Morphing into a MAWIL

Reading the news in cleats

The elation of Brighton wore off quite quickly, but left me feeling a lot more hopeful about the ride to Paris. There are no hills like Ditchling Beacon to contend with thankfully – just hours and hours more cycling than I’ve ever done!

I’m still struggling to "make the drop". Apparently cycling downhill on the lower part of the handlebars is safer. For me, it’s faster (a big drawback for a nervous cyclist), and my reach is compromised so I struggle to grasp the brakes effectively (also a big drawback for a nervous cyclist). I’ve bought a new bit of slightly silly cycling equipment which might help with it – fingerless gloves.

A friend of mine didn’t recognise me as I sped past on the bike in padded big shorts, a cycling top with back pockets, and fingerless cycling gloves – I’m morphing into a MAMIL or MAWIL. The gloves have gel blocks built into the heel and bridge of the hand. I’m not convinced they do anything but CP insists they’re a must (sigh). Maybe they will help me with the sharp pains I’m experiencing up my arms – which are, perhaps, a sort of cycling RSI. Speaking to other cyclists they suggest I’m just hanging on for dear life too tightly and I need to relax my arms and take the weight off them. Easier said than done!

In my cycling I’m finding it challenging to balance efficiency and fear. I know that an efficient ride will make the journey to Paris much easier, but I hate hurtling down hill at speed so I don’t do “the drop”, and spend much of the downhill pulling on the brakes. On the flat CP has been trying to teach me to ride peloton style which is basically right up the bum of the cyclist in front. This means you benefit from their air stream and it takes less effort. But you really need to trust the rider and the roads. By which I mean -  trust that the rider in front isn’t going to suddenly swerve or break, which means relying on roads not to have potholes, dodgy manholes  or detritus on their surfaces. CP says the rider in front will do the cycling-hand-movements the MAMIL packs so love, to warn of any upcoming issues, so I can concentrate on staying close to their back wheel.  I’m just not a team player - I want to see clear road ahead of me and make my own mind up if it’s safe to ride.

Support from my colleagues by way of a personalised self ident to the news

Time is running out. It’s just over a fortnight til the ride. The end is in sight! I have a twinge in one knee, pains up my arms, and my legs are covered in bruises and oil from the cleats and chain. I just have to hope that no body part gives under the pressure before the ride.  I saw a reassuring/not reassuring at all tweet from one of the Dash doctors of the piles of medical equipment, pills and lotions ready for the ride. Hope I won’t need them!

 A big thank you to everyone who has sponsored me. I'm three quarters of the way to my target. If you can, please donate to my webpage!

ACHIEVEMENTS my first attempt at peloton riding

AMBITIONS to do the drop

Ditchling Beacon on a Penny Farthing

I went for a bike fit this week, in preparation for the Pearson Sportive from London to Brighton. THEY RAISED THE BIKE SEAT AGAIN. Why is it every time you go into a bike shop they want to raise the seat? I feel like I’m riding a penny farthing. They raised the handlebars too which has really helped diminish the shoulder pain I’d been experiencing on one side.  I am now balancing on the tip of the nails of my big toes at lights. And as well as raising the handlebars and seat, they tipped the seat back a bit making it even harder to get to get off it and onto the ground. The guy at the shop said I have to learn how to unclip my cleats at the top of the pedal stroke and come off my saddle and step my foot flat on the ground when I stop, leaving the second foot clipped in for a quick getaway. I had a go on the way home and ended up a tangled mess of legs, pedals and bike on the pavement of a mercifully quiet residential street.

Me and CP at start of the Brighton Pearson Sportive

The London to Brighton Pearson sportive set off from Sutton in south London which involved a 5.15 am start as I live nowhere near it. Anything that means I have to be up before 9 am cannot be classified as leisure in my book – but the place was already teeming with people when we got there who clearly enjoy a different definition of leisure time.  It was my first experience of an organised bike ride (apart, of course, from the Dash at which I have volunteered for a number of years).  We got wristbands to record split times (people take this cycling lark very seriously) and had to ride through an inflatable chequered arch at the beginning and end. CP very kindly agreed to cycle at my pace and guide me through the ride, and we were joined by the lovely Jude, a fellow Dash volunteer and debutante Dash rider. She was wearing arm socks! I’m tempted to get some for the very early start in Dieppe on the Dash, but I’m really trying to resist buying cycling junk I’m never going to use again.

One of the best things about the ride was breakfast. They put on a food stop at Turners Hill. Breakfast consisted of jelly babies, haribo sours, flapjacks, chocolate cake, sausage rolls, crisps, peanuts and fruit!! Awesome. It was like being at a kids birthday party. People ask me if I’ve lost weight training for the Dash. The answer is not really, because every time you set off somewhere someone’s forcing you to eat flapjacks or down a protein shake, and thrusting a handful of sweets at you. Guilt free junk food – amazing.

The worst thing about the ride was without doubt Ditchling Beacon. Brighton is ringed by some very high hills. The road up to DB is roughly the same gradient at Mont Ventoux and is just short of a mile in length.  It wiggles and winds, and opens out intermittently to fantastic views which give you the false hope that you might be nearing its apex, before curling away again, round and up, higher and higher. It is a lonely old ride, spinning away in the lowest gear, with only the growl of a prowling impatient car stuck behind you for company. But I made it! And it was like heaven appearing out of the heavily wooded winding narrow road into the bright sunshine of the top and seeing the open rolling hills beyond down to the sea.  I think I may have been a little oxygen starved by the time I got to the top because everything looked wonderful – from the verges thick with buttercups and cow parsley, to the fluffy cloud sheep in the verdant fields, to the misty sea in the distance. It was a sweet moment.

