Name: Graham
Occupation: Sales Manager
Age: 40
Cycling Experience: Patchy to none existent
Last week my friend asked me if I would cycle The Beast with him in May.
The Beast is a 200 mile ride around the picturesque hills of North Yorkshire. It sounds lovely, the catch is you have to do this 200 mile s in one day - actually 16 hours. That includes all stopping (eat, drink and well you can finish that yourself). My response was...
"What? Are you kidding?"
I am a 40 year old asthmatic who has not done any serious exercise since my kids were born 10 years ago. As you can imagine not the fittest person in the world.
"No of course not. I fancy the challenge for my 40th. Plus you did do that big bike ride."
That big bike ride was 6 years ago and the last time I actually rode a bike and I swore the last. I accidentally agreed to do Lands End to John O'Groats (LEJOG 1000 miles) with a friend in 9 days. It was AMAZING and PAINFUL and the cause of a lot of grief (well deserved) from my wife - long time away from home when she had two young kids to look after. So if you are reading this then you are probably thinking, if he can do that then he is probably fit and healthy and an experienced cyclist. You would be dead wrong. I cycled a bit when I was a teenager, i.e. the odd day out on my bike doing about 15 miles. I then did not go on a bike until I agreed to do the LEJOG 20 years later. Lots of training obviously... nope! I had just started a new business and that was taking all my time so I think I managed about 16 training rides with the furthest one taking me a huge 30 miles in a day. I would have to be riding closer to 100 miles per day. Anyway, to cut a long story short I bought the cheapest bike I could from Decathlon and set off - day 1 was horrendous, day 2 was excruciating, day 3 nearly broke me, day 4 was tough and then day 5 - 9 was a mixture of pain and elation in equal measures. I did it! and then never sat on a bike again and made sure I binned my bike.
So you are all caught up.
Now the friend who asked me to do this ride is a proper cyclist - he spins regularly and is always out on his bike. He is also one of my favourite people in the world and so of course I want to do this with him. So I said yes. And then the fear started. 16 hours to do 200 miles = average speed 12.5 mph but obviously you need to stop to eat, stretch, micturate etc. so realistically it's more likely to be 14 hours in the saddle so that is averaging about 14 - 15 mph. Did I mention the hills? 14,000 ft of elevation! Oh Flip!
So I need to get fit. I have until May so that is 7 months. My base fitness is zero, I don't even own a proper bike. My friend has offered to help on that score when I said I was going to Decathlon again - I do like their B-Twin range I really do! He got straight on the internet and found me a bike in Penzance (I live in Sheffield) that has a decent spec. I am having to take his word for this as I really don't have a clue about bikes - yet. I will obviously have to learn pretty quickly. It is due to arrive next week.
So this is it - I am going to Ride the Beast. I am going to try and document this as I go so that I can look back on this when I am even older and less healthy and say see I did do some exercise.
Till next time.
