This weekend is my last back to back endurance training weekend before the 24 hour in July. Although I have a couple more Sunday long rides still to do. It was great to get a good weekend for a change so today I had my shorts and short sleeved jersey on as I left home at 10am destined for the Great Orme.

I've always wanted to ride to Llandudno, circle the Great Orme on Marine Drive which is a spectacular road and then ride home again so training for the 24 hour has given me the opportunity to do this great ride. I stuck mainly to good roads as I am training on my 24 hour race gear of 90" (50 x 15) so didn't want any short nasty climbs as I can roll this gear up steady climbs relatively easily. I was aiming for an average power output of 200 watts as this is my target power for the 24 hour, so I basically focussed on maintaining the same perceived effort for the entire ride, which meant moving pretty fast on the downhill and tailwind sections but holding back on the hills, which can be hard to do on such a big fixed gear.

I rode straight down Chester Rd and overtook the long line of traffic from Tarvin through Vicars Cross to Chester. I went through Saltney to Broughton and then up the hill and past the cement works to Mold. I then took the main road this side of the Clwydian Range to St Asaph. this road is rough in places and goes up hill for a couple of miles to begin with and then there is a long down-hill for the middle few miles. I reached the 50 mile point in exactly 2hrs 30 minutes just past St Asaph so bang on 20 mph average and feeling very relaxed and in control as planned.

From Abergele to Llandudno is a roller coaster so I had to focus on maintaining a steady effort and the climb over the Little Orme was quite a nasty little bonk on that gear. My average sped was down to 19.8mph by Llandudno and this was not helped by masses of slow moving cars and people crossing the road as the resort was heaving on such a nice day. I resisted the temptation to buy an ice cream and have paddle in the sea and pressed on to marine Drive. The surface is a bit rough but the spectacular views and continental style coastal hugging cliff road more than makes up for this inconvenience. Also as it's a toll road (free for bikes) it's relatively traffic free and it's one way so you can really go for it on the fast down-hill stretch on the back side of the mountain. The view of Anglesey and the Carnedd mountain range was breath-taking today and I'd recommend this road despite the fact that it's only a few miles long.

Back through the crowds of Lalandudno and then back up the little Orme to Rhos on sea where I joined the coastal cycle path all the ay to Rhyl. On a quiet mid-week day this would have ben a nice ride, but today it was a nightmare with kids on bike dogs of leads and walkers who refused to get out of the way (think Greenway but 10 times worse and rougher surface). My average sped took a massive hit after the climbs and the coastal path so I was relieved to get back on to roads at Rhyl to get my speed back up. I reached Talacre just past Prestatyn at 94 miles and stopped for the first and only time of the ride to get a bottle re-fill at a garage. I then made use of the coastal tailwind to cruise back down the coast road to Shotton where I joined the Greenway. For once the Greenway was quiet so I just continued to cruise at 20 - 22 mph all the way to Guilden Sutton. I didn't fancy disrupting my rhythm going through the forest so went back home via Helsby and Frodsham / Sutton Weaver to finish off in Barnton with 137 miles on the clock in 7 hours and 3 minutes, so not a bad estimate as the target was a 7 hour ride. My final average sped was 19.4mph which wasn't bad considering 5876ft of climbing plus a lot of messing about through Chester Llandudno, Rhyl and the coastal path. My normalise power was 203 watts so pretty much bang on my target of 200 watts. Legs felt good, breathing was good and didn't eat or drink excessively so overall I was pleased with the level of control.

All I have to do now is another 7 hour ride tomorrow at a similar pace. I'm staying local tomorrow and riding the M&DTTA 100 route in full plus another 40 miles on top. Not quite the adventure of today but at the end of the day it's all miles in the bank.

Cheers

Dave