Course: London Classique
Distance: 6 Laps + Lead-in (34km)
With 25 miles of commuting in my legs I decided to have a go at this race tonight to see how long I could last. Its a popular race and attracts good riders so the pace was going to be high and therefore a decent work out.
It was pinned as 28km which I thought I might be able to finish but with the lead-in getting to the finish was going to be hard with tired legs.
The start wasn’t as fast as I expected. The courses or races with a lead-in never are I think. What do you think? Lap 1 was fast. My graph looked like I’d cut myself there was that much red. I was regularly surging above my FTP at the high end of 290w. If this carried on I knew I was toast. As we turned left into Whitehall for the first time the short 5% ramp saw everyone give it some beans and my legs burned hanging onto the coat tails of the group. We regrouped on The Mall and somehow others were able to sprint again. Ouch. The pace remained high on Lap 2 when some bellend called Hairaid or something messaging claiming the CRY0-GEN guys were ‘…being lazy’. That prompted an immediate response from me to shut up. Second time up the Whitehall wall gain, as it felt, and the elastic was stretching and I burned another match. I just wanted to hang on and do at least half way now. Gobshite was spouting again asking someone to close the gap and again he was told to shut up and just ride. Lap 3 started as the group piled through the finish line. I was toast now. Legs were burning, I’d done over half way and over 30 mins. It was a good HIIT session after my commute so I sat up and exited the race.
Thanks for the ride guys.
