Saracen RC 200km No. 2 permanent Audax
April 7, 2017•239 words
Juggled family and work commitments to get this one in. Had planned it for Sunday 2nd but ended up riding it Tuesday 4th April. Work in Meriden had me up near the start on the Monday. Booked a cheap room and stayed over. Still not picked up the regular miles again which had me doubting myself a bit in terms of fitness and endurance.
I set off at around 8.15 am and headed south from Bournville through Welford on Avon, Long Marston, Mickleton and on to Morton-in-the-Marsh to the first control at 60km. That marked the end of the wind assisted miles (NW 14 mph) for the day. Back on a wheel and eastward through Banbury to the second control at Towcester (122km).
Northwest straight into the breeze to the third control at Warwick services South (167km) before the final leg back to Bournville via Henley-in-Arden and Ullenhall on the same heading.
The route has no harsh climbs but still notches up 2201m in lumps on the way. 9:26:53 moving time / 10:46:40 elapsed. Averaged 14.2mph / 22.8kmph. 20 kmph is what I'm planning to average or beat for the LEL. Seems doable but not without a lot of suffering. That's inevitable over such a distance but could be lessened by cutting back on a few things and building up the base miles. All good intentions...