Story
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I am aware, this is only applicable for UK mobiles).
I am
taking part in the Prudential
RideLondon-Surrey 100 and raising money for CAFOD.
The ride follows the route of the Olympic bike road race. Starting at
the Olympic park, going through London and out into Surrey, up Box
Hill once (the men's Olympic race did the hill 8 times!). It's then
back into London (eventually) to finish on The Mall. I am rather
hoping that it will be nice weather and Her Maj will be waving to me
as I finish. With luck there will be some nice pictures!
The
“100” in the name of the event refers to the number of miles all
the way round. That's 160km. Quite a long way! I have been cycling
regularly so I am confident that my fitness will be up to it. I
joined a cycle club last year and go out once or twice a week,
covering about 120km per week. I don't really qualify as a Mamil –
a “Middle Aged Man In Lycra” - as the definition in Wikipedia
describes a Mamil as a “..middle aged man who rides an expensive
racing bicycle for leisure, wearing tight-fitting bicycle jerseys and
bicycle shorts”. My bike is definitely not expensive! As for the
other parts of the definition, let's just leave it there.
I
have been building up my fitness and endurance. Last August we spent
some time cycling up Alps! I was rather taken aback to find that in
one month I climbed just under a vertical 10km. One of the gallery
pictures is me up the top of Col de l'Iseran in France (if you are a
skier, you may know this within the Val d'Isere ski area).
Cycling
with my club, San
Fairy Ann CC in Kent, over the winter and into spring was good,
and I had a programme of rides going though the spring and summer.
All very organised. Then there was a setback to my plans. If you look
at the x-ray picture in this page's gallery, you don't have to be
medically trained to see that my collar bone was rather broken. I hit
a lump in the road while not paying attention and went down like a
cycling sack of spuds. That was me out of action for 8 weeks, when
the doctor at the fracture clinic said I could start riding again as
long as I didn't fall off.
I am back on the bike again and
feeling ok. I have done a couple of long rides – one round most of
Lake Geneva (Lac Leman) and the other with Catherine around the
surprisingly hilly Kent. Both 100km or more, so the legs are still
working after their enforced rest. There are many training regimes in
every cycling magazine on the newsagents' shelves. I am sure they
mean well, but my natural instinct is a bit more neanderthal. A
slight variation on the strap line the Nike use, if you see what I
mean.
I would be very grateful if you were able to make a
donation to mark the occasion. I am raising money for Cafod. You can
read about their work on their website here www.cafod.org.uk
. In short, they are the aid agency of the Catholic Church of England
and Wales. They work in the parts of the world you normally only hear
about on the news, either directly or with local partner
organisations. It's not all bad news, there are definite success
stories, and I encourage you to have a good nose around their site.
When you have done that, please consider making a donation using one
of the ways described above.
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You can, of course, force money
upon me in person as well as, or instead of, one of the other
methods.
Many thanks
James