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!
