Reasons to Ride

Day two started with a good, tasty and filling full English breakfast, excellent fuel to get us to first lunch.

Now having got my e-bike up to the bedroom the evening before in a covert manner worthy of any secret service, as described in the last edition of my blog, we had to reverse the process and, with it now fully charged, get and it back downstairs unobserved and out of the pub.  This we did successfully.  I couldn’t help thinking about what might be the worst outcome if we had been caught – presumably a bollocking from the Publican with the words, “never darken the door of my pub again!”  To which I would readily reply, “well if you think I’m doing this bloody ride again and need a night in your pub, you are sorely mistaken!”  Actually, in reality, I would probably profusely apologise stopping short of actually grovelling.

Last time we set off from the Bugle Inn back in 2015, despite having a Garmin, we went in completely the wrong direction and had to retrace our steps to get back on course.  This time we hit the trail in the right direction first time.  As we set off my mind drifted back to the absurd fantasies of stage wins and yellow jerseys which accompanied the last few miles of yesterday’s ride.  Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t think there is any harm in such illusions as long as you know that is what they are.  However, knowing what lay ahead, I decided that it would be best to rest on my imaginary laurels and take a more pragmatic approach to the day’s ride.  I knew from past experience that it would be a tough day.  This led me to thinking about why I love riding my bike, particularly this new one, and why I put myself through the kind of endurance test which LEJOG, aided or unaided, certainly is.  My conclusion was as follows –

I feel that long distance cycling can be compared with peeling an onion in order to get from the outside layers to the sweet centre.  The outer layer, so to speak, involves attempting to address a purely practical matter, i.e. how to raise much needed funds for various enterprises, be they Church or a charity.  What got me back on my bike was doing my bit to help raise £125,000 to put a new roof on the Church of the Good Shepherd, Tadworth.  The initial success of this first sponsored ride left me with the realisation that, if I didn’t tap the same group of people for money too often, then it was a good way of raising funds.  All in all, over the years since that first ride, sometimes on my own, more often with a team, we have raised somewhere in the region of £30,000.

The second layer could be described as being caught up with a psychological need; the need to do something “heroic”.  I think this is a very basic, primeval need in human beings and in a very diverse world different folk try to fulfil it in diverse ways.  Undertaking long and arduous cycle rides requires dedication, focus, a high level of physical and mental fitness and thus comes at a high price to the individual.  Much of my working life, whilst not divested of a rather different form of heroism, has not involved the brute physicality of long distant riding.  I sometimes think I have done life arse about face.  Most people do the physical challenges when they are young, not when they are pushing seventy and beyond.  But what the hell, who wants to be conventional.

The last layer is, I would suggest more spiritual.  It involves the shear joy, particularly on the Ribble, of belting round country lanes, through wonderful scenery.  That has for me a profound effect on my soul.  But at the very heart of the activity, the sweet centre, I feel was wonderfully summed up by Eric Liddell, the Olympic athlete, who said, “when I run, I feel God’s pleasure”.  Well when I ride, particularly when I ride fast, it seems to me I too feel God’s pleasure.

As to the first part of the second day’s ride, it was tough. The weather was hot, which some of us found OK but Scot ended up struggling.  As the day wore on and the temperature rocketed the ride as far as he was concerned became unmanageable as he is not good with heat.  To add insult to injury, before first lunch, he picked up a puncture and Ollie rode back to assist him.  He staggered into first lunch well behind everyone else and looked dreadful. I suggested that he sat out the next leg of the day’s ride. As it turned out he sat out the rest of the day which I must say I think was quite sensible.  So, first lunch done, Scott took to one of the back-up vehicles and the rest of the team pressed on knowing that the major climb of the day lay ahead of us just after second lunch – the dreaded climb up to Princetown.