Me and Jude exhausted but relieved at the top of Ditchling Beacon

ACHIEVEMENTS

Cycling to Brighton!

AMBITIONS

To raise my 4-grand, I’m two thirds of the way there – please sponsor me!

Giraffe Bike

I started the week feeling dispirited in the wake of the 100km ride. Particularly as the nice people at Pearson’s bike shop told me I’d invested my hard earned cash on a bike that was the wrong size for me. One way round it (that doesn’t involve buying a whole new bike) is to get a new longer seat post which I did. I am now in possession of a bike masquerading as a giraffe...

My giraffe bike

.....It looks pretty foolish, but on the upside I think I have more oomph going up hills (which god knows I need). It feels vertiginous and has thrown off my balance a bit. I have to teeter ballerina- like on the points of my shoes at lights. Now I understand why all those Mamils head for the kerbs  and balance one foot on them. I’m getting some pains in one side of my neck after longer rides which I’m hoping a bike fit will sort out.  And aching knees – which I fear will only be resolved when I officially retire from cycling in just over four weeks time after  we roll into Paris.

I made it for one three hour ride this week, and another 2 hour one. The longer one was thanks to Marcus who did the Dash last year and who kindly led RP and I along the canals of east London out into more open countryside. In theory it should have been a beautiful ride but the tracks by the canals are pretty busy in parts and bumpy, and I was very worried about falling into the water with a bike strapped to my feet. One day I will lift my eyes from the road and start taking in the countryside.

I am struggling a bit with the psychological angst of training. However far I go, I know it’s a drop in the ocean compared to how far I have to go in June, which makes me feel stressed and depressed. Every ride I do I just want to be over, but feel terribly guilty when I stop because I know I should be training harder.

I think I’m getting better at changing gears. I used to make that ‘ripping up a tin can’ kind of noise quite frequently, but it’s much less often now – I think I’ve found the point in the revolution of the pedal which makes the gear change smoother. Hooray – small victories.

Next week’s training ride is  London to Brighton (gulp). Wish me luck. Or better still, sponsor me!

ACHIEVEMENTS

My first spin class

AMBITIONS

To defeat the Devils Dyke

https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-display/showROFundraiserPage?userUrl=ClareRunacres&pageUrl=4

100km on the clock

Last weekend I took part in a Dash training ride -- 100km to Gatwick and back from south London. I had proper palpitations from nerves drawing up to Pearson’s bike shop at the start. I’m way out of my comfort zone with this long distance cycling thing, and am terrified that I don’t have it in me. This was my first serious test.

The fellow Dashers were very welcoming. There were about a dozen of us – a mixture of returners and newbies like me.  There was a wide age and ability range which was reassuring. We split into two groups, with RP and I and a number of others in the slower group, and set off.

Ride captains led each group, with more at the back of the pack to encourage the slower cyclists and help out with any bike issues. They were very helpful when my chain fell off for some reason about two thirds of the way round! I am clueless about bike mechanics and I’m not sure mid-Dash is the time to learn so it’s great riding with knowledgeable people.  It was also a real relief not to have to think about where I was going, and just follow the pack.

Still smiling - but only just

How was the ride? It was really, really hard. The good news is that I had no bottom bone pain (either I have a really comfortable saddle, or my natural attributes provide sufficient padding). I forgot to put any chamois cream on, but it turns out I didn’t need any. But pretty much everything else hurt by the end.

It started pretty flat, and you could cycle and chat to other Dashers, and for a while I thought there might be the chance that I could enjoy the ride to Paris in just over a month’s time. I kept up pretty well with everyone until the route started to get hilly.  CP kept shouting at me from the back to change down gears to make riding the inclines easier, but every time you shift down you see people in higher gears just speed ahead into the distance which is really disheartening.  Grinding through the pain of the uphills is pretty relentless and unpleasant. I’m told we were cycling through bluebell woods, but I barely lifted my eyes off the tarmac.  Then after the incline came the descent. While my tired thighs loved the break, going downhill had its own challenges. If I could have closed my eyes I would have done, as I found it pretty nerve-wracking belting down England country lanes at high speed.

It was a particularly cold (8C) and grey day, and I still haven’t worked out what’s best to wear. I had on a long and short sleeved cycling tops over my bib tights and a lightweight waterproof coat. I was sweltering on the uphills, but freezing on the long downhills as the wind evaporated the sweat.  Hopefully it won’t be that cold in June – but with the vagaries of the England summer who knows!

I had bought three muesli bars and a banana to eat on the way round. Turns out that cycling long distances makes you feel STARVING. I’d eaten all of it by the time I was two thirds of the way round. I’ve got to pack out my cycling top pockets with food next time. Luckily, on the Dash itself, each stop is fantastically well stocked with food and drink.

By the end (four hours in), every little incline knocked the wind out of me.  Our group became stretched out, and it became harder and harder for me to stay with the pack. I just fixed my eyes on the red light on the person in front’s bike and peddled and peddled, but boy it was hard. The ride has shown me just how far I still have to go. I have so much work to do in the next five weeks. Both in terms of fitness and strength. It’s pretty disheartening. But I got round – and that’s all I have to do at the event itself. I’m not going to win points for style. But I don’t want to – I just want to raise bundles of money to help Eli and his family. So, put a smile back on my face and please sponsor me if you haven’t – I’m only half way to reaching my total!

ACHIEVEMENTS

100km on a bike!!!!!

AMBITIONS

To cycle uphill without wanting to cry

To cycle downhill without wanting to scream