Doncaster/Humber bridge/Doncaster

I jumped at the chance when I was invited out for a cycle ride with my brother in-law, Dave, last week, to ride to the Humber bridge and back to Doncaster.

It was a great ride which I really enjoyed and gained some insight to what it is going to be like doing long rides.

So far, I have only ridden a small number of 25 mile rides and was looking forward to testing myself on a longer ride.

There was a group of approximately 30 riders, a big group for me, who usually rides on my own! I rode around the mid-pack mark because I know that riding in the slip stream of another rider saves me around 30% of energy. I felt very comfortable riding around the 20/21 mph mark and realised after a couple of hours that when Matt and myself are doing long rides there is going to be no other riders to hide behind and that what I was experiencing is likely to have no resemblance to our ride!

Riding a group is ace, for a number of reasons;

1. Seeing the riders around me riding close together and keeping less than a meter gap between my front wheel and the next riders back wheel.

2. Having brief chats with different riders as we swap around in the group and listening to the chains running around the gears and the tyres humming on the tarmac.

3. The feeling of being close to other riders when keeping it tight to reduce wind drag and the actions of my legs, ankles and feet when turning the pedals.

When we got to the Humber bridge the group stopped for a snack that had been kindly brought by a couple of people who where acting as a back up support team. I found that eating often helped me keep strong and maintain good energy levels.

After around 60 miles I spent around 10 minutes at the front, which felt great. There was 2 of us side by side and we were riding at 21/22 mph, up hill. The reason why I wanted to ride at the front was to get a feel for what it is like to save 30% energy and Wow what a difference.

I felt like I had good power in my legs and I wanted to keep going, however, after a while the guys behind took over the front position as I started dropping back to have a rest tucked away in the middle of the pack. At this point, a warning sign started to come up as my legs felt very tired!! After a tough 5-10minutes and a banana my legs felt like normal and I was off again, feeling good and ready to ride for as long as I wanted.

I had a couple of draw backs on the ride. When you ride in a group it is courtesy to point out holes in the road, cars coming and parked cars which you have to pull out for, however, there at times when you don't see what is lying on the ground when you are so close to other riders.

For me it was when I hit a hole, so hard that not only did I get a puncture I cracked the wheel rim and then roughly 15 miles from home I ran over a large stone and punctured BOTH tubes, unbelievable.

When I have been going out on rides I ride without taking a spare tube and pump because I have a belief that by leaving them at home I also leave punctures there too. From now on, I will take a tube and pump as there are other factors that can happen which I need to be prepared for.

The journey took 5 hours 44 mins, with a 20 min food break. The distance was 91 miles, max speed was 39 mph, max heart rate was 167 and average heart rate was 128.

Good stats for my first ride over 25 miles!!