I decided to leave it a couple of weeks since my last blog, but by special request I am back at my keyboard.
Having suffered a puncture on my hybrid bike, I decided that was a good excuse to start cycling to work on the road bike that I have borrowed for the Tour de Force. Here's how the first few days went:
- Day 1: AAAAAAAAAAAAGH !!!!!* Took me some time to get used to riding the road bike and being clipped in to the pedals. Terrifying.
- Days 2-3: Still getting used to the bike, but a bit less wobbly.
- Day 4: Storm Babs! Fortunately she gave me a tailwind as I cycled home - that could have been worse.
- Day 5: Feeling a bit more used to the bike now, so decided to add a couple of sprint sections on my way home. Boy that bike can move! There's a risk I might start to enjoy this.
As I left this morning it looked a bit icy, so I decided to walk my bike to the cycle track and see how that looked. On my way there an older gentleman laughed at me and said "usually people ride their bikes". I am glad you are entertained sir, but I'm not convinced I'll be able to stop when I get to the bottom of the bottom of the hill!
If anybody fancies sponsoring me, please visit my sponsorship page at http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/TomHoldaway. Any donation of any size would be hugely appreciated.
Thank you for reading.
* In the highest pitched scream you can imagine. Probably best that I leave out all of the expletives.
When I was considering whether or not to sign up for the Tour de Force, a number of things were going through my head:
- the ridiculously long distances I would have to cycle (stages 10-13 of the Tour de France will cover 694km in total);
- climbing massive hills/mountains;
- going quite fast down the other side of the massive hills/mountains;
- how painful are saddle sores going to be?
- am I actually capable of raising £1,200 for charity?
- who will look after my cats while I am away?
When I spoke to my girlfriend's parents, after signing up, her mum asked if I would cope with eating enough food. I smiled politely and nodded. I am capable of shovelling a surprising amount of food into my chops when I want to (my mum has always said that I have hollow legs - although this in itself would present different problems for me as I prepare for a cycling challenge).
I later read that over the four days of cycling I will burn 45,000 calories. This is an average of 11,250 calories each day.
WHAT.
THE ACTUAL.
FUDGE!!!!!
To put this into context, the NHS recommends around 2,500 calories per day for a man eating a healthy, balanced diet (although this depends on a number of factors - please don't rely on me for nutritional advice*). This means that I will burn around 4.5 days' worth of calories each day.
I need to work out a way of calorie-loading.
In the run up to the 2016 Rio Olympics, USA swimmer (and petrol station fan) Ryan Lochte tweeted a picture of what appeared to be a day's food, which reportedly contained 10,000 calories. Leaving aside the whiff of burning which emanates from the disgraced athlete's underwear, eating this much food would be quite a feat in itself - and still wouldn't cover me for a day's cycling!
I should probably start upping my food intake now.
Where did I leave that pie... ?
Shout outs:
Er, sadly I don't have any shout outs this time. Hopefully next time. Please?
If anybody fancies sponsoring me, please visit my sponsorship page at http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/TomHoldaway. Any donation of any size would be hugely appreciated.
Thank you for reading.
* unless you wish to discuss the sheer joy of salt & vinegar crisps in a sandwich, in which case I have plenty of wisdom to offer
Most triumph over adversity films begin with a promising start, a build up as the main character works towards their goal, a turn for the worse as something goes catastrophically wrong and then a change in fortunes leading to the glorious finale.
Annoyingly, my story starts with me trying to recover from a chest infection*. After a day confined to bed, several days annoying everyone around me with a horrendous cough and a week away from my bike, I started cycling to work again yesterday.
Cycling home, feeling quite tired, I realised just how big a task four stages of the Tour de France is going to be (for more info see my previous post). I was cycling around 15km in one day - less than 10% of the distance I will need to cover in July... on consecutive days!
The way I see it, I have four options:
- Performance-enhancing drugs;
- Conceal a motor in my bike;
- Give up, stay at home and hope nobody notices;
- A lot of preparation and training.
Options 1 and 2 have been adopted by professional cyclists, but are not really cool. Option 3 has been used by plenty of people (myself included), but is probably not the right option for me this time. Option 4 looks like the winner.
I need to get to work!
Shout outs:
I am really grateful to everybody who is helping me with this. My first shout outs go to Hannah, Josh and Sarah - thank you so much for your very kind donations.
To anybody else reading this, please visit my fundraising page: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/TomHoldaway. A donation of any size will help a lot and I will do my best to thank all sponsors in future posts.
* leaving out the chapters in which I diligently checked that I could take the time off work before signing up and then took ages deciding which flights to catch, which I presume are going to be saved for the thrilling prequel.
Hi, thank you for visiting my blog.
I thought I would start by interviewing myself to set the scene (that way I could rig the questions). Here is a snippet:
Why are you writing this blog?
Between 4-7 July 2017, I am going to ride stages 10-13 of the 2017 Tour de
France route. This blog is intended to let anyone who is interested see how my training is going and (if all goes to plan) perhaps give an insight into what it is like to take part.
Isn't the Tour de France that thing professional cyclists do?
Yes, that's right - well some of them anyway.
Apparently, Bernard Hinault (5 times Tour de France winner) once said “An amateur should think long and hard before attempting one of these stages, 2 would probably necessitate a visit to a Doctor, 3 would require a psychiatrist – any more and you should be checking that person has written a will”.
I have signed up for stages 10 - 13. The stage lengths are 178km, 202km, 214km and 100km respectively and will take place on consecutive days. Descriptions of the stages, and pictures showing the elevation along the route of each one, can be found here.
Sounds fun. So, presumably you are quite good at cycling?
Er, not exactly. I cycle to work most days, around 5 miles each way, but never anywhere near the distances I will need to ride in July. I rode a road bike for the first time ever about three weeks ago.
I see. So you must have really enjoyed that experience?
Er, not exactly. The bike felt quite strange and it was a bit scary - especially on steep descents. Also, my contact lenses fogged up so I couldn't really see that well for some of it. We did stop for cake though...
I'm not sure the French are particularly renowned for their baking.
Uuum, can I just check where...
No, people are already getting bored. So why are you doing it? Bullet points please.
- I have discovered I am not happy unless I am trying to make my own life difficult somehow. This seems a pretty good way of doing that.
- I was bullied into it by my girlfriend's sister.
- The ride raises money for the William Wates Memorial Trust.
All intriguing reasons - what does the William Wates Memorial Trust do?
The William Wates Memorial Trust helps the most disadvantaged young people keep away from a life of crime and violence and fulfil their potential. This is achieved by giving grants to charities that engage young people through the mediums of sport, arts and education.
Should that have been media rather than mediums?
To be honest, I am not sure. I copied it from another website. The important thing is that it is a very worthwhile cause and the money raised will make a real difference to people's lives.
So presumably you would like to plug your fundraising page?
Yes please, but do you mind if we swap over first so I get to use bold font?
Er, I guess not. I think people have stopped caring now anyway.
The fundraising page is http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/TomHoldaway.
Good for you. Anything else people should know?
Yes. If you click on the above link there is a picture of a dog on a bike.
The above interview took place in my head over a much longer time period that it has taken you to read it. Thank you for your support!
