Augustine Baker

 

As I drove from work to see my father this morning, I found myself pondering the difficulties of keeping a story in the forefront of people's minds and encouraging them to support the work that agencies such as the British Red Cross do.

 

News is only news for a few hours or days these days. We consume it and move on. Each day another story or something more pressing in our own lives. To be honest I felt despondent. The cycle race in the summer is just a bike race. It is a personal challenge. Something that I do for myself, something that enables me to learn something about myself.

 

For it to only be that, however, seems like a wasted opportunity. We all want to make a difference where we can, however small. I was, however, on the point of emailing the local contact for the British Red Cross to say that I wasn't going to fund-raise any more.

 

I walked into my mother's kitchen, nearing journey's end and the news story on the radio in her kitchen was this:-

 

Augustine Baker, a Sierra Leonian who had worked tirelessly for an orphanage run by a UK charity had died of the disease. Apparently without consideration for himself, he had entered local communities in search for and to help orphaned children affected by this terrible disease.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-31624149

 

I was also reminded of a comment made by Helen MacDonald in the book 'H is for Hawk' that I mentioned in a recent post. Hoping not to misquote her, she reflects that human arms are for holding each other and embracing.

 

That embrace can be big enough to reach and include Sierra Leone and the other West African countries affected by Ebola. That embrace says that there are some things bigger than self, bigger than nationality.

 

Augustine Baker epitomised this. We are all less for his sacrifice.

 

www.justgiving.com/stop-ebola

 

 

 



Brecklands before and after work.

Having finally gotten back into the saddle yesterday morning, I gave myself a bit of spare time to get to Thetford in time to take a shower and start work without having to push it. That was the theory anyway.

After about an hour I picked up a thorn in my front tyre and ground to a halt. The whole game changed. It's good practice to be changing inner-tubes in the dark and I was back on the road inside 11 minutes, though now I was racing again.

Twenty seven miles in the morning and 26 in the evening and I had a good ride home to look forward to.

I took a meandering detour via Brandon, Lakenheath, Feltwell and Mundford before heading through Watton on the home straight. The sun came out half way out and it was a beautiful morning to be cycling, even if I should have been sleeping. Again, good practice for the summer.

(Picture from the uklandscape.com)

Another puncture about 2 miles from home, this time a shard of flint in my back tyre, but having fixed the original tube before I left for home, this was another easy straight swap and I was happy and encouraged to have completed 108 miles in the previous 24 hours.

Now well ahead of last year, I hope to have polished off the first 1000 miles from start time back on the 31st December by the end of the week.

Miles for the last 24 hours 108.
Total 912 since 31st Dec 2014
Average just above 16 a day.

Fund-raising is slow. Please consider supporting my efforts to complete this 2500 mile challenge by visiting my fund-raising website. www.justgiving.com/stop-ebola The British red Cross are doing incredible work in West Africa to try to stop the spread of this lethal disease.

'H is for Hawk'

I rarely have time to read, more's the pity, but Laura bought me this book for Valentine's Day. I am grateful to her and to the author on many levels. The book itself is intensely moving and a reminder of my own father, in whose name I rode the TCR last year. I am reminded of the need to see him and am always glad of the excuse to cycle the 60 mile round trip to where he is cared for.

It is also a spyglass into the past. Into teenage years spent cycling too and from Little Bealings, where a friend of mine kept his own falcon, a kestrel. I thought nothing then of covering 30 miles on a bike. The love of birds and cycling have remained. As a consequence of that book, I caught up with my old buddy over half term, casting back in time to those pedalled miles and beyond.

But I am minded of the book this week for another reason. I would not for one second make the comparison between myself and a Goshawk, we are too different by far, but for one thing. When we are out of condition, we don't fly.

My cold that threatened to wane by mid-week finally gave up the ghost last night. During the intervening 8 days I have slept and eaten and eaten some more. I have become torpid and confused about my desire to ride, having to remind myself continuously, to listen to my body and to only fly when I know that I am back 'in condition'. There is no point in training when you're ill. It achieves nothing. probably worse than nothing.

