STUART's Stuart's 50 Scottish Climbs Challenge
STUART ASHLEY is raising money for Age Scotland
Story
50 SCOTTISH CLIMBS CHARITY CHALLENGE
A bit of detail:
I had the idea at the end of last year
to set about doing 50 Scottish Climbs (the longest and toughest ones) in 2020; to drop my weight and give myself a challenge of getting to the
top 10 of the leader-board on Strava (cycling app thing) or maybe even a KOM or 2. I am a natural climber and as I have become more and more fed up with Time Trial Cycling I decided to refocus and have made this my main goal now for 2020. I don’t aim for 2nd place it is realistic, I can achieve this.
to set about doing 50 Scottish Climbs (the longest and toughest ones) in 2020; to drop my weight and give myself a challenge of getting to the
top 10 of the leader-board on Strava (cycling app thing) or maybe even a KOM or 2. I am a natural climber and as I have become more and more fed up with Time Trial Cycling I decided to refocus and have made this my main goal now for 2020. I don’t aim for 2nd place it is realistic, I can achieve this.
The Challenge:
As we know, lockdown has made cycling and travelling to other locations impossible due to the restrictions and
quite rightly so. I’m lucky enough to live in northern central Scotland
and have some amazing training grounds just a few miles from my house so I can access these via bike on a single route leaving from my home thus keeping to the rules. I will go further afield once I can do-so responsibly and in line with guidelines.
On top of this, the lockdown has served to allow me to
focus deeper on this challenge and I have been developing my climbing
bike, making it a project too. I am a nutritional advisor and I know
that I am at my optimum weight, at 6ft 2 and 72 kg I can maybe lose an
extra kg but I’m happy as I’m holding 370-380w on long climbs. So the
natural next step was to look at my bike. I am blessed to have a
Cannondale super six evo high mod frame running the old red 10 speed,
I’ve invested money in a very light saddle / stem / seat-post and have
played around with a 1x option at the front. With my standard clinchers /
no cages I have got the weight to 5.8 and with the added partnership
from Hunt Wheels I have my build finished at 5.4kg .
As we know, lockdown has made cycling and travelling to other locations impossible due to the restrictions and
quite rightly so. I’m lucky enough to live in northern central Scotland
and have some amazing training grounds just a few miles from my house so I can access these via bike on a single route leaving from my home thus keeping to the rules. I will go further afield once I can do-so responsibly and in line with guidelines.
On top of this, the lockdown has served to allow me to
focus deeper on this challenge and I have been developing my climbing
bike, making it a project too. I am a nutritional advisor and I know
that I am at my optimum weight, at 6ft 2 and 72 kg I can maybe lose an
extra kg but I’m happy as I’m holding 370-380w on long climbs. So the
natural next step was to look at my bike. I am blessed to have a
Cannondale super six evo high mod frame running the old red 10 speed,
I’ve invested money in a very light saddle / stem / seat-post and have
played around with a 1x option at the front. With my standard clinchers /
no cages I have got the weight to 5.8 and with the added partnership
from Hunt Wheels I have my build finished at 5.4kg .
The cause:
Having assisted in my community with the donation of PPE equipment during this Covid 19 outbreak, and seeing first hand the lack of supplies and support, especially to the vulnerable and notably the elderly, it really hit home to me that this demographic was in real need .Having now befriended some of the elderly that I’ve helped, I understand now that the work of charities such as Age UK really do impact and save life’s.
So from start to finish bullet points
Goal
- top ten (at least but KOM (King Of The Mountain) is the ultimate goal of 50 climbs in Scotland and to raise £10,000 - yes a big goal but a worthy cause.
- top ten (at least but KOM (King Of The Mountain) is the ultimate goal of 50 climbs in Scotland and to raise £10,000 - yes a big goal but a worthy cause.
Time frame - completion by end Oct 2020, with lockdown now easing this is certainly doable
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