This morning I got up early and headed down to the gym.  Weird right?

Only because I won a spot in a spin class taught by the one and only Laura Trott and it was taking place at the lush Virgin Active near Aldersgate. Put on by the Prudential Ride London organisation, it was a taste of what those doing the 100 mile cycle from London to Surrey and back will face in August.

We got there early, mixed with some of the press there to cover the ride, and then were off to the studio to get all set up. The Virgin Active staff helped us set the bikes up to a race-position but as soon as we were about to start class the power in the whole building went off and we were left to ride in the dark with no fans or AC. I was sweating by the first minute of the warm up and it only got worse from there. I was a MESS of sweat and wearing a cotton t-shirt didn’t help much.  That said, once you’re sweaty you can’t get much worse so I rode it out and made use of the nice towel they had given us.

Me. Mid-spin. The sweatiest.

Laura came around to check our RPMs were suitably high during the climbs and *ahem* complemented me on my impressive natural race posture and performance. No big deal now, but I guess I missed my calling as a professional cyclist.  Victoria Pendleton is 3 years older than me and just retired.

Anyway we cycled the profile of miles 50-60 of the actual RideLondon, which includes 2 huge hills, and then topped it off with 1 more hill climb because Laura said why not. Dripping with sweat we were then given the opportunity to take a picture with Laura who was somehow still fresh and lovely. I wore my “Be Pretty on Rest Days” t-shirt for a reason, no point in trying to look pretty when you train like an Olympian.

After a quick cool down (with croissants) we did a quick video interview with some local newspapers about our cycling habits and were off to enjoy the rest of the gym as we liked.  I had to get back to work but had my eye on the super hot tub and spa for next time.