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!
Thank you to everybody who asks how my training is going when I see them. I am very grateful that people are taking an interest (for anybody that doesn't already know, I will be riding four stages of the Tour de France - but not with the professionals... obviously. More information here).
During one such conversation, one of my friends recently insisted (I was given very little choice in the matter) that I get in touch with a friend of hers who is keen on cycling. I did as I was told, which eventually led to me arranging to meet this guy on the Bristol to Bath cycle path yesterday morning.
Whilst introducing myself, what struck me as particularly novel about the experience was not necessarily that this chap (who I had never previously met) was about to lead me on a 65km-plus cycle ride, but that for the first time in my life I was introducing myself while wearing a fairly snug pair of cycle shorts which show off a bit more leg than I would usually feel comfortable inflicting on the general public.
To make it worse, the pair of cycle shorts that I chose (partly because they were in a January sale) are quite, ahem, conspicuous. I have discovered that nothing makes you feel quite so self-conscious about showing off a bit of leg like a pair of tight shorts with a bright orange pattern down one side. They seemed a good idea at the time.
The ride itself was described as having "plenty of lumps". We rode north from Bristol to the edge of the Cotswolds, passing through Hawkesbury Upton, Badminton and stopping for cake and a cuppa in Castle Combe. The ride home was quite tough as we had to cycle into the wind and the lumps continued, but it was great to get home after 70km knowing that it had been good training.
It was also nice to get out with an experienced rider from whom I could get some useful advice, push myself to keep up with and who didn't seem to mind that I needed to catch up a bit after wimping out on some of the descents (and was not too offended by my unsightly shorts/legs).
Shout outs:
Thank you again to everyone who has helped me so far. Shout outs go to Mike & Sue and to Louise & Pete for sponsoring me - I am very grateful for your kind donations.
I would also like to say thank you to Leon for venturing out in the wind and rain with me and to Rae for putting me in touch with him.
To anybody else reading this, please visit my fundraising page: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/TomHoldaway. A donation of any size will help a lot.
Finally, I need to step up my fundraising activities as I need to raise 80% of my target before the end of April. I am trying to arrange to set up a static bike somewhere (venue to be confirmed if it works out) and may also try to organise a charity gig. If anybody is able to help with organising a fundraising activity, or fancies getting involved in a gig, please do let me know.
Thank you for reading!
By the way, this is what I look like:
First of all, apologies to Destiny's Child for bringing the name of their fifth best song* into disrepute.
I decided on the title to this blog as I descended a hill for the second time. I thought about going up the same hill again for a third time, but wasn't sure "hill, hill, hill" would work quite the same so I decided to venture up a couple of other ones. As it turned out, I did go up that hill a third time a bit later on. Because I am a fool.
More interestingly, this week I cycled 100km in one go! I got to around 75km and thought I would see if I could push myself a bit further and get to three figures.
It was all going well until just before 90km in, when the world started to feel like a dark, lonely, painful place. Shortly after that I remembered I had some sweets in my pocket, though, and everything felt better!
Unsurprisingly I ached when I got home, and again the following morning, but I was quite pleased with my achievements so far.
Shout outs: Thank you to everyone who is helping me with this. A big shout out goes to Alan and Carolyn for sponsoring me - thank you so much for your donation. To anybody else reading this, please visit my fundraising page: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/TomHoldaway. It still has a picture of a dog on a bike on it. A donation of any size will help a lot. Thank you for reading!
* Probably not that controversial. Also worthy of note for the uninitiated are Say My Name (a sad tale about forgetfulness), Bugaboo (about an insect ghost or something - not in the top five) and Bootylicious (a tragic tale about somebody who filled up on dinner and isn't quite ready for pudding).
Often when I see people, after telling them about my charity ride this summer, they ask how my training is going. My response so far has been a kind of awkward mumble about not having started properly yet, but planning to do so shortly.
Anyway, I finally started today. Woohoo! Except that it was cold ... and involved lots of cycling.
As part of my training plan (a term I use very loosely) I have signed up for a few sportives. The first of these is in 3 weeks' time. It will be ok, I reckon I can manage 81km. Anyway, I discovered the other day that it is 81 miles, not km. Apparently that is around 120km. Balls.
I decided that, to start with, I was going to ride along the Bristol to Bath cycle path. One of the good things about living in Bristol is having access to a 13-mile traffic free cycle route, so I thought I would make the most of it. I did a couple of trips from my flat to Bath, going off-route a couple of times to get some hill training in.
Generally, it went quite well. I managed around 66.5 km (a bit over 40 miles) and would have been able to go further if I hadn't been short on time. Here are some lessons I learned:
- After around 30 km I couldn't feel my toes any more because it was so cold;
- A good windproof jacket is a worthwhile investment - it was worth paying the extra;
- My gps has something on its display that looks suspiciously like a symbol that the battery is about to die, prompting me to save my ride about three-quarters of the way through in case I lost the whole thing. It turned out there was plenty of juice left.
Other notable things were nearly hitting a squirrel and then a dog running in front of my bike twice - the same dog ... in completely different parts of the cycle path. I also got up to around 27mph at one point (although I was going downhill at the time).
Shout outs:
Once again, thank you to everyone who is helping me with this. A big shout out goes to Sarah for sponsoring me - thank you 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. Also, there is a picture of a dog on a bike. I tried to upload a really unflattering selfie taken towards the end of my ride today, but my tech skills let me down spectacularly.
Thank you for reading!
It might be a bit late now, but happy new year everyone! 2016 was a pretty eventful year for most of us. 2017 promises both exciting times and tough challenges.
To update anybody that I have not bored with this information already, I have signed up to ride 4 stages of the Tour de France (1 week ahead of the professional event) with the good people at Tour de Force. This is an event to raise money for the William Wates Memorial Trust, a fantastic charity which helps disadvantaged young people to avoid a life of crime and fulfil their potential.
In exactly 6 months' time as I write this I will be travelling back from France, having cycled 694km in 4 days. This equates to just over 460 miles, far too much of which will be uphill.
Obviously I knew what I was signing up to, so it is my own stupid fault, but I have some seriously hard work ahead of me. I need to put a lot of hours in the saddle, ride a few sportives (non-competitive long-distance cycling events) to get used to cycling with other riders*, get used to eating more food to compensate for the extra calories burned, learn a bit about bicycle maintenance/repairs (because something is bound to go wrong) and re-acquaint myself with GCSE French.
If you are able to help me reach my sponsorship target, I would be incredibly grateful. Any donation, big or small, would be brilliant.
My fundraising page is http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/TomHoldaway.
Shout outs: I am really grateful to everybody who is helping me with this, in so many different ways. I would like to take the opportunity to thank Hazel and Steve, plus an anonymous donor, for your donations - it is very very kind of you.
Thank you for reading.
* without crashing too much!
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
