So much has been going on the past few months that a few things have taken a back seat….posting blogs being one of them! So I thought it would take this opportunity to update you on all the news and let you know that I’ll be attempting to post more regularly in the future, and more specifically use this platform to bring you all some advice and pointers on all things bike-fitting and injury prevention. I am conscious that this blog has been more of a vehicle for thoughts and musings on the world of cycling etc. in general up till now, and there may still be a few like that (this post included), but I am going to pledge to get more posts out there that help and guide cyclists to “Ride Better…”, so keep popping back and we’ll keep you updated when there’s a new post.
In the meantime, there’s been plenty going on. As part of team Cyclists Fighting Cancer ( www.cyclistsfc.org.uk ) we went as a squad of 30 riders to tackle the Vaetternrundan in Sweden. What a ride! 300km, overnight (but the sun is only down for a couple of hours before rising on the shores of the lake), around the biggest lake I think I have ever seen. 19,000 riders take part in this mass-participation ride and from the moment we arrived in Motala, the scale of the event was obvious. There were bikes everywhere and the whole town was taken over by people wandering around in compression socks, swigging furiously from water bottles displaying their allegiance to club/country/armed forces/organisation of your choice. We took a look round and got our ride numbers, stickers and goodie bags. For one weekend a year, I would guess that Motala is resident to the biggest pop-up bike shop in the world!
We then found a moment to look at the route and get a feel for where we were going to be going during that night…
Mike and I even managed to find time to get some sweet supplies from the local supermarket, and I certainly didn’t realise that in Sweden you could take a dump in a supermarket and not get into trouble, crazy scandinavians!
After that it was time to get suited and booted. Here’s the whole squad ready to ride out.
What can I say about the ride itself? It was incredible. Of course there were hard times after we’d ridden 100miles+ before we stopped for our first rest and I realised we were only just over halfway round. There were 5 of us by this point sticking together from the group and hooking up with other ‘peletons’ for a while as they either passed us or we passed them. That 1st stop was a killer. I needed it so badly, but having stopped I was wet and cold (it had just rained, I hadn’t become incontinent), and felt rough, really rough. It took me another 20miles to get back to feeling warm and strong, but sure as night follows day (and back again really quickly in this part of the world), I started to feel much stronger in time for the last 40 miles. The first 60miles had been helped by a tail-wind, then the middle 100miles was up the back-side of the lake and was into an annoyingly persistent headwind. We shared the load, with some really strong riders in our little group, and made it to the other end, where the wind got behind us once again and we made it to the finish, in just over 10Hrs!
The rest of the energy I had left at the end was spent creating the smile for the camera, after which I collapsed on the grass in the sunshine and slowly slipped into a coma!
Thanks to everyone who helped me fundraise through this event, I managed to chip in over £2k itno the charity coffers. If you want a big challenge ride next year, get on the CFC website and ride it for us!
Since then, things have got pretty different in the Pedal Precision household. We saw the arrival of our first child! Erin Mabel Salisbury was born on 24th July 2014. She was very small, weighing in at a mini 4lb 9oz, but perfectly formed and we are so proud of her. As you can imagine the riding and training has taken a bit of a back-seat since her arrival, but as soon as she’s big enough to get on the back of my bike we’ll be out as a family clocking up the miles.
That’s all I’ll bore you with for now. I will return soon with something more bike fitting orientated. Until then, ride well and be safe.
Rich
RT @PedalPrecision: It’s been a while….a short report on the Vatternrundan and a welcome back to the blog! http://t.co/iaMGcqsz77
It’s been a while…. | pedalprecision http://t.co/ieKmCeURSf
RT @PedalPrecision: It’s been a while….a short report on the Vatternrundan and a welcome back to the blog! http://t.co/iaMGcqsz77
RT @PedalPrecision: It’s been a while….a short report on the Vatternrundan and a welcome back to the blog! http://t.co/iaMGcqsz77