Haywards Heath Bike ride

alexslack100
Apr 30, 2018
2 min read

Boy was it nice to be back on the bike again – The day before was a lovely sunny day – today was dry, but a-little on the windy side with a threat of rain. I’d signed up to do the cycle with my old building pal Simon, who is just as competitive as me and a keen cyclist. He’ll be joining me and my brother on the 100 mile cycle in September.

I’d done this cycle 3 times before so I knew what was in store – there are a few hills, lots of lovely country roads and generally a really nice day out on the bike.

With the weather been mostly naff since the weather, I’d not got out on the bike so the thought of doing 50 miles seemed like a long way and the first 10 miles were hard going but for good reason. My Dad and I had tinkered with the chain and back wheel just giving the bike some post winter TLC but in doing so we’d tightened the back break… this resulted in me working much harder than I needed to to get the bike going. People were over taking me and I was struggling to keep up with Simon on the flat parts so at the first drinks stop I did some more tinkering and thank goodness was finding the cycling much easier.

The route takes in some lovely quite country lanes – one that goes past my Grandparents old house from when we were young children, so it’s always nice to take a trip down memory lane – but with these lanes tend to come the hills and it’s quite undulating for a good 10 miles – but I like a hill and felt pretty strong getting up them for the most part.

We reached the halfway point and I felt a good deal better than I did after 10 and we carried on our merry way – enjoying the scenery and the sound of the speedy groups of cyclist flying past – we weren’t racing today – just enjoying ourselves.

I was having a hoot felt strong and really wanted to pick up the pace for the final few miles but had to remind myself a few times to hold off and wait for Simon at the top of the hills – we finished together slowly across the line - for the last two years my brother and I have had a sprint finish up the hill to the end – with the score currently tied and 1-1 so I did miss that. But We’d had a nice day out and enjoyed our post cycle beers.

I felt good at 50 miles but know there is much cycling to be done to get myself in shape for 100 miles – now the weather is better, mornings and evenings lighter I’ll be able to get out more on the bike – it’s just hard now to gauge where to put in the majority of the training with an ultra coming up and I’ve also signed myself up to a trialthon so I’ll need to practise some swimming to!!