It has been 6 weeks since Lands End. And for at least 4 of those I have been desperate to get out on my bike. But between weekends busier than the M25 at rush hour and the need to remind my son who his Daddy is, I have been suffering from bike-drought!
I was determined to get out this weekend, but when yesterday turned out to be a complete ‘nothing’ day (you could do nothing with it – sunny, then torrential rain, then sunny, then torrential rain again in patterns of about 30 minutes each – so whatever you wanted to do, you’d have got very unpleasently wet!) I thought that this weekend might be a complete write-off. Fortunately today was not so. It was actually a great day. Lots of sun. It tried to rain a couple of times, but after all of the effort on the previous day, gave up after the odd feeble attempt!
So I managed to don the lycra (surprisingly, after a month of being a beer monster and eating like a pregnant bird it still fits!) and plant my bottom firmly onto the Brooks! Immediately that I set off I knew that I felt good. So I quickly altered the planned 30 mile flat route for a 50 miler with some lovely hills! Without panniers it was like riding pegasus on speed! I flew around, loving every pedal-turn. I dispatched the 50 in about 3 1/2 hours, although later in the ride I noticed that I was slower – due largely to the fact that I had taken no sustinance. I was packing just a bottle of water. As my son says to me when he wants me to carry him on my shoulders – I had ‘run out of food’!!!
But so what? I have done the jog2le ride now. Why bother? Why do I care about getting back on my bike?
Well, to be honest, the main thing is that I enjoy it. It was a pleasure doing the jog2le ride. It was fun doing the training. It was (and is) great having that smug feeling. And it is brilliant having that healthy feeling. The feeling that you can do anything that you want. I know that I am not going to win the Olympic 100m, but as long as I can rise to any challenge that I set myself, I am content. And as I always knew that I would, I have an embryo of an idea for another challenge next year (or maybe the year after). In fact I have a couple of ideas. The only problem is that neither of these is an idea which I could roll out to all of the guys. They would be ‘solo’. So I need to give things a little more thought.
For now at least I am content that I can just get out. Me and Mr Trek. And punch out a quick 50 with no real effort. Of course winter is coming, with it’s customary orgy of gluttony and sloth sandwiched between bouts of atrocious weather. So I don’t know how quickly things will deteriorate, but with a big effort I might just be able to emerge in January or February with some remains of stamina and fitness, ready to build back up to whatever 2012 has in store!!!?
