Action 100: Random thoughts from a weekend cycle
It's Tuesday and I feel like someone's put a board in my back. The pain in my lower back is intense and the palms of my hands are bruised.
No - I'm not still recovering from a wild weekend of festivals. I did a long run ride - and it was a mixture of Heaven and Hell.
A 45 mile round route from home to Sunningdale and back.
I learned a lot about riding and about myself.
If I have something to reach, a goal in sight, sheer bloody minded determination will get me there. A pointless trip to somewhere to turn around and come back again is far harder for me mentally. Tick in the box for the Action 100 ride as it goes from point A (Bath) to point B (Chobham) - and there will be a shower and a bar at the other end.
My boredom threshold is is incredibly low. On the way back, between Sandhurst and Bracknell, the road is absolutely beautiful - surrounded by trees - but monotonous and unchanging if you're cycling.
I found myself playing memory games in a kind of Brucie conveyor belt style as I cycled along: fast food carton; crisp wrapper; packet of condoms (didn't stop to check if empty); empty drink cans; McDonalds toys; half a teddy; plastic sheeting; finish line tape.... oh, and a banana skin that made me think that other cyclists had 'trod' this path before (evidently as downhearted as I was at this stage and reaching for the bananas).
It's also striking how much more aware we become of nature when close to it like that - the rustling in trees (a bit unnerving when you're on your own in the middle of nowhere); things running away and hiding (all you see is a white tail or grey blob vanishing into the hedges). And roadkill becomes much more personal. it's easy in a car to think 'squished hedgehog, rabbit or squirrel without a second thought. On a bike it's staring you in the face - very gory.
Cycle paths - they're another ineteresting phenomena. Blackwater boasts cycle paths with no dips in the pavement to get onto them, and there was one village I went through where the cycle path was so far down a bank that there was no way I could get down onto it, with or without bike.
Camberley's big roundabout is a nightmare on a cycle as you have to get into lane - and there's four or five of them depending upon which point you're at. Which means cycling across lanes to get into lane: as hundreds of boy racers use the route I shan't need to get my legs waxed for months - they did the job for me!
I also failed to take enough water with me - relying (mistakenly) on the fact that there would be garages along the way. Which resulted in the worst cramp along my left leg that I've ever experienced. Again, the Action 100 ride will be better as there are water stops along the way so I know that if I run out, help's not too far away.
The Heaven bits were some of the countryside; stopping for blackberries; hitting Wokingham (which I regard as almost home - which, indeed, it would be in a car) and sitting down afterwards with a map and realising that I'd cycled 45 miles rather that the 30 that I believed I was doing.
And our six year old made me laugh by telling me off when I told him my butt hurt - he ran off to tell everyone that mummy used a rude word, using the opportunity to repeat it as frequently as he could.
The ride now is just three weeks away. My fitness level is improving. I've seen more of the countryside this year than I would normally - my experience is normally limited to the view from a car or carefully created paths through nature reserves.
Despite the fact that I feel like someone removed my back and replaced it with a cattle prodder, bring it on!!
PS Would just like to make a public apology to the people in Easthampstead whose manicured green verge I sat under a tree and ate a banana on, but left the skin behind: there were no bins for miles and I learnt earlier in the ride not to leave banana skins in rucksacks.
No - I'm not still recovering from a wild weekend of festivals. I did a long run ride - and it was a mixture of Heaven and Hell.
A 45 mile round route from home to Sunningdale and back.
I learned a lot about riding and about myself.
If I have something to reach, a goal in sight, sheer bloody minded determination will get me there. A pointless trip to somewhere to turn around and come back again is far harder for me mentally. Tick in the box for the Action 100 ride as it goes from point A (Bath) to point B (Chobham) - and there will be a shower and a bar at the other end.
My boredom threshold is is incredibly low. On the way back, between Sandhurst and Bracknell, the road is absolutely beautiful - surrounded by trees - but monotonous and unchanging if you're cycling.
I found myself playing memory games in a kind of Brucie conveyor belt style as I cycled along: fast food carton; crisp wrapper; packet of condoms (didn't stop to check if empty); empty drink cans; McDonalds toys; half a teddy; plastic sheeting; finish line tape.... oh, and a banana skin that made me think that other cyclists had 'trod' this path before (evidently as downhearted as I was at this stage and reaching for the bananas).
It's also striking how much more aware we become of nature when close to it like that - the rustling in trees (a bit unnerving when you're on your own in the middle of nowhere); things running away and hiding (all you see is a white tail or grey blob vanishing into the hedges). And roadkill becomes much more personal. it's easy in a car to think 'squished hedgehog, rabbit or squirrel without a second thought. On a bike it's staring you in the face - very gory.
Cycle paths - they're another ineteresting phenomena. Blackwater boasts cycle paths with no dips in the pavement to get onto them, and there was one village I went through where the cycle path was so far down a bank that there was no way I could get down onto it, with or without bike.
Camberley's big roundabout is a nightmare on a cycle as you have to get into lane - and there's four or five of them depending upon which point you're at. Which means cycling across lanes to get into lane: as hundreds of boy racers use the route I shan't need to get my legs waxed for months - they did the job for me!
I also failed to take enough water with me - relying (mistakenly) on the fact that there would be garages along the way. Which resulted in the worst cramp along my left leg that I've ever experienced. Again, the Action 100 ride will be better as there are water stops along the way so I know that if I run out, help's not too far away.
The Heaven bits were some of the countryside; stopping for blackberries; hitting Wokingham (which I regard as almost home - which, indeed, it would be in a car) and sitting down afterwards with a map and realising that I'd cycled 45 miles rather that the 30 that I believed I was doing.
And our six year old made me laugh by telling me off when I told him my butt hurt - he ran off to tell everyone that mummy used a rude word, using the opportunity to repeat it as frequently as he could.
The ride now is just three weeks away. My fitness level is improving. I've seen more of the countryside this year than I would normally - my experience is normally limited to the view from a car or carefully created paths through nature reserves.
Despite the fact that I feel like someone removed my back and replaced it with a cattle prodder, bring it on!!
PS Would just like to make a public apology to the people in Easthampstead whose manicured green verge I sat under a tree and ate a banana on, but left the skin behind: there were no bins for miles and I learnt earlier in the ride not to leave banana skins in rucksacks.
posted by Waving hello! @ 9:09 am
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