London Phoenix Easter Sportive - 24 March

Decided to do this ride at the last minute. All Easter the weather had been atrocious - rain, winds, grey skies, temps rarely over 5 degrees. But then for Easter Monday (24 March) the forecast was for sunny spells and max of 9 degrees. I just had to get out on the bike. But I should have stayed in bed...

The inaugural London Phoenix Easter Classic Reliability Ride is a 112 km (70 mile), or shorter 55 km ride through the Essex country side, departing from Fairlop. As I arrived at the start, the snow had already begun to fall.

We set off at 10:00am into heavy skies and driving snow. Conditions only barely improved throughout the ride. Settled into a good pace with the lead pack of about 10 riders for about 90 kms before being dropped. Slogged home over the remaining 22 kms. Overall the route was quite nice with a few little climbs along the way, but nothing too drastic or steep. Overall I climbed only 800 m according to my heart rate monitor.

Total time for the ride: 4 hours 15 minutes, including stops. Average speed of 28.6 km/h. Overall I was quite pleased, but need to develop my endurance to enable me to stay with the faster guys through to the finish.

Kit for Etape

I've sorted my kit for the race. Decided on the slightly garish all-white Liquigas UCI ProTour jersey and shorts; as worn by Danilo di Luca in 2005 (i think). Wore them for the first time on the weekend, and in the wet conditions they've gained a little bit of character. I can't see them staying white for too long, so will keep them for the major rides I think.

Geez I hope I'm on form for the Etape, otherwise I'll be easy to spot when I'm spat out the back of a group.

Transport sorted...

Well, Rob has come to the rescue. After all the problems we've had getting our bikes on planes, Rob has offered to drive our bikes in his Dad's van. I'll be co-pilot for the trip with about 6 bikes in the back. Should be fun.