Six Days

This is it, six days to go. Six days before I climb 1,400 ft (edited as I CnP'd wrongly, thanks W00hoo!) over 100 miles before collapsing in a heap in the Mall!

That’s if I finish.

Long view on the weather is either cloud or sun but to be honest I could be a meteorologist sometimes as I predict that there will be a possibility of sun, wind and rain but a lesser chance of snow as this is Southern England at the beginning of August.

I will be staying in Wapping before heading out at around sunrise to head north to the Olympic park, where helpfully I am on the other side of the start positions to the north east of the park in the green zone.

At 07.54am, I will join 25,000 other lunatics riders, I will head thorough the City into Westminster, Kensington, Richmond Park, Kingston, Hampton Court past my dad having his breakfast at Martin’s café, Walton, Weybridge, West Byfleet then Pyrford.

After Ripley, comes Horsley, Clandon then the first real climb with Newlands and the first real descent the other side. Turn at Sutton Abigner and a gentle climb into the lovely Holmbury St Mary before dropping again then a sharp ramp to Leith Hill.

Here I will cough out my other lung - which will hunt down its sinister twin left there on previous training rides - before the fast descent back to the A25 after a surprisingly annoying ramp. Right towards Westcott hitting 40-odd mph before Dorking then Box Hill. Slip into something comfortable and spin the way up the zig zags before descending again through Headley hoping not to crash on the fast left/right turn. Up into Leatherhead, struggle past the Bear, through Oxshott and bomb down to the A3. Through Esher, wave at dad if he’s at the Scilly Isles, resist temptation to turn into my road go indoors and have a lie down, Kingston, up the nasty Coombe Lane (not as nasty as its namesake but deceptively naughty when you’ve hit 85 miles or so in a ride) and the newly surfaced Worple Road.

Hope a mate has bought a beer out from the Alex, wish they hadn’t as I struggle up Wimbledon Hill, regain composure though the Common then downhill through Putney, Kings Road, Embankment, to be met by my wife and daughter somewhere past the secure zone in the Mall.

Since the turn of the year, I have (lost Strava details and short trips notwithstanding) ridden 3,500 miles, spent 244 hours and 21 minutes in the saddle and climbed 66,056 feet over 232 rides. 

I have had one service, one new chain, one cassette change and two new wheels thanks to the stars at Specialized Kingston who have had to put up with an impatient, often-confused man through these months.

I have bought shorts, lycra tops, gloves, panniers, CO2 pumps, cleaners, helmets, oil, grease, tools, socks, buffs, pumps and bottles.

I have lost around two stone in weight, I have something I believe are called muscles forming on the former continental fat shelf that was my belly.

I am no Captain Marvel by any means, but in six days’ time, I will be donning the orange, white and black of the MS Society and ride out to do something that eight months ago, I would have scoffed at if you said I would be doing Ride London.  

Please hit the button below and sponsor me or tell your friends to do so and feel free to follow my progress on the Ride London site this Sunday.

My name is Simon Miller, my rider number is 36927, I am riding because a friend suffers from MS. I am riding because MS sufferer John Hicklenton decided to make a choice in Switzerland.

I am riding because others cannot.

Going the distance

When I was a small cub, your bicycle was your passport to freedom. No longer did you have to rely on your parents to get to the library or to go to the nearest shopping area, you were free.

You’d jump on your bike and you were off. It is a cliché because it was true but in those days, you’d head off at sunrise and return at dusk.

These were the days of ET and BMX, of jumping on the bike and thinking nothing about heading into London on the A3, yep the A3 that blistering, thin fast road where nothing as really changed except the speed limit and cameras. We would happily head along it on the way to London and the comic shops and marts.

I even decided to cycle to Brighton to see if I could do it, not realising that you don’t go via Guilford, adding an extra 15 miles to my ride.

Distance, and time, was nothing to us.

But something happens. In those years from invincibility to mortality, distances start to appear longer. How long? You’ve got to be kidding?

Of course the lack of bike fitness at the start doesn’t help – where cycling five miles appeared to be a very quick way to the cardio unit – but even so, as you start and progress, distance still seem immense.

When I decided to start increasing my distances, I scoured the maps like Livingstone looking for the start of the Nile. The big journey into the great unknown.

I started going on every increasing circles wither to Richmond and back or through Molesey and round to Hersham.

The circles got bigger, I included pathways such as going through the Hinchley Woods and back round via Oxshott, across fields into Cobham. The distances each week getting larger.

And then the day I crossed over the M25.

I’d gone through Cobham and past the Plough  - an old haunt of my late teenage years – then there was a bridge on the rise. I had crossed the border, I was out of London and its burbs.

I had an immense sense of achievement and that continued when I turned round further east and headed back down Downside and came back in towards London.

If I didn’t fancy the country lanes, I could head towards Heathrow and the sprawling mass of North West London, or simply head into London itself.

