I have been wanting to break the 100km distance for some time now. Well over a year, in fact! However, for one reason or the other, it didn’t happen. I did cycle around 110km in September last year with my good friend Mark, but as that ride was broken with a few stops, I felt that it didn’t count to some extent. The build-up to this ride was very unexpected. I have only started to cycle constant miles again, and even still, mileage is pretty low. For today’s ride, I was only planning 50 miles, but ended up doing 100km instead. Here is a brief report of this ride.

So this was initially a 50 mile social planned with Julian, who unfortunately couldn’t make it at the last minute. This actually meant that I took it easier this morning, and had some cereal and fruit before setting off. The first 15 miles was a little mundane, as I pedalled away solo. I did reach level 20 and unlocked a few goodies, so that was a nice surprise! Shortly after 20 miles, I began to really feel good, and varied the route around Watopia, taking in a few climbs and zipping around the volcano. I was initially planning to just cycle around Watopia’s ‘flat’ route, but that would have been slightly boring.

I reached the 50km point and still felt fine, trying to maintain an overall average speed of at least 30km/hr (18.6mph). After passing 70km, I was into my longest ZWIFT ride ever now! Considering that I was going for a particular distance today, I was also pleased to have beaten some of my 30 day segment PBs, too. Throwing in a few easy sprints really helped mix things up as well.

I finally hit 81km (50 miles) and decided to continue to the 100km distance. I felt good and was no where near close to bonking, so had no excuse or reason to stop! I pushed through to 100km, and it was such a relief to break through the barrier. The notification popped up on the screen just after, and it honestly felt like something of an achievement, ‘almost’ like crossing the finish line at a running event. I also unlocked the ‘Skywalker white’ 100km kit which I will wear on my next ZWIFT ride (until I unlock the ‘Vader Black’ 100 mile kit!).

I am hoping to take my bike rides outside now as the weather improves. I have an FTP test planned for next week, so will post back on how those values compare to my last test in September last year (3.7W/kg). Stay tuned!