Challenges the Covid lockdown way!
So many of us signed up to big challenges for this year. We started our training programmes thinking we'd be among the masses taking on feats of physical endurance only to see cancelled cancelled cancelled pop up in our inboxes. However event organisers have done an awesome job of finding ways for us to complete our challenges virtually and socially distanced. Ride London is still on my wish list. For now...I'm doing Ride London virtual in Brighton with a tracker and my own motivation as the cheerleader.
My First Century Ride
100 miles of non stop cycling up and down Brighton seafront...
I was nervous. Doing a MASSIVE challenge like this virtually means no event pit stops, mechanics, health and safety team or cheerleaders that I would have at the actual Ride London. So I decided to do a repeat of a 25km loop that kept me close to home in case of emergency. I had never done more than about 75km in training. 180km was going to test my physical and mental limits AND some.
I went out at first light. My plan was to break the ride into 4 sections and drop by my house for a loo stop and bottle refresh at 3 breaks. It was so weird cycling along the seafront starting my challenge seeing so many people out on the beach still partying from the night before.
Setting a steady pace I was ok for the first section. And even the second. It was the third section where the tears threatened. My lower back really started to hurt. The seafront was also much busier so I was pedestrian dodging and finding it tough going mentally. Going up and down the same stretch was right from a personal safety point of view but blooming heck was it getting boring.
My head switched focus on the final quarter though. I was on the road to my finish line. The tracker in my ears buzzed and jingled as I crossed the virtual finish line. I was actually half way down rough old Basin Road by the stinky power station and I just stopped dead and burst into tears. A lovely couple walking past rushed over to ask if I was ok...
'I just cycled my first ever 100 miles in one go'....I blubbed...you deserve a pint now was the reply. Too frickin right!!!!!
WE CAN DO HARD THINGS!
Pink power love to you for reading this, Leonie x x
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