A decent solo effort on the bike this morning. The clocks went back overnight so I took the opportunity to head out with an extra hour under my belt and get in some bonus miles with a few extra hills thrown in!

I’m not much of a mile muncher and I don’t ride enough hills to be good at them, so I could certainly use the training. My goal was the cover five of the categorised Surrey Hill ascents with enough miles tacked on to complete the Strava Gran Fondo challenge. I plotted a route that would take me up:

– Beech/Critten Lane
– Box Hill
– Coldharbour (Leith Hill)
– Radnor Road out of Pirbright
– Pitch Hill

(links to the Strava segments if you click on the above)

The first 60 miles were cracking (I even timed it right to meet my Woking CC crew at Peaslake) but I really struggled after the main climbs were out of the way and faded badly towards the end. Guess it didn’t help that I packed all five climbs into a 30 mile section of my ride! Also I must remember to fuel my longer rides correctly to avoid running low on energy.

Still a pretty good ride though, 88 miles with 6000 feet of ascent.