DAY THIRTY SEVEN (2)

Forgot to mention - I got some great advice from Alistair Humphreys the other day about surviving in South America and keeping costs down. 

It's so helpful to hear from people that have "done it" and removes some of those mental barriers in thinking I'm not "that type of person".

Al's books documenting his trip around the world are certainly worth reading. I'm half-way through the second book at the moment and need to finish it soon. He completely captures the human side of things which is surely the most difficult part.

It's also made me re-think my trip slightly. I've been umming and arrring about whether to start north and go south or the other way around but his description of Columbia suggests that it's worth taking the risk on (another thing I've been unsure about) - however I'd rather not start there. It'd be good as well to end it amongst people rather than the wilderness.

Al has some great quotes including -

"If you're not hurting you're not riding hard enough

If you're not hungry you've eaten too much

If you're not cold you're carrying too many clothes

If you know you will succeed it's too easy."

Alistair Humphreys

DAY THIRTY SEVEN

Must update this more. Must do better. Must push myself harder.

Argh...exhausting stuff. I've always found it hard to focus on several things at once. I can get very obsessed by one thing and push myself in that direction but trying to balance work, training, eating, socialising is hard to get right. I'm not going to get all self-pitying because it could be a lot bloody worse but I just need to rebalance things and work out my priorities.

At the moment I'm doing about 50 mins in total commuting on the bike each day and three big weight and cardio sessions a week (well - I'm trying to. Bank holidays and other commitments at weekends are distracting me.) Must do better.

I shouldn't get demoralised at all because it's still early days but getting into a solid rhythm is proving difficult. It's getting to the stage where I'm a bit pissed off with myself for drinking unnecessarily or being lazy with food.

My aim by the end of the week is to get into the habit of carrying on with cycling to and from work, a cardio session at lunchtime and three times a week gym. This shouldn't be hard to do and I should want to do this. I keep hearing stories about people dying in the Andes so I need to push beyond what I'm doing now. I've made progress but I need so much more.

I still need to work out what to do about weekends...

Anyway! I've got a two week mini-trip from London to Amsterdam via Belgium booked with a friend in a month or so. It will be the perfect initial test to see not just cycling stamina but to test what little I know about expedition living. Tent, sleeping bag, water, food - done.

DAY TWENTY NINE

Weekends. They are the enemy. Or maybe it's weekend me.

Weekday me can eat nothing but healthy stuff (and be happier for it), get his 5 a day and drink 3 litres of water. He can resist the temptation of 3 pints after work and will cycle to work in the rain.

Weekend me listens to the other shoulder. He'll try to be the last one standing, get up at midday, take the bus and look for materialistic thrills to pass the day.

At some point one side will have to back down...

DAY TWENTY FIVE

What a day!

Absolutely smashed the ride in and felt completely on top of the world by the time I got into work. It just shows what an effect early morning exercise can have. I remember people going on about it and always thought - can't be arsed - but it certainly does something. The last couple of weeks at work have been a hell of a lot better so perhaps it's had an effect there - who knows?

The ride home though was borderline comical and certainly made me less cocky again. Whilst setting off, sorting my footing and trying to pull down my t-shirt to avoid flashing I managed to fail on all three counts and hit a curb at very slow pace, almost going over the handlebars. Luckily I had a big audience but I laughed it off and carried on.

Dinner....chicken, ham or prawns?

DAY TWENTY FOUR

Another day, another dollar.

Half-way through my second week of London cycling and no deaths so far. Plenty of close calls and I have an acute case of bike rage but on the whole - so liberating.

After two weeks I know the city far better than 6-8 months of life underground. The metaphors about moving from one means of transportation to the other don't even need to be stated. It's the case with everything, the first step is the hardest. Everyone should do it...just avoid left turning lorries!

I've had a few ideas about the trip itself. I really like the concepts of connectivity and isolation. With most travelling experiences people do the trip and return, write a book and speak on the topic (nothing wrong with that at all)...BUT...would it be interesting if the audience could connect with the traveller in realtime?

