Preparing for a Challenge

I have added a Count  Down Clock to my website so that I am continually prompted of how long I have left to get fit for the Ride London 100 that I am doing with my son in aid of the mental health charity Mind. It still seems a long way off but I know deep down that I need to start preparing now if I am to have any hope of meeting this challenge.  The Olympic Road race route, even with only a single ascent of Box Hill, is forbidding to an Old Age Pensioner who has only been cycling for 4 years.
The closest I usually get to professional races is to attend a start and finish, maybe joining with other cyclists to pick up a convenient point or two on the route. For the professionals riding the race, it is a high pressured event, during which they genuinely push themselves to the limit; victory, glory, careers depend upon performance. I will never know what it is to ride a major road race tour but as I ride the Olympic route I can dream.
Pushing my body to the limit? Well the pros are real athletes; my limits are much lower as was brought home to me in forceful fashion when I went on a  training ride with a Time Triallist ( see last blog entry ). As for a finishing time..well Dave Brailsford need not start looking for his phonebook. My major aim is to get back on the same day as I set out.

But this challenge is more, much more, than about me having a cycle ride in the lanes of Surrey. It is about raising awareness, and hopefully some money for Mind.  To this end we have created a fundraising site

Team Roberts

One of the things that I have discovered when cycling is that you need to continually keep refuelling and whilst the professionals have expert nutritional advice, most casual cyclists refuel on cake!  And so,  we have produced a pamphlet, in pdf form,  entitled * Cycling Food on the Go * which we aim to give away to all those people who donate a MINIMUM of £2 , to our fundraising site. In this way we hope to reach a wider audience.

The booklet is currently being finalized and the plan is to start promoting and distributing  it within the next two weeks. I will be launching it using the next post on this blog,

But you can book a copy in advance if you wish, just make a donation :-)