I laughed, I got fed up, I walked up a hill.
Last weekend I took part in the Tour de Force training weekend in Cheltenham. This was an organised event to get to know some of the other riders that will be there with me this summer as I ride four stages of the Tour de France (more details here) and, more importantly, an opportunity to do back to back rides over two consecutive days.
Aside from the wind, the weather across the weekend was great - I even managed to get sunburned!
Saturday consisted of two rides, both quite hilly. About a third of the way through the second ride, an optional extra 20 miles, we turned on to a side road with a 25% sign at the entrance. To help explain the sense of dread that I felt as I saw the sign, I found a blog which describes anything over 16% as "very challenging for riders of all abilities". I got about halfway up and needed a rest (to be fair it might have been my second rest). I somehow managed to get back into a rhythm, before turning a corner to find that the hill was much longer than I had hoped. In that instant, my resolve to struggle up the rest of the hill deserted me and I took the decision to walk for a bit. I managed to get back on my bike when the hill levelled off a bit, but was somewhat grumpy after that.
After Saturday's escapades, combined with a bad night's sleep, what should have been a fairly routine ride on Sunday felt like hard work. It also seemed that whichever direction we turned we were cycling in to the wind.
All in all, the weekend was hard work, but definitely worth doing. The organisation was good and the route was well signed (I didn't get lost, which is a good start!). It was also great to meet some of the other cyclists, which addressed some of my concerns about this summer's ride. We regularly exchanged pleasantries* and got to know each other during the ride and over dinner.
Disappointingly, while reflecting over the weekend on Monday, I found myself thinking that I had actually enjoyed it.
The Charity
All of this hard work is to raise money for the fantastic William Wates Memorial Trust. WWMT gives funding and support to organisations and projects which help disadvantaged young people by keeping them away from a life of crime. Three of the trustees of WWMT were at the training weekend and it was great to speak to them and hear how enthusiastic they are about the charity and the projects they support.
Please visit my fundraising page at http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/TomHoldaway.
Shout outs
A huge thank you to everybody for your support and for taking an interest. A special thank you goes out this week to my Dad and Sue, Michael and the charity team at Bond Dickinson for your very generous donations.
Thank you for reading!
* usually something along the lines of "flipping hill" or "flip off wind"!
Having upped my training over recent weekends - and after a busy week - I arrived at this weekend needing a break. I had hoped to put in some more training, but my energy levels were pretty low. I have a two-day training weekend next week, so it was not worth pushing myself and risking injury.
I thought I would take the opportunity to work on something else that I might need to ride four stages of the Tour de France - re-learning French!
Here is what I have been working on so far:
- Gauche / droite / tout droite - Left / right / straight on
- Où se trouve la toilette la plus proche - Where is the nearest toilet?
- Excusez-moi, je suis terriblement désolé de vous déranger, mais je suis complètement perdu dans un pays inconnu - Excuse me, I am terribly sorry to trouble you, but I am completely lost in an unfamiliar country
- Y at-il un raccourci à travers la montagne? Ou en dessous? - Is there a short cut through the mountain? Or underneath it?
- Combien plus loin? - How much further do I have to go?
- Vraiment, combien plus loin? - No come on, how much further do I really have to go?
- Aidez-moi, s'il vous plaît, j'ai fait une erreur - Please help me, I am starting to question my life choices
- Si je vous donne €15, s'il vous plaît, pourrions-nous échanger des vies pour les quatre prochains jours - If I give you €15, please could we swap lives for the next four days?
The charity bit
I am raising money for the fantastic William Wates Memorial Trust. WWMT gives funding and support to organisations and projects which help disadvantaged young people by keeping them away from a life of crime.
I have already contacted two Bristol charities to encourage them to seek funding from the Trust and am aware that at least one of them is working on an application.
My fundraising page is http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/TomHoldaway.
Shout outs:
Thank you to Ben and Emma (and the kids) for sponsoring me. I am very grateful for your donation.
To anybody else reading this, I would be really grateful if you could please visit my fundraising page. A donation of any size will help a lot.
Merci de lire ce blog!
Anybody who read my previous blog will be aware that, having already put in a lot of work into this cycling malarkey, I earmarked this weekend as a rest weekend. So, what to do?
Well, the six nations and FA cup are both on this weekend, so I could stay in and watch them. I am hoping to move house soon, so I could start clearing the loft out (although to be honest I am quite keen to put this off for as long as possible). Also, my girlfriend is out showering babies or something on Saturday afternoon, so I could catch up with friends [edit: apparently no showers or babies are involved in a baby shower].
But then I received a text message on Friday inviting me out for a ride with a few other people. As much as I could do with a rest, I can't turn down opportunities to get good rides in and there is no room for slacking when riding as part of a group.
And so I found myself setting an alarm for Saturday morning and crawling up the (slightly intimidating) Burrington Combe. As I descended the other side (a 15% gradient), another cyclist came up beside me and told me that he rode the Tour de Force two years ago. Fortunately he was very positive about it.