As part of my training for Ride London, I have been taking segments of the course, 20, 30 miles, pushing up my range and seeing what my limits are.

Some people may now think that for me 100 miles should be a synch. I really wish it would be. I really wish that all that mileage, those hills, ascents and descents alike, the timing constraints – you must ride an average 12mph – but to be honest I don’t know.

Eventually I will attempt the route before the actual day, find out what speeds I can do over the distance, what foods I will need, what are my weaknesses (Hills!!!!) and strengths, what will hurt and where.

I may collapse in a puddle of effort and sweat.

Hell, I may do that on the day itself.

But whatever happens, I will pick myself up, walk up those hills if necessary, and finish the course.

Because a year ago, I was a bear on a clapped-out second-hand bike, scared of my lack of fitness and the lack of miles. I was a bear without a road-map and had no idea that riding for MSSociety in August was going to be the next destination.

If you are reading this, please share with your friends and colleagues and urge them to donate via the button below.

Did I mention hills?

Training day…

A couple of weeks ago I got my cycling top from MS Society. With the latest bike (I’ll get round to the pitfalls of bikes eventually) been serviced at Specialized Kingston, I thought I’d better get round to some proper cycling round Surrey.

So on an early Friday morning, where I’d usually be getting ready to head to work – panniers etc, I slung the saddlebag on and off I went. Through Esher, up Oxshott, yes I was being one of the weekend wheelies – but on a Friday!

Heading out of the burbs on a sunny weekday morning is wonderful. The majority of traffic is heading the other way and those going your's seem to be more relaxed as they note the ever-growing queues the other side of the dotted lines.

I was only ever really going out for a couple of hours but as I hit the Leatherhead bypass, I had butterflies and it wasn’t just the hurtling down at 40mph that was causing it. Could I get up Box Hill? If I couldn’t get up Box Hill, how on earth could I even think about Leith Hill?  I have done some hills before but there is something about those two, which made me gulp.

As I looked up at the south face of Box Hill, I took a deep breath. I'd walk up that hill with the dogs, I’d bombed down it on a sled, and yes I had cycled up it but that was some 29 years previously.

For the experienced cyclist, they saw this…

That’s not what I saw…

 Pushing onwards and upwards, I heard the tell tale click of someone who could afford better shifters. Looking behind, swish, swish, swish, swish, four club riders sped past me as my legs span and span hoping to keep up my own momentum.

I looked up to see them disappearing round the bend of the first Zig, thankful that they would probably be in the fast set rather than my probable start group.

As I turned the bend to head towards the Zag, I felt the presence of another rider – seriously, when roads are quiet you do sometimes get with the Jedi in realizing someone is approaching  - Amazingly, I could still talk.

“Mate, I’d overtake me if I were you,” I wheezed.

“I’ll try, but I’m not that much faster to be honest,” he wheezed back.

Liar.

He passed me and headed up the long stretch to the final Zag, his legs pumping as he occasionally stood up to gain speed. A few minutes later he was gone.

I on the other hand was down in the granny gear, pedaling merrily away, looking at the sights around me in the hope of distracting myself. 

Round and round span my legs but strangely, as I headed around the Zag, I realised something – I’d done it.  Without stopping, without having a heart attack, without wheezing like an asthmatic in a marathon, I had got up Box Hill.

I had beaten one of the hills that I feared. According to Strava, I had averaged 8 mph. With a steady pace, I was top of the world.

Of course, there was still Leith Hill to come….

Training weekend: 3 rides

3,700 calories

Av speed 15.2 mph

Top Speed: 38.7

Total elevation: 2,839 feet

Total time in saddle: 5 hours 50 Minutes

Interlude

Why I am doing this blog?

I had thought to enter the Prudential Ride London this year and had contacted the MS Society to see if they wanted riders. Unfortunately for me they said yes ;) , so here I am trying to hit a minimum of £750 for the charity (See the button at the bottom).  £750...That's 75 people donating £10, 150, £5. So please spread the word, enjoy the blog and hopefully you will donate for this great charity. 

Why MS Society?

Although there are loads of charities out there, a dear friend of the family suffers from multiple sclerosis – a condition of the central nervous system -  to the extent that she accepted a job in Australia because the climate made her a lot more comfortable than this dank island.

In addition, I was honoured to be acquainted with John Hicklenton, an amazing artist for whom the term visceral could have been created with his work in mind.

Suffering from MS, John decided to make a decision and died 19 March 2010 in Switzerland.

I am riding to that people like my friend can hope for a better future and that hopefully people like John won’t feel they need to make that decision.

I am riding for MS Society because others can’t. 

What is the route?

The route takes in London, Surrey and a few hills with a total climb of 1,700m in 100 miles.

I am not designed for hills, I am a fairly big bloke and very much a bear on a trike but if I can surpass he target amount (hit the button below) then any pain that may happen on the road will be far less than that of MS sufferers.