My regular partner-in-cycling is trying to poke, prod and persuade me into taking on the Ulster Way next year.
It’s all my fault. I made the mistake of sending him a link to the Ulster Way website.
The Ulster Way is a 1000km journey over (and through) every imaginable surface.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m up for the challenge, but we’re having a disagreement over how long it’ll take.
Martin lives in England, so we can’t easily split it up over a wheen of sessions, and he can’t really afford to take more than a week off work at a time.
He’s up for doing the whole thing in seven days, I’m thinking ten. 7 days would be 90 miles a day, a reasonable distance if you can maintain a pace of somewhere around 10mph. The big question in my mind is - would 10mph be a realistic average?
When Tango and Cash, did it in 6 days, on singlespeeds, they were riding 13 and 14 hour days. I love adventure riding; taking on big distances over terrain that most people never see. But I don’t just do it so that I can look back and say ‘I did it’. I like to enjoy the journey while it’s happening, and several consecutive 13 hour days in the saddle does not make for an enjoyable journey.
We could argue till the cows come home, but to make a decision, we need some data for our calculations.
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