Monday 11 July - Epic Training begins....

Seeing as I have targeted the Epic as a ride I want to do this October I had better get some practice in with longer hilly rides, so yesterday I headed out into the Peak for just some of that.

Screen Shot of the ride and profile

It was a fantastic ride, staring out on the familiar slopes of No Mans Lane, Cloves and Spanker Lane, I then headed UP into Chrich and it's Tramway Museum .  After all that climbing I enjoyed the descent into Cromford before the long grind up Via Gelia and onwards to the A515, thats a tough slog!  From the top of there I was Carsington bound.  The legs were feeling good, I was really enjoying this!

Once round Carsington the going got much quicker, it was flatter and predominantly down hill and the wind was on my back, I was taking it reasonably easy and still knocking along at 20+mph.

Then came Drum Hill at after 57 tough miles, at this point I was still over 100 ft/mile of climbing and Drum was more of a challenge than normal, still I ground it out and pushed on once at the top!

Really enjoyed this up and down ride, very little in the way of flat roads as the profile shows.  That long climb up Via Gelia although not too steep is one to get the legs going, it just goes on and on all the way to the A515 and up to almost 1200 ft.

So, plenty more to do but this was a good start, I felt great when I got home, legs tired but a feeling of joy, it was a stunning day to be out in the Peak, Sunny but not too hot, coasting around country lanes, this is whats its all about!




Distance = 71.1 miles
Time = 5 hrs 1 mins
Ave Speed = 14.1 mph
Top Speed = 38.9 mph
Hillometer = 88.3 ft/mile
Max H/R = 183
Ave H/R = 153
Weather = Sunny, 22c

2011
Road Bike = 1295.3
Single Speed = 63.5
Fixed = 16
Indoor = 44.4
Total Mileage = 1419.2