16 Laps of Richmond Park on a Fixed Gear

Worried about getting a bike stolen I bought a fixed gear to ride to work. I loved it. I loved it so much I broke down my Cervelo and sold it one piece at a time. This was simplicity. I felt as though I stream-lined my irrational purchases and then set about streamlining me. I started running before work in August. I would then jump on my bike to ride to work. At lunch, lock myself in the shower room and do hundreds of push-ups and sit ups. Ride home and do pull-ups while I was cooking dinner.

16 Laps Richmond Park

Yesterday I went out to do 200km or the Etape event distance (with much less climbing) on a fixed gear bike. I set off at 6.30am and it was like a private London all my own. The rain that had been consistently drumming every day for a week was gone.
I worked at a good cadence to be sharp by the time I got to the park. The park was pretty empty by 7am. I set off to do 4 laps-stretch x 4 (four climbs=four blocks of effort).

I was eating well and kept going. By the 8th lap or half way, I spotted Chris going the other way. We stopped for a coffee and set off for another 4 laps. The traffic and the wind were picking up. I had a low sugar moment and ate a whole bag of jelly snakes and drank the rest of my water. Just as I was starting to feel like I could push again, a suicidal squirrel ran straight into the side of my front wheel. I almost went down at 23mph. That would have really hurt. I still felt awful for the poor creature, I looked back and he was running up a tree. Whew.

I limped back to the start and filled the water bottles. 4 more laps and the 7 miles home would give me 200 km. My average speed was coming down. It had gone from 17mph to 16.5 in what seemed like 4 laps. I dug in on the last lap and got it back to 16.6. I turned off the Garmin so I could ride home through the traffic in relative peace without watching all my hard work disappear at stop signs and traffic lights.

I wanted to do it and I did!

The bike was a fixed gear. No aero profile tubing, no luxury Italian groupset. Two wheels, one gear and a very satisfied rider.

The euphoria didn’t last long. I got home and my pass had run out. I had to make dinner and the rest of the family were waiting. We didn’t eat until 7.30pm so the kids had to shower and get in their PJs before dinner but the pork roast, roast potatoes, broccoli were perfect. I had made a blueberry pie the night before so I think they just about forgave me for playing with my bike for 8 hours.