very often on my own, mentally it was starting to get tough.

Then I take a wrong turn and don't know where I am, mmm not good . My mum's only been there a couple of years and I always drive down the motorway, and on the L2B I'm following everyone else, so not concentrating on the bloody road signs . Help

Anyhow, I managed to find a road I recognised, turned onto it the wrong way for about 1.5 miles, turned around the correct way and ended up getting to my mum's in 2 hours flat. Probably 15 mins of that going the wrong way

Tea, cake and a tumble dryed base layer later, I set off for home, thinking I now know the correct way back along the L2B route . Alright so I got lost, so what. At least it had stopped raining

I'm now at a crossroads, do I go left, or do I go straight on? Ok straight on it is. 800m later I have a change of heart and turn back around, only to get to the junction again and decide that I was right in the first place . But as it happened, wrong.

When I was riding I was pushing pretty hard and my legs were starting to tire quite badly. By this time I had found myself on the A22, so stayed on it all the way to Purley, stopping off at a petrol station for much needed fuel. I got home in 1 hour 35mins, with the help of a tail wind.

I found the ride to be pretty hard physically, but much harder mentally.
I know its not a huge ride compared to Stu's Brighton and back or you guy's that go out and knock in big numbers of miles on your own, but 65miles (guess) was tough enough for me

Happy New Year

Steve

[Stu Merckx Man]

nice one steve, good for you for getting out there today. it can be a real mental battle inside when your tapping out a fair old pace in crappy weather and all on your own.

[Alan M]

Yes, I believe I saw you out today, and managed to take a quick photo!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tizer/2155165691/

[Andrew G]

Nice one Steve, I was going to go out today but woke up late with an attack of lethargy .

I quite like a fairly long solo ride where you can really let your mind wander, I find it's very therapeutic. If you plan any more longer solo rides the best way to approach it mentally, I find, is just to say to yourself "I'm going for a long ride and I'll be out for about 3, 4, or 5 hours". The distance doesn't matter and just head off in to the lanes in a rough direction of somewhere you know. If you get lost just carry on you'll soon see a signpost for somewhere you recognise. You just carry on and turn so your heading back roughly towards home after about half the time you planned to be out. By keeping the time fairly vague you don't get hung up about being late, or being out for 4.5 hours when you only planned 4. You can really empty your mind and relax, even if you keep the pace pretty good, and you can find loads of nice roads you never knew were there.

Added bonus is you sleep like a log that night .

[Steve B]

Don't be so silly, you can easily tell thats not me, his riding position is all wrong. And as for the shoes, well, nothing like mine whatsoever

Steve

[Toks]

[quote="Andrew G"]

[size=150]I quite like a fairly long solo ride where you can really let your mind wander, I find it's very therapeutic[/size].

[Robh]

Had to ride solo on Saturday afternoon as I was unable to join the club run even though I had every intentions of coming along but baby duties called as my son had been ill most of the night.

Rode for over 4 hrs and headed in the direction towards Worthing, Brighton, Handcross then back home to Crawley. The weather very very mild with plenty of sun.

Rob

[-Adam-]

Welcome to the realm of the hard men Steve! So I take it your chat with David Kennett rubbed off the other day then. Now is the time to put down the miles so that come Palace time, you can ride, and ride, and ride, and ride!

Keep it up mate, you can't keep using the ''i'm twice your age excuse'' so is David, and he easily kicks my ass! Apart from in the sprints of course, although he does like winding me up by lunging for each sign we come across

[Gavin]

Its good to get out on your own.

You also tend to let your mind wander more as Andrew says which means you tend not to think about the pain!

[Steve B]

Not sure about letting your mind wander. All I was able to think about was how far there was still to go, and how much it was hurting and how tired I was .
I'm sure if I had gone a bit slower it may have been easier to drift off and think of pretty flowers and butterflies, but that may come with practice

Anyway, where do your minds wander off to

Steve

[Robh]

Steve, get the Powertap fitted that will help with the mind for the time being until the novelty wears off....

[Paul on the Pearson]

Happy new year everyone, I dont have one of these new fangled computer things at home in fact I've only just had electricity and running water put in, so havent seen the forum for a bit. I reckon the toughest thing about riding on your own is getting enough motivation to actually get out the house in the first place, once your on the move your ok. Found a hill I'd never been up before. The other day, instaed of going straight down the "A" whatever it's called out of Bromley I took the back roads through Hayes, thanks for showing me the way Grahame, out to knockholt. The brutish little hill is the one that takes you up to Cudhum from Downe and has got a nasty kick at the top, cant remember seeing a sign at the bottom, was probably daydreaming and not paying attention but there's one at the top. 25%.

[Stu Merckx Man]

[quote]All I was able to think about was how far there was still to go, and how much it was hurting and how tired I was .

[huw williams]

[quote="Robh"]Steve, get the Powertap fitted that will help with the mind for the time being until the novelty wears off....

[mrP(Boonen)VT]

Only 6 hours Huw?????