Reflections

Wow. I'm on my sofa in Malvern (with wine!)

What a journey :  9 days, 934 miles, 47525 feet (9miles!!) of climbing, 70.45 hours riding time, 13.25 mph average speed.

I had really no idea what to expect. I signed up in haste; drunk at a Denplan Key Client Forum 2 years ago. Thanks to Henry Clover and Mark Garner at Denplan for that!, but how hard could it be??

Before our training ride in March I had not ridden more than 30 miles in a day on a road bike. That day in Yorkshire (81miles) was one of the hardest things I had ever done. BUT I was training well, and getting long miles in on the bike.

I was fairly confident that I was fit enough, and reasonably sure in my mental toughness, but not so sure how my body would cope- especially my knees ( right one broken in 1992), neck and back (regular pain and problems after an hour or so) and legs (regularly very very sore after 50+ mile rides). I was however unsure about Day 8. 10,000 feet of climbing over 100 miles is immense. ( A regular one day road sportive will have 6000-8000 feet over a similar distance on a single day. The Fred Whitton sportive in the lake district, widely considered to be one of the hardest has only 8200 feet over 120 miles!).

BUT I was committed, so off to the start I went.

What I Learnt in no particular order

• The human mind (mine in particular for our purposes) has an infinite capacity for digging deep. Then deeper again. My friend Mark Oborn taught me that. he gave me an image of a giant digger, which I visualised often at weak moments, to remind me to keep going
• Pain is controllable to a large degree
• I can climb ANY hill. I'm just not sure I want to. Bill Tweddell taught me that last week. He told me to keep pedalling at all costs, no matter how slowly. As long as my lungs were not bursting, my legs would keep turning. He was right!!
• My friends are incredibly supportive and generous- Thank you all so much
• 100+ miles a day is a long way, but quite possible if tiring
• It is worth it having a recovery routine- cold bath, stretching, compression and foam roller, and nutrition. Thanks to my trainer Jack Clayton, Sarah Wheeldon, Dan Pinder and many others
• Cornwall is beautiful but way way too hilly.
• The Denplan events team are awesome.
• Ive met some seriously impressive cyclists- Richard,Simon, Andy T  and young Tom (super star), incredibly persistent mentally strong heroes- Big Andy and Sarah. Great friends and patient teachers Lawrence, David and Bill. Im sure I should mention more. You are all heroes.
• Steve Timms is amazingly patient, supportive and wonderful.
• I'm not doing this again.