First Let me tell you how I agreed to cycle 1000miles ...
I belong to a Classic Mini Club and for a few years now we have raised money for charities using our time and our cars mainly .. and then one day someone 'had an idea' ... to get fit and raise money for our club charity 'Cash For Kids' .. and I was asked if I wanted to join a challenge?? As I had previously walked the coast to coast trail! Obviously my answer was Yes ! (Was I Mad?) Oh what the hell .. lets do it!
Training
Well Training started with buying a road bike and turbo trainer to hook the bike up to, doing loads of research into bike set up and by my girlfriends account - turning into a bike geek!
Yes the madness has set in .. I often wonder why I agreed to such a daunting task. Rob must have hypnotised me or something similar .. I like a challenge but this is certainly turning out to be the biggest thing I have ever undertaken or ever thought I would attempt to do! 1000 miles on a bike - I haven't been on a bike for more than 1 mile in about 15 years!! I refer to my earlier thought .. Madness????
When I first hooked up my new bike to the trainer I discovered how difficult it was to cycle continuously for 10 minutes without sweating out what feels like 2 litres of fluid !! I soon realised this was going to be hard work. I purchased a Suunto Heart Rate Monitor to keep track of my progress and see the improvement (or not) of my body's capability throughout training. This is getting technical.
Motivating myself to do regular training in a small room, in winter when its cold and wet outside was not easy ... and then to move house too - stressful!
So moving house, working for a living (shifts) and training and oh yes I need to have a life and see friends and my very supportive girlfriend too! I feel like a circus juggler and just want more hours in the day and more days in the week... Is it going to be possible???? I still ask myself now..
Once we moved and the spring weather and longer days began to creep in it became an option to go out on the road and easier to jump on the trainer .. the impending deadline of the start date also helps!
