Sunday 54 miles London to Brighton Event - June 15

We arrived home at 1:15am on Sunday after attending Andre and Sandi's wedding in Denmark. We had Dominos pizza just before bed to help replenish energy levels from the hectic journey.

My alarm went off at 4:15am. I couldn't afford to hit snooze but I still did. We finally got out of bed at 4:30am. Our bikes were delivered to Ryan for loading on the trailer before we left for Denmark so we didn't have to worry about it when we got back. I also managed to get everything together for L2B a week before so I didn't have to spend much time organizing anything. Now we just need to get ourselves to Ryan's.

The drive up to London was quick. At 6am in the morning, there was no traffic to worry about. We managed to get to the start line shortly before 6:30am. I was still feeling really tired from the lack of sleep (we had a total of only 7 hours of sleep in the last two days) I was hoping that my adrenaline would kick in once I got to the start line. Though I am feeling better than an hour ago, I still feel sluggish. A few miles in, we were still wasting alot of energy because of the numerous times we had to stop and go. The first service station was 10 miles in. After this point, the pack started to thin out and we were able to ride at a better pace. I was starting to wake up at this point and I felt pumped. I seem to lag behind going up the hills but I was generally able to catch up to the group while going down hills. At around 20 miles, I clocked a max speed of over 42 mph. That was thrilling.

We took our first break in a little over 28 miles to refill our water bottles, empty our bladders and eat a burger. I looked at the time and I couldn't believe it. It was only 9:10am. Same time last year, I was exhausted and resting in the 10 miles service station. But today, I was still full of energy. I was feeling really good at this point.

We set off after a 30 min break. I was able to stay within range with the group for most of the part, but eventually, at around 38 miles in, I was stopped by the marshal for a couple of minutes at the roundabout. I didn't think I was able to catch up, so I slowed down and went at a comfortable pace.

At around 45 miles was the start of Ditchling Beacon. This was a very long and steep uphill. Many people were pushing their bikes up. But I was determined to ride up every hill, including this one. On approaching the start of the hill, I shifted to the easiest gears and started my long journey up.

I almost put my foot down several times, not because I had enough, but from the lack of space to cycle up. There were too many people pushing up and those people took up almost the entire width of the road. Amazingly, I was able to maneuver through all those people and kept on going. But it was definitely not easy. I thought I was near the end on approaching every corner, but it was not the case. I was huffing and puffing up the entire time and almost gave up but I kept telling myself that I was almost there. I set numerous short distance goals and just concentrated on reaching them one after another. Slowly but surely, I cycled my way to the top. I had an enormous sense of achievement.

I saw Bo waving to me at the top. I made a gesture that I would keep going. I didn't want to rest now. It was all down hill from here. I was on cruising mode and took the opportunity to take in the scenery. Up to this point, I was too concentrated on finish the event. Now, I finally felt like I was able to do it and in good time. The last few miles into Brighton were quite slow. We had to do the stop and go thing again; this time, with the Brighton traffic. Bo and I crossed the finishing line together. According to my Garmin Forerunner 3.1, we finished the journey in 4 hours and 45 minutes and took a total of 5 hours and 35 minutes including the break.

I felt great! My two months of intense training really paid off and my performance dramatically improved compared to the previous year. It took me 10 1/2 hrs last year and I was extremely exhausted afterwards. We celebrated with ice cream, jelly babies, cold pizza and crisps. Not too healthy, but it was Father's Day, so Ryan and Emma were rushing back to their home alone kids.