Reminded of where I was at this time last year, I checked back through my earlier posts from 2014 and was reassured to find that for the same time last year, it would appear that I had barely covered 250 miles. To date I have now covered 800 and this morning after an impatient wait, I added 31 more.

Helen MacDonald's Costa Book of the Year winning book, 'H is for Hawk', is an amazing read and I recommend it to anyone, whether interested in hawks or not. I have struggled to out it down. Probably a good thing that I was not well enough to ride!

30 Miles today so far
831 miles total

www.justgiving.com/stop-ebola

Postscript: As I walked out of the door, barely 30 seconds after finishing this post, a Sparrowhawk lifted heavily from my front garden, a Collared-Dove weighing it down.

Long distance cycling goes viral

For whatever reason my chest has always been  my weakness. Apart from all the other proverbial jokes. So it is that I have spent most of this week bemoaning the onset of the common cold after my exertions of last week-end.

Strange how these things always coincide with half term, or holidays in general, but this time it has turned out to be timely.

Having two young boys calls for energy and engagement and so it is that we have, instead spent some good and happy time together walking around Minsmere and today at Lakenheath Fen. However much I am driven by the goal of completing the transcontinental race, I consider myself incredibly lucky to have watched a peregrine falcon tearing a black-headed gull apart in the middle of a field beside the A146 and then today been fortunate enough to enjoy my sons excitement at watching a bittern fly in front of us at Lakenheath Fen,

Though nothing to do with cycling or fund-raising for that matter, they are still worth writing about.

In passing we also called in to the Brandon Country park tea shop to thank the staff for their kind donation to my fund-raising. Food again to travel for, though next time it must be by two wheels, not four!

When things are quiet on the road however, I always get a little concerned about not being able to keep the blog alive. I should not have worried. Mike, the man behind the www.transcontinentalrace.com has now delivered the start point details. I include below a piece of youtube footage of some other folk climbing the Muur in Geraardesbergen, Belgium and leave you to draw your own conclusions about our sanity.

Please remember that the race this year starts on the 24th July with a curcuit of the famous Tour of Flanders icon....AT MIDNIGHT!

Cobbles in the dark. Nice!

The photograph is Mike's and reproduced here with his kind permission.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoEGWTCFQQI

www.justgiving.com/stop-ebola  Thank you for your support.

Equipment update. (Shoes)

I had been chewing over where to go with shoes. The TCR 2015, includes 40 miles of gravel/off road as it follows the Strada Dell'Assietta.

Some good footage of this can be found on Youtube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gfo-OGUtng

On the recommendation of a friend who took part in the race last year and is also a cycle technician in Switzerland, I have plumbed for these: A pair of Specialized RIME MTB shoes. Principally because of the Vibram sole that provides for good traction should I find myself walking in the hills instead of cycling!!

Having looked at my old MTB shoes, I realise that I had chosen a pair a size larger than my normal shoes and this is well worth considering as specialised shoes come in a little small, especially if you're planning on wearing these shoes for 18-20 hours a day for two weeks.

After my 100 miles today, I am very pleased with them.

A litre of water and a tangerine

For a start I am reminded, as I finish my first 100 mile ride of 2015, how much farther 200 miles is. Apart from the obvious mathematical calculation of course.

The weather looked benign as I walked the dog prior to heading out at 9 this morning, but it was raining a steady mizzle before I walked out of the door for a second time. I welcome rain these days. Anything unpleasant to be honest. A sunny day teaches you not much other than the need to drink, but a rainy day tests your metal, especially when accompanied by a steady little headwind.

The headwind was welcome too, since it is a useful alternative to real hill training. I live in Norfolk remember, where there are almost no hills.

