LAWRENCE COMPLETES OUR 100 MILE CHALLENGE ON ZWIFT
100 MILES ON ZWIFT
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Let’s be honest, riding 100 miles on a turbo isn’t something you wake up one morning and think ‘My life would be complete if I could just ride 100 miles without leaving the same room.’ At first, when my colleague Henry ‘generously’ passed on the ‘great idea’ of doing it himself, to me, I wasn’t desperate to take it on. But, despite my apprehension, it turned out to be one of the most memorable training sessions I’ve had, and for the 6 of us that completed it on Zwift, we had a good rhythm and friendly group camaraderie.
The day I’d arranged to do it quickly arrived, and I had prepared myself mentally for what would be a bit of a slog. I arrived at the Le Col warehouse and set myself up for the Challenge, joining me on the online world of Zwift, were 35 riders all kitted up in virtual Team Le Col Kit, looking smart.
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We started at 200W, and the first hour went by surprisingly fast, with a big group of us riding round the London Course. It wasn’t until the second hour where people started to wish us good luck and get on with their day. Soon enough we had reached the three hour mark, and we were down to 7 guys, these would be the 7 went on to finish. It was here that riding on the turbo started to take its toll, having never done more than 2 hours I was entering unknown territory. The first thing I noticed was my knees, not getting the opportunity to free wheel or rise out of the saddle is quite unnatural.
The last hour went pretty fast as we aimed to try and complete the distance within 4hours, the pace was upped a little - but still we held onto our little group. Despite one rider ‘bonking’ within the final 5miles, we made it - crossing the virtual line in a time of 4hrs09mins. Overall it was a really positive ride, getting to know the others in the group and each taking turns. I thought it would be a little dull but actually the ride was a really enjoyable challenge, with some good humour and steady watts, this changed my view that the turbo’s only for short sharp intervals. This doesn’t mean I’ll be signing up straight away to another of Henry’s ‘great ideas’, but I’ll admit it was a lot of fun.
Thanks to everyone who took part, and a huge congratulations to the 6 who completed the challenge with me. - LAWRENCE CARPENTER
#LeCol #BackYourself