Showing off in front of the kids almost leads to disaster, with training for the London-to-Paris bike ride hardly begun
I have had a bit of a poor start to training for the London-to-Paris bike ride that takes place at the end of September. A couple of months ago I took my children cycling through a forest near my home. All was going well until I decided I would show (off) my prowess at ditch jumping. Result: wheel in ditch; rider over handlebars; ego destroyed; fracture to bone in neck. At least I was wearing a helmet, which probably prevented very serious damage. So I've had to take it slowly since then.
Before that I had managed a few rides. I started with a short (10 miles or so) loop around the picturesque Essex countryside. Yes, it does exist – up in the north-east corner. I built that up to around 20 miles over the course of a few weeks, but made sure I didn't go too far. I want to be willing to get on a bike again!
I also did a couple of consecutive days one weekend, which reminded me that it takes a while for the body to adjust to the recovery process - but it is normal for that to happen and after a few miles I was feeling much better. Our MD, who is joining our team for the ride to Paris, put in a couple of rides this last weekend and seemed to be walking normally on Monday morning – and, with all respect to him, he is not the fit young thing he may once have been!
I now have the all clear to get back to training, so I put in a ride this weekend for the first time for a while. It went pretty well until I lost concentration, clipped a kerb and practiced an emergency stop with the assistance of my hands and elbows. All superficial but