As I cycled home, I decided that I might as well go a bit further to get up to 100km. Having done so, and finding myself a little short, I went up another big hill. Because apparently that's what I do now - look for big hills and cycle up them. What have I become?!
I then spent Sunday morning doing maintenance work on my bike, including replacing a water bottle holder that had fallen apart at the start of Saturday's ride (nearly causing an accident) and changing the brake blocks on the front wheel. The brakes involved a bit of trial and error to get right, but I got there - I think/hope!
So why am I putting myself through this? I could have had a lie in!
Partly because I was encouraged/bullied into it, partly because it is the type of ridiculous challenge that I seem to enjoy putting myself through (N.B. I think "enjoy" is quite strong), but mostly to raise money for the fantastic William Wates Memorial Trust. WWMT gives funding and support to organisations and projects which help disadvantaged young people by keeping them away from a life of crime.
I have already contacted two Bristol charities to encourage them to seek funding from the Trust and am aware that at least one of them is working on an application.
My fundraising page is http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/TomHoldaway.
All of this hard work will be worth it if I can hit my fundraising target.
Shout outs:
Thank you to Helen for sponsoring me (whilst I was writing this blog post!) - I am really grateful for your donation.
To anybody else reading this, please visit my fundraising page. A donation of any size will help a lot. Also, there is a picture of a dog on a bike. Who doesn't want to see that?
Thank you for reading!
As part of my training to ride four stages of the Tour de France this summer (more information here), I decided to enter a few events to get used to taking part in them and cycling with other people.
The first event I entered was the Wiltshire Wildcat, which had three difficulty levels - short (30 miles), standard (61 miles) and epic (81 miles). In a bold move while signing up, I decided to enter the longest distance, figuring that I could probably ride one of the shorter distances if I needed to on the day.
The event started at Salisbury Racecourse on Saturday morning. I was subsequently told that this part of Wiltshire is fairly flat. The elevation chart (see above link) and the aching in my legs suggests otherwise!
I overcame the first obstacle at 6am (less than 2 hours before registration opened) when I discovered that the bike did fit in the back of my car as hoped. Winning at life!
When I arrived at the event, though, I realised just how much of an amateur I am as I stood there on my own trying to work out what everyone else was wearing so I could decide what kit to take with me. I got to the start line and, while listening to the safety instructions and deciding that I was not going to be the ridiculous guy that missed direction signs, overheard somebody talking about their glasses. That was the moment that I realised I had left mine on my passenger seat (I wear cycling glasses to protect my contact lenses) and had to race back to my car to collect them.
Once I finally got underway, things started well. I got to the first major hill, the biggest of the day, and made it to the top with enough energy to grin at the strategically placed photographer. Going down the other side of the hill, however, I discovered that my brakes were not going to stop me in a hurry. Fortunately, at the bottom of the hill was the first feed station - which I did manage to stop at - and a friendly bike mechanic who was able to supply some brake blocks at a reasonable price. His diagnosis of the problem was that the brake blocks were, to use the technical term, "f***ed".
My head swimming with cycling jargon, I got back on the road again and things continued to go quite well. About 3 hours into the ride, I found myself on my own. I saw a hill to my left and hoped I wouldn't have to cycle up it. That was when I realised that I hadn't seen any direction arrows for a while and that I was in fact the ridiculous guy who had missed a direction sign. To add insult to injury, the extra section I had added was quite hilly.
I found my way back on track and to my delight didn't have to cycle up the hill I was keen to avoid. Annoyingly, though, the next one I had to ride up was even worse than the one I had just seen.
The third section, after the next feed station, was probably the toughest. That was the period during which I got annoyed at the lack of flat roads in Wiltshire, at the changeable weather (other than the wind - that was pretty constant), at yet more fields, at still being sat on a bike, a bit more annoyed at the lack of flat roads, and the distance I had to travel to get to the next feed station. This was also the stage of the event that I realised 81 miles is further than 120km.
I did, however, get to the next feed station with a sense of relief and determination to get this thing done. I watched a girl crying her eyes out at the prospect of yet more hills and a marshal try to reassure her that there were only two left. At that moment I was just relieved it wasn't me.
On the final stretch, I started chatting to another cyclist. This made the rest of the ride far more bearable (note for next time!). What was ridiculous about the conversation was that he was much quicker than me when descending hills, but that I was quicker than him at climbing them. The conversation therefore lasted a few minutes before being interrupted by a downhill section before being picked up again at the same point at the top of the next hill and so on.
It was a relief to finally cross the line. I didn't manage it in a particularly good time, but I did so with a sense of having accomplished something and taken a huge step towards feeling more confident about riding four stages of the Tour de France this summer. I learned a lot that I would not have been able to do riding on my own!
If anybody fancies a laugh (and/or to see my funky shorts in action), the event photos are available here.
Next weekend might be a rest weekend (I think I have earned one!) - but it probably won't be.
Shout outs:
Thank you to everyone who has helped me so far. I would like to give a shout out to Loz for sponsoring me - I am very grateful for your donation.
To anybody else reading this, please visit my fundraising page: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/TomHoldaway. A donation of any size will help a lot.
Thank you for reading!
