Back in 2014 I decided to do something silly, I decided I was going to cycle from Lands’ End to John O'Groats (LeJog).
I'll Be Alright, Won't I?
I’d done a bit of cycling before, a couple of triathlons but nothing that would have set me up to ride over 110 miles a day, every day for 9 days!
I asked around a bit, and the best advice I could find was ‘Ride your bike. Ride your bike. Ride your bike’ but that didn’t seem very structured or practical – was I meant to ride 100miles every week? The most I’d ridden at that point in one day was 100km (62miles) and that had nearly destroyed me – I’d got off the bike at home and fallen asleep on the couch until the next day.
Trust Your Skills - Trust An Expert
Then it occurred to me, if I wanted to complete LeJog I wouldn’t only have to train for the distance, but I’d also have to research a suitable route, carry all my kit and plan all the logistics. Now I’m not very motivated by research and I would never claim to be an expert in things I know very little about. Fortunately, however, one of my key skills is that I’m very good at identifying experts, picking their brains, laying out a scope of requirements and goals and then employing those experts to do expert things for me.
With this in mind I found a company called Threshold Sports who ran an annual event called ‘Ride Across Britain’, they provided the route, the logistics, the food, the support and best of all the training plan. Now all I had to do was follow it!
Follow The Process - Trust The Process
At the start I was dismissive, the first rides were only 20miles. I didn’t think I had a chance, what was this all about, how was I ever going to get to the north of Scotland? But I trusted the processes.
As it turned out, training to ride 1000 miles in 9 days was all about riding my bike, but not 100s of miles at a time, but in repetitions of about 35 miles over and over and over again. It took me 9 months of training, through winter rain and summer heat, along lonely roads and up steep Kentish hills. After a slow start the results started to show, and cycling distance became easier and easier, until on 14th September 2014 after riding 979 miles over 9days (the culmination of nearly 6000miles in training) I reached the famous sign at John O'Groats.
It's All About The Journey
So what lessons did I learn?
- Decide what silly thing you want to achieve and go for it.
- If you aren’t an expert, find an expert and get them to help you with the process.
- Follow the process. Trust the process.
- If progress seems slow to start with don’t worry. Stick to the process.
- It’s going to take effort. It’s going to hurt.
- When you look back the end result can be a bit of an anti-climax – but getting there, the process – Wow that bit's fun!
