Posted on June 24, 2015 by Jenny Cromack

On the 20th and 21st June I tackled a new challenge….I cycled 180 mile across Yorkshire over two days to raise money for BTRS (our Charity of the Year). Most people will know I’m quite into my running, and have only recently start cycling so this was all quite new to me, especially cycling for such a long distance! I was confident I had the cardiovascular fitness but did wonder about whether I’d make it up the hills! (As you will read later, going up hill wasn’t the problem…)

In addition to my regular cycle training as part of my triathlon training, I squeezed in a few longer 40-45 mile cycles into my training plan. I went on holiday to Cyprus three weeks before the event for a fortnight so I even hired a bike whilst I was there and covered over 120 miles in the week. So I came back from holiday feeling quite confident I was bike fit, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t nervous when we set off!

The two day event was part of an organised sportive and there were some of the team from motive8 Group and Aspire Marketing taking part so I had some cycling buddies with me! We were split into 3 groups and as a novice cyclist and someone who isn’t used to cycling in a group I went into the bottom group.

Each day started in Harrogate with Day 1 covering the miles through Masham, Coverham, Kettlewell, Grassington and back to Harrogate, this also included a short time trial. Day 2 took in the scenic countryside from Harrogate, through Ilkley towards Lofthouse (where we did a hill time trial up Trapping Hill….not very pleasant, but fun in a sick way!), Fountains Abbey, Pateley Bridge and back towards Harrogate. We averaged a pace of around 12.8 mph for each day.

I must say I enjoyed the event more than I expected, during training I found that I had a boredom threshold of 2 hours on the bike (my own thoughts aren’t very exciting!) but the time passed quite quickly when cycling in a group. I didn’t enjoy the first 25 miles of Day 2….it was wet and windy, I was tired and grumpy (not muscular tired…I was actually surprised about that) and I got left behind quite early on a steep decent but Nick, one of the Domestiques, cycled with me until we caught the group. To be honest, for once, being at the back didn’t bother me. I think I was just ‘that road out’, but when we got to the hub stop I had a word with myself, reminded myself why I was taking part to raise lots of money for such a worthy cause and then I started to enjoy myself!

Passing the finish line on Day 2 was a great feeling. I’ve always classed myself as a runner, and up until 12 months ago, I’d never done much cycling, so to complete this challenge was a great achievement! I also learned a lot on the cycle too…

* Cycling as a group requires a high level of communication – from the outriders at the front of the group checking the roads were safe and communicating this to the ride manager and domestiques , to the cycling pack communicating about potholes and debris in the road, communication and team work are key to ensuring a safe ride.

* I don’t have to be the competitive about everything I do! I started the event thinking that after lunch on Day 1, I might join Group 2 but to be honest, for once, I was enjoying cycling as part of a team and not having to race ahead to be at the front of the pack busting a gut, so I stayed with Group 1 and enjoyed the experience!

* I am rubbish at downhill cycling! This is something that I MUST work on if I am going to get better at triathlons. I am pretty strong going uphill but downhill I am a chicken!! Having spoken to many other cyclists at the weekend they said this was the case for them too when they first started cycling but it’s ridiculous that I can probably cycle up a hill faster than I can going down it!

* My anaerobic fitness on a bike needs to improve! If we were cycling along and hit a short, sharp hill boy did my lungs feel it, especially if it was towards the start of the day or after lunch whilst I was still warming up. Longer, steady hills….they are fine, but I need to get some hill sprints done on the bike!

I would like to say a huge Thank You to everyone who sponsored me. So far I have raised over £800 and this was the motivation which kept me going. Thank You!