Innovation trumps tediousness

They say you find out who you are as a person when things are their hardest. And trying not to sound too dramatic, for me, yesterday was one of those days. From the minute I woke up, I was in a very dark place. Exhausted, in agony and barely able to walk, the thought of completing another 90 miles on the bike was horrifying. I am not ashamed to admit that after a minimal breakfast and for the first time in many, many years, I burst into tears in my room. I think the task that faced me was so overwhelming it became too much. Once that episode was over I headed to collect the bike. The first 25km were torture. I maintained a pace of about 10mph hoping that everything would loosen off. I was in very dark places in my head and 4 times I nearly called the support car for a lift. Light in the darkness About 20 mins from the first feed station, there was a little bit of pain relief in my knee and with it, a little light at the end of the tunnel. Once I stopped at the feed station a...

As I lay in bed writing this, not able to move any part of my body without wanting to shout "Ow", I've been able to reflect on what an achievement it was on Day 3 to make it from Bruges to Breda. Especially considering all of the injuries which I now seem to be carrying. Pain from the start The journey yesterday started from Bruges at 07:30 and immediately I was in agony. For some reason my left knee was screaming in pain and it meant getting out of the cobbled streets was excruciating. Coupled with not really being able to sit down, the first couple of Kms were very hard going. When I managed to get some pain relief into me, the morning stroll to the passenger ferry at Breskens was superb. Some beautiful scenery flew by as we bumbled along at 16mph in the sunshine and before we knew it, we were 40km in and the passenger ferry was on us. Once we got off the ferry we were held up by one of the group having a pretty nasty looking crash which required an ambulanc...

Following a pretty rubbish night sleep at Calais I was at breakfast for 6:30am. Leg was still a little sore and on top of the groin strain I've badly bruised my ankle which I didn't realise at the time. It was going to be a make or break day. If I could ride the first couple of miles without too much pain I would get to the end of this challenge. If not, then it would have meant retiring  for medical reasons. Lucky for me, the former was true and there was little to no pain when cycling. Following a short briefing, we left about 8am and it became immediately obvious that the roads were so good it would be a quick pace all the way to Bruges. At one point I was at the back of a group pushing 27mph - that didn't last for too long and I dropped my pace back to a more comfortable 23mph. Idyllic locations The first feed station was on us very quickly. 28 miles had flown just due to the sheer pace everyone was riding at. This feed station was set on the banks of a riv...

The start out of Crystal Palace was a little lumpy but was soon over whilst I powered to get out of London as quickly as possible. I felt strong and the route was generally quite good as soon as we cleared the London traffic. I was cycling by myself for the entire morning stint just so I could set my own pace and that really worked well. The first feed station was in a pub called The Plough in Ivy Hatch (which according to Google maps is near Seven Oaks). The station was well stocked with bars, chocolate, sweets and water top ups but I decided on a coffee from the pub. The next 31 miles to lunch was fairly flat and villages all merged into one as I headed for the lunch stop. Luckily to this point we had not had any rain. Bonus. Lunch was at a pub called The George in Bethersden. Really welcoming and the food was great, the chicken jalfrezi in particular. Crash, bang....damn About 10 miles after the lunch stop is where the day went a little wrong and may yet prove to b...

Day 1 of London to Amsterdam is finally here. It is currently 3:45am and I've just made myself a cup of horrendous hotel coffee to wash down the Belvita breakfast bar and banana. I do wonder if there is a 24 hour Starbucks around but then again, doubt the coffee would be much better than the swill I'm drinking now. I have managed to get about 6 hours' sleep following an easy night last night where I had dinner with a few of the others doing the challenge. Given how bad the weather has been there is a little apprehension all round on the amount of training we've all done. I'm not sure what dragged me out of my sleep but it ended up with me repacking my bag! What am I doing? I guess I should start at the beginning. Back in 2017 I did a lot of "smaller" rides raising money for Meningitis Now, which were spread out across the year. Since then (and another child later) I determined that I would be better trying something a little more challenging and som...