Challenge to Train

My cycling history has been varied, aged about 8 I started to ride in competitions, mainly cyclo-cross but never really had the motivation to train.

Then my brother won the under 15 National Schools Cyclo-cross championship and I thought I needed to try harder, I never reached that height, the  best I could manage was 4^th in the Nationals.  Thanks to big brother winning the Over 15 champs that year we did win a nice team trophy though!

Fast forward to my adult life and I still lacked the motivation to train so thought I would set myself a challenge that would force me to get fit, I talked a good friend into riding with me from Lands End to John O Groats.  This we managed to complete in just over 7 days (7 Days 5 hours and 10 minutes, it’s indelibly engraved in my memory!)

A few years later I convinced my Sister-in-Law to accompany on a ride from John O Groats to Lands End, I needed it to be different from the previous End to End to avoid me saying to myself “I’ve already done this once” and giving up if the going got too tough!

Other challenges have involved Marathons and Triathlons and through my running I helped to raise money for the Ron Pickering Memorial Fund and subsequently discovered that Ron was instrumental in the creation of the Eastway Circuit that I used to race on as a Junior.

Having realised that the old Eastway circuit was now the Olympic Park and the start of Ride London I was gutted to have missed out in the ballot to gain a place to ride.  All was not lost though as I was lucky enough to win a place to ride with Team Skoda, now I had another challenge to encourage me back onto the bike again this year.

The other challenge around training is finding the time to fit it in! Riding to work seemed to fit the bill, 16 miles each way is a good start and means that I should be able to fit in at least 160 miles each week.

When I first started to ride to work I thought I was doing ok but then someone would come past me as if I was standing still, now I have been doing it for a few months I am passing more people than I get passed by! It must be working I am getting fitter and faster.

The only problem with my ride to work is the lack of hills, so when I went out with team Skoda and the Rapha Condor riders to tackle a training ride recently I was concerned about the prospect of Leith Hill, happily I managed to get up it quite quickly although my legs were complaining at the top!

Roll on 4^th August and Ride London, oh and then there is a little matter of an iron distance triathlon in Henley the following month!

What challenge can I think up for next year to keep my motivation to train going??