With the date of the ride speeding towards us i thought i would follow suit and blog recent events, so here goes.
Half of the team headed up to the picturesque village of Malham for Sues Birthday and some valuable hill training. A short 27 miler was planned which saw the cyclists turn right out of the accommodation straight into a 1 in 7 hill that lasted for 3 miles, Beautiful!
So after this valuable hill training it was back to work, and a slow down in the biking with less than 10 days before the start of the 'little ride' I thought that I would just keep my legs spinning until then. So after work I set off east on a route that I have done many times before, Pontefract, Darrington towards the A19 etc, a steady route with a few rolling hills and one climb that allows you to work a bit harder. The weather looked OK with a few dark clouds on the horizon towards Doncaster so I chucked a coat in and thought id give my recently purchased overshoes a whirl as well, which turned out to fit as snug as slippers and only fractionally less comfortable.
Now I am no expert in scales of rain, I'm not sure whether drizzle comes before spitting or after fine rain however I am certain that after 10 miles none of the above turned up they were clearly somewhere else and preoccupied wetting washing so they sent 'absolute monsoon hammer it down' rain instead. You would think at this point I would be grateful for my 'water proof' jacket and i would have been if my jacket wasn't a liar however I pedalled on thinking that my coat had let me down and it was teaming up with my overshoes in an attempt to drench me from head to toe.
I cracked on nearing Pontefract castle (i know i didn't believe it as well) rounding another bend i was met by a flooded road and another test of my resolve, it was here as John was frolicking like a happy seal through the 6 inch water i thought 'damn this ride is going to be hard'. But then something changed, my MP3 music clicked over and Tiesto's adagio for strings kicked in, as each pedal stroke splashed into the water i thought the reason why we are doing the ride is for Alfie who because of his condition will never be able to ride a bike, wear a wafer thin coat or whinge about the rain like i was doing just at this point! From here on i powered homeward bound pedalling up the hill like it was a no more than the camber of the road, the sun even came out and slightly dried me off.
So i will leave you with this thought inspired by Dragons Den's Duncan Bannatyne, I will be investing 100% of my effort into this business and wanting 100% equity of the route, that's why I'll let you know where i am. I'm absolutely ready for this bike ride!!
Soggy Rich says is that the best you can throw at me, I laugh in the face of bad weather, tweak the nose of adversity!
Race you to John O Groat.......................................Go!
