The Ride 100 approaches and as well as wishing good luck to all the BlackCat riders who are taking on the challenge – Dermot and Liz O’Riordan, Jo Van Velzen, Nicola Harries, Deborah Baxter, Yvonne Hume, Nick MacNamara – we hear from Ben Connolley as the event approaches. I have inserted copies of Ben’s March/April and May/June planners and anyone who has been coached by me will be familiar with the “Under FTP” engine-building sessions….FTP is your Functional Threshold Power.

The words in italics are mine. Over to Ben…

So, with less than a month to go until I take part in my first ever sportive, I’m starting to feel a little nervous. I managed to get a place riding for Macmillan at RideLondon; 100 miles on a modified version of the Olympic road race course in August. It’s fair to say that I’ve learnt a huge amount over the last couple of months. I always thought, having done a fair bit of cycling, that I knew what there was to know. How wrong I was! Some of the biggest lessons have come about purely due to spending more time on the bike: training, equipment, riding positions, nutrition and diet and how to actually ride hills are all elements that I feel I’ve only just got to know.

In terms of fitness, I’m leagues ahead of the condition I was in 3 months ago. I still find it hard to believe that I’ve come on this much with just two 1 hour training sessions in the week, followed by a weekend ride.

The second phase of the training plan, provided by Tim, saw the turbo session intervals get longer, while keeping the workout to just an hour. In order to get my heart rate into the right Zone,

I had to work harder, and on a tougher setting. I’ve seen huge gains on the turbo which has been a real confidence booster. Just goes to show what a structured plan can do – thanks Tim!

Midway through my training programme, I struggled with my saddle. I tried several but just couldn’t get it right. This led to questions over my riding position and, ultimately, the frame size. The longer I spent on the bike, I realised that there were several things wrong. This led to a gap in my training plan while I tried to get the problem sorted which, despite the shiny new frame, resulted in a great deal of frustration from having to pause the training. However, the beauty of Tim’s training plan was the “quiet”week at the end of a training block which enabled me to get the bike sorted without missing key parts of the training plan (most coaching works on a cycle of overload and recovery/adaptation weeks).

The next lesson will be riding with people again. Throughout my training, I’ve chosen to ride solo to enable me to work to particular heart rate zones without letting my competitive streak come out and start trying to race someone. Something I’ll definitely need to keep in check on the actual ride. Not getting carried away in the first half of the ride will be key!

Pacing is paramount in such an event – you have to know what you are capable of sustaining for the duration and, generally, things should feel way too comfortable for a significant proportion of the ride! We will hopefully hear about Ben’s successful and enjoyable Ride100 shortly!