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Monte Carlo or Bust - 10 days, 10 metric centuries
'Tis the season for some folly...
Everyone, including some wonderful road.cc readers, was so generous last year in supporting our Christmas Day 200 mile lockdown ride in aid of Toilet Twinning, which raised enough funds for 24 facilities, I started thinking about what we might do if locked down again this Christmas...then I thought lockdown or not, why not? So from December 14th-23rd I shall be (virtually) riding "Monte Carlo or Bust", the 1026 kilometres from our house in Peckham to Monte Carlo, ten metric centuries (and a little more) in ten days. If you'd like to support this amazing charity (and incidentally put me through a world of pain, surely worth the price of admission on its own?) in building facilities for some of the poorest two billion people in the world who have no access to clean, safe toilets, anything at all you can sponsor would be so massively appreciated and do so much good. Thank you! xxx
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/montecarloorbusttt
P.S. In the spirit of putting my money where my mouth is, I've put in the price of the first toilet myself, so I shall damned well make sure I do what I've paid for!
If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.
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83 comments
Fortunately the Zwift Companion app has a screenshot button so I'm taking pictures for evidence every ten miles!
After Stage 8 of this year's Tour de France Tadej Pogacar had spent 29 hours 38 minutes in the saddle; after eight stages of Monte Carlo or Bust I've spent 30 hours 27 minutes in the saddle, so I'm harder. OK, he may have done a few more kms than me but he is less than half my age...
Gave it some beans today, thought I should do at least one 100kms at an average of over 30kph and made it by four minutes, average 30.6.
Scores on the doors:
Ridden: 815kms
To ride: 211kms
Time in saddle: 30h27m
Number of pedal strokes (approximate):237,500
Sponsorship: £1427.50
Having caroused fairly liberally with lovely family yesterday, I must say hopping on the bike for another 100kms was pretty high on my list of things I could do without. However, I would never betray the faith so many kind sponsors have placed in me and actually a good sweat and endorphin release did no harm...even did a reasonably respectable time (for me), I think my subconscious was saying the quicker you get this done the sooner you can have a hair of the dog - which I now am, slainte!
Current scores on the doors:
Ridden: 715kms
To go: 311kms
Total raised: £1402.50
Plenty of time left for any sponsors who, with some justification, are waiting to see if I actually make it!
I'm delighted to know that you're back on the road to nowhere. And a shout out to whoever has been noble enough to lend you their turbo trainer for the duration...although he/she/they may well be pleased to see the back of their torture device if only for a while.
Oh yeah, big time - he not only was kind enough to lend it, he brought it over today half an hour after he got back from driving back to London from Wales. Top man, my #1 riding buddy and former rugby teammate (many years ago!).
Good speed. Don't forget the hare and tortoise though...
Slightly frustrating day: I was happily churning my way through 80km on the way to a planned 110 and wondering if the calorie burn justified a beer with lunch when the trainer almost completely seized.* Nil desperandum, it's under warranty, tomorrow was already a planned rest day and a kind friend has promised me a loan of his for Monday. All that left was the balance of kilometres for today, so I went out and did them in the real world, so still on target, 613.5 down, 412.5 to go!
* If anyone has any suggestions as to how it could be fixed they would be gratefully received! It is still going round but incredibly heavy, takes all my effort to get it turning, to the extent that my power meter was showing 550 W and that was showing as 35 W on Zwift! I've updated all the firmware and tried it with multiple programs, it's doing the same with all of them and indeed even when it's not connected to anything. I've tried re-calibrating it multiple times but each time I try to do a spin down calibration the app flashes up "Attempt failed, try again" after a couple of seconds. It's a JetBlack WhisperDrive Smart, if anyone has any experience of them.
If you do not get back on that bike, you are going out to Australia to open the batting. Ps have you tried turning it off and on again?
That would be a fate worse than death! I would try your suggestion but it doesn't actually have an off and on button, it runs on the power generated by the rider so just switches itself on when you start pedalling and off shortly after you've finished.
Chapeau! Grim determination indeed! All downhill from here...
Well, today was certainly the hardest so far: as you can see from the ridiculously slow time I was absolutely pedalling squares after yesterday's 100 miler. However, aided by bloody mindedness and potentially toxic quantities of caffeine I got to the target of 133.3 km, which puts me on 500 km and nearly halfway there. Not too bad for four days, back on it tomorrow – for now there's a cold one in the fridge with my name on it. Wishing all supporters and sponsors a great weekend!
I salute you and remain in awe. I need drugs after 90 minutes on a turbo trainer to keep focused, after 2 hours nothing is going to keep me on the Trainer, fantastic work!
Well, the Ashes helps as a distraction (albeit a miserable one) and living up to such generous donations from you guys is definitely an inspiration!
Went a bit over the top today, because I discovered yesterday that some family are visiting on Sunday so I thought I had better build up a buffer of kilometres to keep myself on schedule for the 1026 km in 10 days… so instead of 100 km I rode 100 miles. I wouldn't recommend it, frankly, but sheer bloody mindedness plus the Ashes kept me going!
I should have thought listening to the ashes is the last thing you want to do given England's performance so far !
There's something to be said for having a pain and misery to view that's even worse than what you're going through – takes your mind off it!
Just remember that it's only madness in others eyes!
Chapeau! Hope you made time for a cafe stop!
Good Lord yes, the quantity of caffine that went into that would see me pulled up by WADA, I'm certain!
Day 2 complete...I was originally planning to ride the whole 1026 km on the same route, it being just about the flattest available on Zwift, but then I realised 10 days of that would drive me mad(der) so switched to Makuri Islands today, three laps of the Neokyo all-nighter and then an excursion into the countryside – must say it's really rather well modelled out there! More climb plus yesterday's legs made me slower but got there. Most importantly sponsorship is now over £1300!
All the best, I couldn't get comfortable on a turbo trainer. I think the natural body adjustment in the saddle and out and when climbing etc just wasn't there so I couldn't be comfortable after the first hour or so. Maybe one of those rockers or even the gradient simulators would be better for me but I didn't want to spend the money to find out.
Rollers are the answer. Although make sure you have a chair next to you though. This is a lesson learnt many years ago when, as a new user, I wobbled and put my hand out against the wall of my flat. Sadly the wall was'nt quite as solid as I'd hoped and I put my hand right through it! Mind you it wasn't anything a strategic realignment of furniture didn't obscure from the landlord. Not that I'd approve of such behaviour these days now that I'm all grown up and everything.
Yes it takes some adapting - I'm a naturally high cadence seated climber most of the time so don't find that too odd, and having a relatively long trunk means I can sit more upright than most so have less back trouble, certainly my wife finds it hard to go more than an hour without it getting painful.
Maybe it is also my bike setup (although don't have the issues with on-road). I also have a long trunk (the canyon bike recommending tool kept on telling me I must have made a mistake with the figures). One plus point is I could sit up straight sometimes and hold a garage rafter but even that didn't help in the long run. Could also have been boredom as well I suppose.
Still well done so far.
First 102.6kms done, was going great until the last 15 when I blew big time, but waded through treacle and got there!
One down far too many to go! I however have complete faith, misguided fool that I may be
Even your avatar looks tired.
How it started:
https://twitter.com/Rendel_Harris/status/1470688935332519942
How it's going (Sniffer please note sock length adjustment!):
Excellent, you don't want to be confused for a triathlete
Excellent - good luck! Thanks for sorting the socks, now just make sure you keep an eye out for any traffic queueing behind and don't "double up" with any other riders. (Having never Zwifted I've no idea if this is a closed-road event - but if so you're probably imprisoning local residents in their homes or something so let's hope not).
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