Benchmark Training Ride - the first "50"

On Sunday we did our first 50 mile ride.
The route was planned to go along the A30 towards Virginia Water and then drop off to Chertsey, Sunbury and Kingston so that we could pop into the Specialized Concept Store and Sigma Sport.

The profile was interesting, the first couple of miles took us to the highest point and from then it was mostly rolling up and down with a down bias until we reached Chertesy. The route from there to Kingston and back is , basically , flat.

Interesting trip out, linked up with a couple of riders around Shepperton and then I went a little hard on the front for several miles (mental note - don't do this on distance training rides, you idiot). A little shopping (overshoes, rain capes) and a nibble later and we headed back.

The wind (now a cross/head) had got up a bit and kept the temperature and speed down.

Climbing up through Virginia Water back to the A30 was pretty easy, but then the return to the highest point (just outside Camberley) was basically 10 miles of "up"...was just about managing until the climb out of Bagshot, where I had to climb off for a few mintues and some energy chews before tackling the last ramp to Camberley.

Having got over that, I got back into some rythym and the last 3 miles home were fine.

P managed fine the whole way round, I am the weak link when the road goes up.
This is being compounded with "contact patch" issues on my behalf.. not sure which of Saddle angle, bike setup, clothing, position etc are to blame, but OWWWW... the constant shifting to support this was tiring me out, with that and the last 16 or so miles basically being uphill, I found I was no longer responding with the bike and any bumps were catching me out and bouncing me into the saddle.

This is the main reason that my shoulders and neck hurt today as I was so tense trying NOT to get bounced. So...yeah...made 51 miles intact (mostly)..this was, for us, a benchmarking test as it's the longest we've ridden together and also the first real ride on the Roubaix (a.k.a "Michelle") and the Synapse (a.k.a "not named yet", but sworn "at" a bit)..

On the whole, we think the ride was a success and gives us a marker of where we are with 6 months to go.. much to work on..but ....well....if it was easy...etc....