OK, so as per my last blog, I had a fairly big challenge ahead of me last week.
my 15hr cycle-fest.
Tuesday came along, and I woke at 3:59am, quite possibly the worst time you can wake up when your alarm is set for 4am.
As I stood in the darkness of our kitchen extension, about to scoff my coffee and porridge the heavens opened. It was still dark outside & a little foggy so I couldn’t see the rain, but the noise of it rattling down on the skylights above convinced me that my 4:15am start wasn’t happening.
40 mins later, rain had eased up, I was fed and lycra clad and the biggest test of my training so far was under way.
I rode for about an hour and a half, the first hour mostly in darkness and silence. I wouldn’t describe it as eerie, as that suggests unpleasant, it was actually very calming being out on empty roads at that time in the morning.
33km later and I was arriving at Athlete Lab for the day. My first setback was that I couldn’t wear my own cycling shoes as they’d gotten soaked on the way in. As had everything else I was wearing, so my first costume change came earlier than planned.
6:30am and the first class started. One of the members who was in that class, has previously rode in a 24 hour challenge and it was him that gave me the idea of doing an all day Athlete Lab training day. The advice he gave me on Tuesday morning was invaluable. “Don’t get caught up in the classes”.
I wonder if he saw my numbers during this first class and thought he should warn me.
Its hard when you’re idiotically competitive like I can be sometimes, (what with me being a man), to not join in when folk all around you are in an interval class and are sprinting full speed at points, but that’s what I had to do. Just ride at my own tempo, nice and consistent.
I won’t bore you with a class by class breakdown but suffice to say that there were 2 major obstacles to overcome throughout the day.
1. As much as the Athlete lab bikes are close to a road bike setup, they’re bolted to the floor and fairly rigid. Sitting on a saddle and pedalling on one, is much less forgiving than my own carbon seatpost. My bum hurt. a lot. from fairly early on.
2. Pedaling for 15 hours straight, give or take the odd 5 min toilet break is a BIG physical endeavor, but my god doing 80% of it in the same room, on the same bike was a form of mental torture.
My state of mind was for the most part, pretty good. I got some donations coming in. I had some visitors throughout the day, and the Athlete Lab team themselves were superb. They couldn’t do enough for me. But there were little part of the day when the mind games kicked in and it was hard to ignore them.
I remember at 9am, having been awake for 5 hours at this point, and cycling for 4 of them, I realised that I was now going to be on this bike for pretty much the same time as an average day at work. That wasn’t a useful comparison for me at that point.
Then between 2pm and 4pm I was really struggling mentally. I could see my cadence on the screen ahead had dropped a fair bit, I was breaking up the pedaling into 5 min chunks because I couldn’t hold the same position for more than 5 mins at a time (again due to the sore ass). I don’t remember feeling like I couldn’t pedal any longer, it was more a case of I just really didn’t want to.
I spoke to Mrs S at that point, on the phone and she obviously sent out a rallying call. I got my head down tried to carry on and the messages started coming in from mates, plus some donations. I got to 4:30pm and suddenly I was just 2 hours from finishing on the static bike. I knew I’d finish the 12hr session now, and my mood couldn’t have been more different.
The mental side of endurance sports always interests me and once again I was amazed at how I’d gone from thinking my whole bike ride to Glasgow was a ridiculous idea that couldn’t be done, and I didn’t want to be part of it anymore to suddenly being delighted at how well I’d done over the past 13 hours.
the last hour of my 15 hour test was the ride home, and most folk have said that they were surprised I’d want to get back on the bike again but it was the most enjoyable hour of the lot. Back on my own comfy bike, feeling the wind again and watching the sights of London go past. It was ace!
4 days later and I was back outdoors again, this time cycling 200km around the south east, accompanied by some mates for 40km of it (and also including a very nice pub lunch which they shouted!) having come through the 15 Hour Warmup, I felt so much more confident when I left them, just north of Brighton, for the final 80km journey home. At around 150km I had a bit of workout nirvana moment where I was gliding along country lanes as if I’d just started my journey 5 mins earlier.
Don’t get me wrong, I got home at 8:20pm, and could barely keep my eyes open while eating dinner but it was an entirely contented knackeredness. a far cry from my almost mental capitulation between 2pm-4pm on the static bike 4 days earlier.
So all in all, over 500km covered in a week across just 2 days of cycling. I had a few mental tests along the way but I’m here typing about it, so it was a hellishly enjoyable week in the end.
And then tonight, while baking some banana muffins for my next training ride, a song came on the radio that was played at Lewis funeral and it completely knocked the wind out of my sails. It really took me back to standing by the graveside which was absolutely horrible. And just like that, my mood is swung 180 degrees again. Its annoying how fragile grief can make your mental headspace. It frustrates me that I can put myself under so much pressure one day, and come out the other side with smile on my face. Then a week later one song has floored me.
Luckily I don’t have time to mope, as this Friday training continues as I take on the first 300km of the route. Leave London, ride until pretty much Lincoln. I’ll stay the night there, then ride the next 160km of the route on Saturday before heading for a train back to London. As everyone’s favourite self-name-dropper Ja-son DaRULO once said (repeatedly) I’m ridin’ solo. Just my own company and 450km of pedaling to get through….wish me luck!
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Graeme.
Pavement Therapy 