The Dave LLoyd Mega Challenge

The Dave Lloyd Mega Challenge takes place on Sunday and I planned a 130Km hilly ride on Saturday as a final warm up for that. We gathered at 8am in Dorking and planned to hit all the major Surrey Hills with climbs going up to 21%. Riding with a bunch of mates who are better cyclists than me would help motivate me to get up the tougher ones, most of which are detailed on the rather good Jibbering web site (I can also recommend the home made sports drink and gel recipes). All went well until around 20Km in and I was chatting to Bob on a descent when we came across what appeared to be a scene from “Casualty” with a car stopped right in the middle of the road and a body slumped across the bonnet with his legs up the windscreen towards the sunroof. My first instinct was that this was some sort of photo-shoot but as is the way with these things I immediately realised it was for real and that the rider was one of our bunch, Phil who organises the rides. I quickly dismounted and rushed over to him where he was also being attended by Scott. He was still unconscious and it looked bad, my big concern at the time was him waking up and then falling off the bonnet. Sure enough he woke with a start and we supported him and eventually got him to stop moving whist we assessed the physical damage. He was remarkably sober and apparently, superficially at least only suffering minor injuries. His bike was a mess and he was more worried about how he was going to race in Ironman Switzerland in 4 weeks with nothing to ride on. We called an ambulance and the “comportement” (a French word without exact translation but roughly meaning behaviour) of the driver and the locals gave us a strong indication that the police needed to be called to ensure accurate statements and scene records. The paramedics took Phil off to Guilford hospital and he was subsequently released after a series of detailed scans. It looks like he will be OK and will still be fit enough to ride and swim this week in prep for his IM. A blessing really considering what had happened. The upshot of this is that we decided to cut short the ride and did a few of the hills on the way back to Dorking, a ride totalling 50Km. Strangely I was riding the hills well at the beginning of the ride but after the hour or so break my legs stopped working properly and riding was a real struggle.
We finished off up Box Hill which in the end was quite an easy climb; I put the machine in first gear and spinned my way up to the top expecting it to get steeper which it didn’t. I averaged 14Kmh up the hill and could have dropped a gear or two so that means I think I am OK for the early hills on l’etape which are of a similar gradient, if not a little less. I managed a 2 hour MTB ride on Sunday morning which compensated for not getting the full 130Km in on Saturday and I subsequently found out that Phil managed to get 100Km in on his old winter bike as well, so he really is strong.

Here is a profile of the Dave Lloyd Mega – those hills look quite steep but it is hard to say. I know the one at the end finishes at 25% so if I can do this ride in sub 8 hours then I think l’etape will be achievable as well.