Today I decided to stay a little closer to home.
With the RIDE Essex Classic coming up next Sunday, I didn’t want to do too much this weekend. There’s little to be gained from squeezing in another long ride this close to the event, so today was more about keeping the legs moving and enjoying a few familiar local roads.
Next Sunday I’ll be riding the Classic route at RIDE Essex, organised by Action Medical Research. Starting and finishing at ARU Writtle near Chelmsford, the route covers 68 miles with around 2,848 feet of climbing, following the quieter villages, lanes and farmland of the Essex countryside. There are two aid stations along the way and, with its mixture of flatter roads and the usual Essex undulations, it should make for a good day on the bike.
You can find out more about RIDE Essex and the Classic route.
Today’s route was one of my regular local training rides, making the most of the quiet roads around the Barling loop before heading back towards the coast and along the seafront.
I’ve come to call this route the Dog Bone, simply because that’s roughly what it looks like on the map: two loops at either end, joined together by a narrower section through the middle. It’s a useful route to have on the doorstep because I can get a decent number of miles in without travelling far from home, while still enjoying a mixture of quiet country roads and the seafront.
Today the Dog Bone gave me 33.29 miles, finishing in 2 hours 28 minutes of moving time at an average speed of 13.4 mph.
It was also a deliberately easy aerobic ride. My average heart rate was only 105 bpm, with a maximum of 123 bpm, and Garmin classified the session as Base (Low Aerobic) with an aerobic Training Effect of 2.8 – Maintaining. The exercise load was just 46, which was pretty much what I wanted a week out from the Classic.
The route was relatively flat too, with 188 metres of climbing, so there was nothing particularly demanding hiding in those 33 miles.
The weather was ideal for an easy late-summer ride, starting off pleasantly cool before gradually warming to around 20°C. There was plenty of cloud cover but no rain to worry about, while the light winds and gentle gusts made for comfortable riding conditions throughout.
There was no particular target to chase today, and that was really the point.
33 miles at 13.4 mph with an average heart rate of 105 bpm feels like a good place to leave things before next weekend. It was enough riding to keep everything moving without putting unnecessary fatigue into the legs.