I have a few ideas up my sleeve but I'll keep them to my chest for now. This could get interesting....

DAY TWENTY-ONE

Ok – it’s been a few days and I realise that if this idea is going to get any traction then I need to be on top of trying to share it. The excuse I would give is that I’ve just moved house and have no regular internet access but, as I live in one of the tech centres of the world, that’s clearly a feeble attempt to mask laziness. And that goes against the purpose of the blog.

Speaking over the last couple of days with the few people that have taken a look at this so far I’m feeling slightly more content with accepting that - yes this idealistic but I shouldn’t be too conscious about trying to avoid clichés as the feedback so far has been positive. But, quite reasonably, I don’t get the impression that many quite believe that I’m going to follow through. Equally, a year’s worth of gym updates and so on is going to provide extremely boring reading. The balance with sharing the progress is to be honest enough to allow people to connect with the themes of the idea but without sharing too much and it all getting a bit self-helpy and awkward.

So…

I hope it’s pretty obvious that this blog is going to be all about the “journey”, not just the transformation from novice cyclist to continent beater or the trip itself but also the progression of someone excusing why things aren’t a certain way to someone doing something about it. 

A caveat to all of this is to say that in no way am I trying to say that things haven’t turned out extremely well for me and, although it’s probably impossible, I don’t want to come across as an ungrateful, relatively affluent, twenty-something doing the whole post-materialistic identity crisis thaaaang (I think I did that earlier this year with 3 weeks in Thailand). The core of this idea is more than just a long bike ride; it’s about being open to shunning the easy and conventional path in search of something else. And yes, I should be grateful that I’m able to do all of this without fear of starvation (except for somewhere in South America) but I don’t think it’s something to be apologetic about.  

Ultimately doesn’t everyone’s dream to please both the 10 year old and 80 year old inside them? I remember reading one of those wise quotes recently (I’ll find it later) that you’ll regret the things you didn’t do far more than those you did. That sums it up better than I could.

I’ve probably covered this already within the first two rambles but anyway…

What I want to do is to try to express coherently everything - from the training, equipment and nutrition (the boring side) to the feelings of doubt and frustration as well as the elation from seeing progress (the human side). Obviously I haven’t got a clue how this will turn out and whether there will be any coherency to it but if nothing else hopefully it’ll be fun for you to read about a bloke giving it a go. I think so far it’s sided more on the boring side – so let’s try and address that over the coming days…

DAY NINETEEN

I'm still going. Just moved house so have no internet...will do a full update soon!

Day Eleven

Trying my best to keep this updated as best I can...I realise there are probably about three people regularly viewing but hey - maybe one day looking back I'll wish I caught more of the early days. 

Last few days have been pretty manic as I am currently moving flats and my family are moving house too so I've had a couple of days off work packing and unpacking. Nightmare. Anyway, the biggest issue with this has (I know it sounds lame) been keeping on top of my diet. I've been stuffing my face with packets of ham when I have the chance but I really need to get back into the habit I built up for the first week. The light at the end of the tunnel should be tangible by the end of the weekend. 

Gym work is going alright - had to do back to back sessions Monday and Tuesday which meant the latter was pretty poor as my muscles hadn't recovered. I pushed through most of it by thinking about epic inspirational speeches (...it's the inches...) but left a bit pissed off with myself. Although I left my gym shorts at the family house I will somehow force myself into the gym tomorrow to top off the weekday sessions - even if I have to wear boxers a la primary school. 

In other news I managed to get a bike - which obviously helps. I also managed to split the crotch of a pair of trousers eagerly getting onto it (an omen?)...It's a Specialized Langster (off eBay for £160), not a touring bike at all but I need to get into the habit of cycling to work and breaking free from the tube. 

I still haven't decided on a touring bike. My Dad, who's a cycling geek, has suggested either a Roberts Rough Stuff

...or a Thorn Raven...

But since both are over £2000, even with begging, borrowing and stealing either of these will put the whole tour at risk really. I think off something off the shelf will do for now but I don't want to rush into anything yet. 

Off to eat some plain chicken. Yummy.