HotChillee training ride two

Vitus Bikes are proud sponsors of HotChillee’s multi-stage cycling events, providing each of the 20 ride captains with top-of-the-range Sean Kelly Ltd edition carbon race bikes for each of this year’s events. 

Vitus Bikes are proud sponsors of HotChillee’s multi-stage cycling events, providing each of the 20 ride captains with top-of-the-range Sean Kelly Ltd edition carbon race bikes for each of this year’s events.
HotChillee’s rides are some of the most stunning, professional and challenging rides on the global cycling calendar, and they include the eight training events in preparation for the Alpine Challenge, the Cape Rouleur and The London-Paris (L2P).
Each of the riders will be updating us throughout the year with their training ride diaries, the second of which comes from Ride Captain David Thomas.
“Prayers were answered for the second spring ride with temperatures well above zero, dry roads and only a very gentle breeze. It was going to be a good day.
The buzz around Carluccios before the ride was all about the new Vitus Sean Kelly Special Edition bikes that some of the Ride Captains were going to be riding. We were going to be joined in Group 7 by Dan Lawrence who would be on board one of these new bikes and it certainly looked the part.

The target for the day was to up the distance from the January ride by extending the ride to four hours over similar terrain to last month, while maintaining a similar average speed. So off we set, a gentle pace being set by Ride Captain Dan on the front. Dan is a qualified and practicing sports physiotherapist and is well aware of the benefits of doing a proper warm up before any training session. Twenty minutes or so of light exercise, gently building in intensity will stimulate circulation, properly stretch muscles before heavy work, thus reducing the chance of injury and give you a chance to focus your mind on having a productive training session.
An important consideration as we start to build the distance of our training rides is being able to ride safely together as a group. Riding as a nice tight group not only means that we can share and minimise the work that needs to be done but also makes it easier for other road users to overtake our bunch without getting frustrated and therefore aggressive and dangerous. So, keep close to the wheel in front, closing gaps as soon as they open, tight in to the left and two abreast. As if that weren't enough, for our bunch in particular, we have the added dynamic of cyclist and hand cyclists riding together. This is going to mean that the supporting cyclists (me included), are going to have to make a special effort to keep up with the hand cycles on the flat and descents while riding an easy tempo up and over the tops of the climbs before the hand cycles have rejoined the group.
So, sermon over back to the ride! Despite the beautiful conditions we had a few mechanicals, a couple of punctures (sorry, my front tyre has already been consigned to the bin) and Gordon's new innovation in saddle technology – complete flexibility to tilt and lower the saddle while you are riding. Not sure it will catch on! In fact, it turned out to be an eventful day for Gordon as he also managed to execute a perfect stationary comedy fall too.
Good progress has been made with strength and fitness in the group in the last month and the climbs passed more smoothly and quicker than in January. In fact, almost four hours after leaving Walton, we arrived back having completed more kilometres at an improved average speed (details here: http://www.mapmytracks.com/explore/activity/415997). Mission accomplished!
That said, we still have a way to go. Daily distances for The L2P event are typically 150-170km, divided into fairly even morning and afternoon rides. So start building up the distance in your training next month whilst introducing some form of sprint or interval training to help build your power to get you up the hills.
Good luck and see you next month.”