The latest news from HA&W’s 2024 fundraising challenge is: I did it!
Along with my friend Mike, I completed the Way of the Roses by bike on Monday 1 July. Having set off from Morecambe on Saturday morning, we arrived in Bridlington at 12.30 pm on Monday.
Over those two and a half days we cycled a total of 300 km (the official route is 270 km, but we added a couple of bits on!) and climbed over 3,200 metres. A massive 2,200 of those metres were climbed on a gruelling first day.
As you’ve no doubt read in our original 2024 fundraising announcement or our subsequent Way of the Roses challenge update, I am raising funds for the Loughborough Area Food Bank. This amazing local charity provides not just food but also debt counselling and job coaching for those who need the charity’s services.
If you haven’t donated (or even if you have!), please do consider visiting our JustGiving page and generously giving whatever you can afford.
The ride was seriously tough, made even harder by our slightly mad plan to do nearly half of the route on the first day, where almost all of the hills were.
Here are five hard-fought lessons I learned along the way.
1. Know your “why”
I had a few serious wobbles along the route, but I was kept on course by knowing why I was putting myself through such an ordeal.
There was a fantastic charity that needed the funds I was raising and relying on me to deliver on my fundraising promises. This really helped me to push through the tough times.
2. Planning matters!
When everything you need for two and a half days of cycling and three overnight stops has to be carried with you, on a bike, you have to be brutal. Meticulous planning is everything.
Should I take a whole toolkit in case of a mechanical failure, but carry more weight, or risk taking less and being unprepared should the worst happen? I wouldn’t say I got every decision right, but I did strike a pretty reasonable balance.
3. There is always somebody “better”
I completed the route with my friend Mike, who is a strong cyclist. This was a mixed blessing! It’s easy to get wrapped up in your own thoughts, feeling like you’re not good enough when you’re trailing behind…
4. There is always somebody “worse”
…But meeting other cyclists on the route, and many who couldn’t believe we were completing the ride in the time we had planned, helped me to take a step back. It’s all a matter of perspective.
5. You are capable of more than you realise
Even on the train ride up to Morecambe I wasn’t convinced I could do it. I had never ridden three long days back-to-back, or ridden 130 km in one day, never mind over huge hills with steep inclines!
After day one, I wasn’t convinced I could get back on the bike for day two. Ditto for day three. It wasn’t easy, but we are all capable of more than we realise, and (almost) anything is possible.
Please donate if you can
I had an incredible three days, made all the more special by the knowledge that I was doing it all for a great cause. Please take the time to learn more about the incredible Loughborough Area Food Bank and donate if you can afford to.
Thanks in advance to everyone who has donated so far.
Alasdair
