For this weekends training ride I wanted to crank up the distance a bit as I’ve been doing plenty of short training rides, infact I have only totaled 2000 km in 2008 todate! There is a reason for this as next week I’m taking part in a 150 km cyclosportive called the La Jacques Bossis. Part of a series of cyclosportives which make up part of challenge sponsored by Uflolep.
The weather was sunny and hot so with 2 full drinks bottles I set off on a planned 120km circuit. Broken in to 4 sections each one would take an hour or a little over. Riding in the peak of the sun probably wasn’t the best idea but this was the only real chance I would get this weekend.
I started off at a relaxed pace, my aim was to raise my average speed to a bit over 25km/h and maintain that for the duration. When I want to concentrate on distance I have always found main roads key to doing so. Normally they have good surfaces and less severe gradients it’s therefore easier to hold speed and cadence. There are the downsides - more traffic, noise, fumes but this is rural France on an April weekend not that bigger deal I think.
Chalus marked the end of the first section. This town was final resting place of Richard the Lion Heart. Here I turn south for the next leg, 28km to Thivier. A short climb out of town then followed by miles of undulating highway. I soon settled in to a steady pace and the kilometers quickly clocked by my at time I was rolling along at 40km/h at what seemed an effortless pace. I heard a friendly ‘beep’ behind letting me know someone was there eventually a moped passed me giving me plenty of room. He could not have been going that much faster as minutes later he was still not more than 500 meters infront. Some of the road was dead straight and for a while this moped unwittingly became the pacemaker, maybe I should have jumped on his wheel when he passed?
Soon I arrived at Thiviers. A sign outside the town states the town it is the Foie Gras capital of the Dordogne. Like many, I like Foie gras, but like many others I’m put off by the thought of ducks being force fed to produce this unusual delicasy, in mild protest I decided not to stop here! I had covered this section in well under an hour and my averge speed was well up on the plan.
Here I turned eastward toward Nontron, this third section was on smaller hillier roads and the road soon decended and my average pace kept following the upward trend of the last 2 hours. I went throught the picturesque town of St Jean de Cole before the long climb which set the tone almost to Nontron. I passed a couple of groups of cyclists going in the other direction and wondered where they came from, possibly Nontron or Brantome? This was hard but scenic route and would certainly be on my regular routes if closer to home.
The hillier route reduced the average pace a little but I was content considering the terrain. A sharp upward climb into Nontron closed this section and I was now in the final homeward section. Feeling a little tired and getting low of fluids I took this section steadily and aimed to hold my cadence and average speed until home. 118km at an average of 26.5km/h not fast but endurance was the goal.
Other cyclists may relate to this scenario when I got home. “Have a nice ride dear?” Helen asks ” Where did you get to?”. “Yeah it was great thanks, Chalus, Thiviers and Nontron”. I reply, in a semi macho tone, knowing what the general reply will be. ”Oh right” comes the predicted response. Now normally I find people have great difficulty taking in the distances which can be covered in a quite afternoons ride. But not my Helen, after many years, now officially numb to this boasting, she would be more surprised if I had said I cycled up to the local shop and bought a newspaper! Oh well next time I will have to slip in something like “… and ordered a new lighweight bike.” and see if that slips beneath the radar. If it does thats as good as a nod isn’t it!
