Well, the road to Paris, for me, actually started back in August. I have not blogged much until now, as to be honest, I always wonder why anyone would be interested in the ramblings about my life. It is different, though, when I feel an adventure or story has actually started for real.
The Tour 21 ride is very real for me now. I know I cannot do this alone, so I had to build my next “team” – a team that together could help me do something great.
On the surface it often seems like most things I do in life are done solo. I am very independent and always have been. I like doing things myself and don’t like bothering anyone or asking for help, despite loving helping others myself. I have always seemed to be both good and lucky at surrounding myself with great people and asking them endless questions.
I’m sure my mother must have answered a million “why’s” from me as a child. I love to try and understand who people are and how they tick. I like to understand how things work. I try to learn what people do, even if it’s not something I’m ever going to do myself.
The main two sports I’ve participated in, throughout my adult life, have been golf and cycling. I have played golf for over 50 years, and cycling has been a big part of my life since 2017. Both are seen as individual sports, especially at the amateur level. However, I have always been supported by others, who have helped me to achieve the things I wanted in life.
Riding the Tour de France route this summer will be no different. It might seem like an individual effort as I have to ride your bike every mile myself. Yet I know I can’t do something like this without my team. I know that my team of fellow riders, team captains, mechanics, physios, cooks, bus drivers and many others from The Tour 21 and Cure Leukaemia organizations are the best, proven and committed to making this successful for me.
There is another team who I will depend on – a team of friends, family and partners who will hopefully help me get stronger, healthier, and ready to take on such a massive challenge, and a team that can help raise funds for this cause which is so close to my heart. The amount we are able to raise is going to be my personal barometer of how well we did.
There are a thousand ways I will get help – from advice, ideas and passed on experience, coaching, partnership, and donations. All will make a difference and make this a truly team effort for me. My part is the easiest – train hard, ride smart and don’t stop until Paris. However, it will be because of other people’s efforts and help, if I make it to the finish line having ridden every foot and inch and in one piece.
Many months ago, I hired two coaches. My cycling coach, Peter Georgi, is based in the UK and happens to be a great rider himself. He is also the father of professional female cyclist and British National Champion Phiffer Georgi, who has also ridden the Tour de France Femmes a number of times. I thought having a coach who not only understands cycling but has a great deal of first-hand experience of what lies ahead of me, made sense. Secondly, I hired Emma O’Toole, a cycling and strength coach, also from the UK. In the relatively short time I had to prepare for this ride I knew I could not get great at every aspect of cycling; however, strength and gym work is a quicker way to actually get stronger than just cycling.
Each week I get a schedule for the week ahead, from who are now my two now best friends. Five days of cycling and six days of exercise are put into my calendar, and I then spend all week trying to complete my homework. At 63 I wonder what the hell I am doing! I can’t remember ever working this hard, especially for something I have chosen to do myself.
At the start it took all my time, and everything bit of energy I had, just to simply complete this schedule. I found simple exercises hard, stretches and balances difficult, and completing cycling intervals almost impossible. Many times, I thought that maybe this challenge was way beyond me. Yet I also know from the past that you take on big challenges with continual small steps.
So, over the last five months, step by step, I am getting a little bit better. It is funny how even though it still feels incredibly hard and tiring, you begin to see small improvements. You notice your average speed on a ride is a little faster. On a longer road ride you find you went a little further.
I am not a numbers guy and never have been. I do things in the moment and give as much as I can with what I have on that day. The structure of training doesn’t really suit my impulsive nature. I have always disliked routine, order, and repetitiveness. However, routine, consistency and planning are now working for this challenge. I feel that if I can work as hard as I can, with the advice of others, right up until the start line in Barcelona then I have a chance. From there until Paris is where hopefully my dogged persistence, stubbornness not to give up and determination not to let others down that will fuel me each and every day to the end. From now until June, training, discipline, and routine can get me as ready as I can be. After that, it’s all going to be dependent on mentally pushing myself up and over every mountain and obstacle before me for 21 days.
I know I have to do the riding myself. No one can ride the bike for me, yet it’s the team of friends, family and supporters who will keep me on the saddle, lift me over the mountains, and push me every mile along the journey. My best fuel has always been my desire not to disappoint or let others down. No one has ever put this pressure on me. I do it myself. As Lance Armstrong once said “Pain is temporary, quitting is permanent“. I find for me its “Hard moments pass, shared experiences last forever.”