Century

Hugely upped my game yesterday with my first ride of 160km (100 miles).

Went out over Epsom to the back of Box Hill, then turned south onto the North Downs to Crawley before looping back to Leith Hill. Never done this climb before, and it wasn't too bad. Took the direct route from there to White Downs, which is still an absolute beast. After that it was the descent down Critten Lane (love the surface on the 2nd half of this road) and then the A246 towards Guildford before turning back along the A25 to Dorking.

I'd ridden 100kms by the time I got to Box Hill, so I fully expected it to be a grind, but I flew up at an average of 18km/h, passing lots of cyclists and having no-one pass me. Was hugely tempted to stop at the cafe at the top, but I pushed on through to Walton, over Epsom and back to Morden. Fitted in a lap of Richmond Park to finish (the deer are back - yay!) and then rolled home in massive calorie-deficit.

Stats were 160.4km ridden, 2,000m climbed and an average speed of 25.8km/h, which is really pleasing.

Found myself spinning at a high cadence for most of the ride, which seemed very comfortable.

Need to work on my nutrition though. One-and-a-half energy bars, an energy gel and a small pack of Haribo is not ideal for getting you round a circuit like this.

Despite another day of sunshine, am taking a day off the bike today. Might wash it though.