Pic credits to S. Heiskanen
Continue reading “A few random excellent pics around CP1 by someone’s dad (I think)”
A few random excellent pics around CP1 by someone’s dad (I think)
Day 13: That still isn’t really fast…
The room was getting lighter. Last night I had collapsed into the bed of a cheap hotel on the outskirts of Lyon, and now the room was getting lighter. I grabbed my watch. It was well after dawn and I was still in the same bed. I had forgotten to set my alarm!
Day 12: The Day of Bad Language (Sorry)
The messages I was sending weren’t good:
“Shit” – 5:04pm
“My charger is dead” – 5:04pm
“Shit” – 5:04pm
“There’s no way I’m getting there by Saturday” – 5:05pm
“I need to get to grenoblw now” – 5:05pm
“Fuck. Bolt dead.” – 5:07pm
Yes, you read that right. I really spelt Grenoble “grenoblw”. But just at that moment things were seeming pretty tough, so please, cut me some slack… Continue reading “Day 12: The Day of Bad Language (Sorry)”
Day 11: The day my victory was snatched from me!
I really enjoy writing these blog posts. I spoke to someone a while ago who said he would never write a blog, because he is riding for himself rather than to win approval of a whole lot of people he has never met, so there is no point writing about it afterwards. I disagree completely. For a start, the blog has nothing to do with a whole lot of people, there aren’t that many of you who read it! Secondly, writing the blog lets me relive the ride but without the pain, cold, heat, wind and rain, so I just get the enjoyment which brings a whole lot of new memories. Not all of them make it into these posts because (I admit it) I would like to keep the readers I do have but the people I see every day get to hear little extra details and stories as I relive it all and remember them. And the third point is that I love getting feedback on them. Some of it comes in comments (check how quick this post has been Anthony, less than a week!) and some through other mediums. From my last post I specifically got a lot of feedback about my variety of optimism. Some of it was even good, but my favourite bit came from one of my favourite people in the whole world, who told me that it is known in academic literature as “mental contrasting with implementation intentions”. I love it. Now on with the story, which is about to take a terrible twist!
Continue reading “Day 11: The day my victory was snatched from me!”
Day 10: A most significant day
Many people, when they hear of an idea that they like, respond by saying how good the idea is, and how much they like it. Not me. That isn’t the way my mind works. If you suggest an idea that I really like, my immediate reaction will be to list every single hurdle, issue, danger, obstacle or difficulty that I can think of.
It’s a response that makes a lot of people think I’m a pessimist, and I can sort of understand why they think that, but they’re really missing the point all together. I’m not listing the obstacles to try and convince you that it won’t work, I’m listing them so that together we can make sure it does work. I might even already have a solution for some of the obstacles I list, but unless I’m absolutely sure that my solution is a cracker I’ll still list the obstacle without mentioning my solution, because you may well come up with something much better if I just give you a few moments to think about it yourself. Basically, if I start telling you the problems with an idea it means that I think we can make it work, not that we can’t. If I think it can’t work, I will just say “nah, won’t work” and move on to something else. So it isn’t pessimism, it’s optimism, but an optimism that thinks the best chances of success come from examining all of the possibilities for failure (and then trying to make sure that they don’t happen).
What that means though, is that I always look at the possibilities of failure.
Day Nine – A funny thing happened…
I woke up pretty early, knowing I had a big hill to get over first thing. I hadn’t ridden over it last night because I was worried that I would get too cold. I wanted to get over it quickly and early now though, because I knew that if I didn’t I would end up suffering through the heat. Beyond the hill though was checkpoint 3. When I started this race in 2017 I got as far as checkpoint 3 before pulling out, so knowing that I was at least within range of equaling that effort was a comforting thought. Continue reading “Day Nine – A funny thing happened…”
Day Eight – That really isn’t very far!
Today I would be hitting the parcours for Checkpoint Three, but before I reached it I still had a reasonable climb ahead of me – the Passo Valparola. My plan was to get over it before the day got hot. Beyond that, I knew that between the end of the parcours and the actual checkpoint there was a big hill that I really wasn’t keen to go over when it was cold, dark and wet. To try and avoid the heat in the morning and the cold in the evening I thought I should get going relatively early, so I was on the bike well before light, with a fairly chilly 4 degrees. Continue reading “Day Eight – That really isn’t very far!”
Day Seven – Back to the hills
I was sore, and the hills were back. this had the potential to be disaster, but at least it would be disaster in a beautiful part of the world. And on top of that, I had a plan. Years ago I was a dirt-bike obsessed teenager, and used to read every issue of Australasian Dirt Bike Magazine from cover to cover. One line from a review of what they concluded was a reasonable but ridiculously underpowered little bike has always stuck with me – “no power equals no wear”.
Day Six – All my speed and grace…
…was gone. This was probably the lowest point of my ride, while also being a wonderful day. I woke up in a hotel in Zagreb with sore everything. My knees were stiff, my achillies ached, my butt was sore, my feet were still sore and I was feeling very sorry for myself. I took an honest look at how far I had to go and how I was feeling, and concluded that I was unlikely to make it to the finisher’s party.
Day 5 – Into Croatia, and things are starting to go wrong…
I had been pretty happy when I planned this section of my route – it was nice and flat and I thought I should manage an easy 400-450km a day. Serbia had been very hot and the road quality and traffic had both taken a toll, but I was hoping for better things in Croatia.
Continue reading “Day 5 – Into Croatia, and things are starting to go wrong…”