Work out what your body needs to keep going.
It was Friday evening, dark and getting cold. Terry and I had just cycled to Seaford and back. 35 miles. We were 7 miles from home.
I had run out of energy. Hit the wall. Bonked. No power left in my legs. I thought my front light had been flickering for the past few minutes but I realised it was my vision distorting.
"I've got to stop. I've got to eat something," I said.
I turned into the entrance of the nearest driveway and stopped. Terry handed me an energy bar and I wolfed it down.
"Have you got any food left?" he asked.
"Mars bar."
"Eat that too."
We stood there in the dark; me chewing, Terry waiting, bugs chirping. I washed it down with swigs of water.
We carried on.
My legs got stronger, but I was still slow. Terry nursed me through Palehouse Common and Ridgewood and into Uckfield.
Home. I was so happy to be home. We had cycled 42.48 miles.
I had learned a valuable lesson: I need to eat more. I need to eat more before a ride and during a ride. Anything to maintain the glycogen levels in my muscles. Energy bars, malt loaf, fruit cake, jelly sweets...
I could think of worse things!
I also learned that I needed to change my saddle. To put it bluntly, I had a sore bottom and a raw undercarriage. It wouldn't do. So I detached the saddle and replaced it with the saddle from my old bike.
Yesterday I cycled to Tunbridge Wells for a job. Not as far as my usual workplace, but not far short. I ate Mars bars and fruit cake galore to fuel me, and I felt OK. Even my bottom.
Don't get me wrong; it was hard work, especially uphill with a rucksack on my back. But I didn't run out of energy. And when I arrived I felt elated.
This Sunday 28th September I will cycle to work and back. My usual workplace in Southborough. The hardest and hilliest cycle yet.
What is your wish of the month? What could you do this week to move one step closer to fulfilling it?
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