It's that time again

A well deserved pint at the end of a sponsored ride.

Paris

I have blogged about my cycling and why I do it…

To keep fit, unwind and burn off the stress from daily life. 

I have also raised a lot of money for the SCMSTC. My local Multiple Sclerosis therapy centre. My wife goes there and they are the reason I started cycling again.

Back in 2005 I read a leaflet about an event the centre was running to raise money. 

A cycle ride through the Surrey and Sussex countryside. I hadn't cycled since I was a kid, a long time ago.  I thought I could manage fifteen miles. Just the small matter of not having a bike and being unfit to overcome. 

I could borrow a bike to do the ride, an exercise bike would have to do for training.  

I must confess I didn’t do much training. The exercise bike was so boring. I put it in front of a tv and played on a playstation. That helped a little. I must have done enough, the fifteen mile ride went okay.

The next year I want to do the fifty mile ride. I indefinitely borrowed a bike from my brother. He rarely rode it. And started riding it at the weekends. But I still wasn’t doing many miles. Then a curry with a few friends involved a chat with one of them about his recent return to cycling. We both had trouble motivating ourselves to ride regularly. So we decided to team up. And so started what is now a decade of riding at the weekend. And more sponsored cycles.

It also led to some more memorable rides. Three of us cycling from London to Paris. Unassisted; we organised the route, ferries and accommodation. And we carried our own luggage. 

A group off us cycled the South Downs Way. Two days of thick mud.

And two RideLondon rides.

The longer rides also give me a great sense of achievement when completed. Something I don’t always get from everyday life. Once you get to a certain level of fitness the longer rides are achievable physically. But mentally it’s harder. Your mind tells you to stop way before your body needs to. Pushing past these imaginary barriers is what gets you to the end, and is very satisfying. 

Now after a break of two years I’m back to sponsored cycling.

I’m cycling from Caterham to Canterbury. Not a very long way, only 66 miles. But still a challenge over the rolling Surrey and Kent hills.

I've got a lot to thank the therapy centre for, easily enough to justify the exertion of the sponsored rides.

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