The route of the Highclere run I will be doing next week has been published, along with the "gold" standard for vets of my age of 6 hours 55 minutes (equivalent to 27kph) As mentioned in previous post this looks doable but only just.
So yesterday I tried doing the full route as a test both of my speed and provisioning. I bought a "Camelback" which I filled with water and took 2 bidons with LucoSport. I also packed 12 or so grain bars (Jordans etc.) after reading that the first Brit to finish the Etape swears by them for long rides.
All went pretty well. I punctured but discounting that managed a pretty good average speed of 31 up to the first checkpoint at Petersfield. I find the next stretch across to Mottisfont the hardest, especially the first half as it is all up and down and this saw my average go down to 29. Nonetheless I was able to hold up and push over the final climbs just within the time limit.
I was pretty pleased with this as there was quite a wind blowing which may have given me some help on the first bit but was straight into my face coming home. On the day itself I guess we will form into groups so speeds should go up. Hope so in any case...
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