Back on June 19th, I decided to return to my childhood home of the Isle of Wight and take part in a 50km off-road cycle race, and to hopefully raise some money for the British Heart Foundation in the process. It was a great fun day, and I highly recommend the event to any reasonably fit cyclists out there. I’m not sure it is for beginners though… If you are feeling super-fit, there are actually 75km and 100km routes also available.
Here are some statistics from the day in question:
- 37.25 miles cycled (~60km) – they seemed to have wildly miscalculated the course length.
- ~2500ft of total uphill climb – the hard bit.
- On the flip side, ~2500ft of downhill exhilaration – although also pretty rough, due to the terrain being stupidly uneven.
- ~2250 calories burned.
- 3 bananas, 2 granola bars and 3 energy gels consumed, along with plenty of water.
- 1 stop at mile 32 to replace my front inner tube due to a particularly nasty spike of wood.
- About a thousand* stops to open and close countryside gates to stop the animals getting into mischief. Well, probably more like 40, but it felt like a thousand!
- A total of 4hrs 42min of beautiful scenery, and some fabulous views of the 1754 yachts competing in the annual “Round The Island” yacht race.
- A 15 minute massage immediately afterwards that was more painful than anything I’ve ever encountered, but which meant I had zero stiffness the following day. Sports massage for the win.
Anyone who is interested can see the route from my GPS watch here: Garmin Connect Route for IOW Cycle Ride
