L to R: me, Jeremy, Josh, Andrew, Robin
“Let’s break some speed limits”
I can tell you Jeremy’s motivational words about breaking speed limits came after about 20 miles. Yes, 20 miles and this was not brilliant timing, I thought. It came when I was flagging on the hills and not exactly capable of following his suggestion – but that’s just my slow coach position as it certainly didn’t faze the others. And yes, before you ask, they probably did break some speed limits and that included cycling up hill at one point.
I can hardly believe that after all this time, it took us until last week before we got our act together and managed to have a Coast to Coast group ride. Mind you, it was a perfect evening for a 30 mile blast at an average moving speed of 16.9mph.
Self doubts
I must admit to having doubts about the Coast to Coast run through my mind. On some of the hills I was way behind and struggling, thinking how on Earth am I going to manage the Coast to Coast. My bike, as a steel frame, is the heaviest especially with the niceties of having a Brooks leather saddle and a triple chain set. This is compared to a couple of full carbon fibres in our group.
But bikes aren’t the be-all-and-end-all either.
Yep the others are in better shape than me but I think I can still make it, albeit at my own pace. I will be the event plodder but I will make it okay. Never mind who these legs belong to (they’re not mine) but you can see some serious training has taken place.
cycling tones muscles nicely
Adding to the possible difficulties now is the weather, especially the wind direction. This could make a big difference. Currently it is not very favourable but it has to be said the weather forecast seems to be changing daily, so we might all be blessed by a nice tail-wind. That would be nice and seriously helpful.
When I have tackled long bike rides before, I have found it helpful to make some decisions and mull a few things over. This will probably start to involve thinking about a new bike, or some new rides I could put together and so on. These are motivational and are good for me as something to look forward to. I even remember doing this when riding from Mombasa to Kenya and find that tough going. I promised myself a slap-up meal at the Norfolk Hotel as something to look forward to and keep me going. Perhaps on Saturday I’ll be thinking about fish and chips in Whitby!
Lashings of ginger beer?
No not quite lashings of ginger beer but nice to enjoy each other’s company at home afterwards. Josh and Jeremy are either checking out their stats on Strava or sending text messages to each other.
So we’re nearly there. We’ve had a ride with each other at long last. We have cycled a few times as twos and threes and clocked up thousands of miles training for the Coast to Coast. I’m nervous about it and also really looking forward to it.
Before I mentioned about a Garmin. I got a Garmin 800 as a way of solving the potential problem of missing a sign and getting lost. It has taken a while to get the hang of it (the instructions are not good) and I am encouraged by other cyclist’s views that it is worth persevering with as they’re brilliant once mastered and understood. Rachel thinks I ought to keep it, I’m open minded and thinking I might possibly sell it afterwards (leave a comment if you’re interested!) in which case I should say how fantastic it is.
Good luck!
Good luck to everyone else taking part in the Coast to Coast in a Day event. Take care, let’s look out for each other. Take it easy going down the steep hills, take care with getting the nutrition, fluids, rest and pacing right.
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