Lured toward Woodbridge by the surety of a good cup of sugary tea and undoubted ready food supply, I didn't take anything with me, save a tangerine and a litre of water. A useful lesson can be found under the simplest of circumstances. No matter how much food awaits you after 50 miles, you need to keep chucking a little into the furnace along the way. By the time I hit Woodbridge, my legs were severely energy low and to save chewing on my friends arm as he greeted me on my arrival, |I dived into a gas station and bought a snickers and a packet of jelly babies. The snickers lasted a second, 3/4 of the jelly babies followed in short order.

Suffolk is considerably lumpier than Norfolk, so I was pleased to complete my first 50 in 3 hours.

The rain had abated by early afternoon and after a hearty lunch and a catch-up I retraced my steps in an equally pleasing 3 hours.

The 6 hour time limit has become significant after reading Jim Verheul's piece in a 2011 copy of ultraracenews.com Well worth a read and can be found at:

http://www.ultraracenews.com/2011/11/18/training-for-ultracycling-events/

In conjunction with night shifts and the day to day, it makes complete sense to me, to make sure that you can recover from your training in time to make your next ride effective, not a drain on your limited reserves. As a bonus, it also keeps the family happy, since it means that I get to spend more time at home. Win, win.

100 miles today
804 miles in total
Average 17.5 miles a day since 31st Dec 2014

Please help by visiting my fund-raising website. The plight of people in West Africa facing the fear of ebola has not gone away, just because it is no longer front page news. Thank you

www.justgiving.com/stop-ebola

A missed 50 and a fair warning?

The day before yesterday I squeezed in 24 miles between sanding stairs and picking up the children from school. I was anticipating a planned long ride over the weekend.

Training comes in many forms and I have discussed the mental preparation as often as I have that of turning the pedals, but sometimes the shouting from an exhausted body cannot be ignored. training when you're really tired is counter-productive in any case. So, Saturday, that was supposed to be a day off, was, and Sunday that was supposed to be my first 100 of this years training schedule ended up being a return to slumber after walking the dog.

By mid-day I was feeling more enthusiastic and decided to race my wife and kids to Wilby, 30 miles away and then ride from there to Thetford where I would be working over night.

The first part went well. I had a nice tail wind and a little warmth in the sun, which was a nice change. I made it in about an hour and a half and did get there before the others, who had stopped off on the way to do some shopping.

After a break to play snakes and ladders with the boys and time to refuel, I headed out in the dark for Thetford. I didn't get far before I hit trouble. Literally. Don't you just love to see those little reassuring yellow arrows that tell you there's a hole, just as you hit it. Fair warning?

With time running out to get to work, I had to call in the backup support team, but changed the tube in the mean time, which is of course great practice for the summer. I noticed when planning the Bulgaria section last week, that they do at least mark the roads with a little exclamation mark on a road traffic warning sign, where the condition is questionable.

Shame they don't do that in the UK.

So, what with 25 miles to work and 25 in the morning, that's a lost 50.

35 today, 24 the day before yesterday = 59.
Total now 700
17.5 a day.

www.justgiving.com/stop-ebola. Thank you.

The power of advertising

It goes without saying that this blog is my advert. It is my way of asking you all to put your hands in your pockets and support a charity. To be honest, I never quite know which charity to choose and am pleased to see that the RSPB have an advert themselves on my last post. Wildlife and birds in particular have always been important to me. Having an understanding and watchful eye, gives every training ride another edge.

As an extension of that, this blog and the trips into schools that I have planned to accompany it, are my way of trying to put something back. To encourage our children to stretch themselves, to look outwards and to believe that they too can take on pretty much anything that they put their minds too.

Please get them to follow me, (or any of the other riders, ) later this year as we push ourselves to the limits of what we are capable of. Get them to look at the countries we pass through. Their history and people, their wildlife and their culture.

It should be an amazing journey for us all.

This morning I have covered another 40 miles. I have heard my first Chaffinches singing their early spring song and rode alongside a Roe Deer and her last years fawn as they raced me to the hedge at the end of the field. I would have photographed them for you, but bikes, cameras and muddy roads usually end up badly, so I just admired instead.

Fine tuning the bike continues and I have moved my light from under the handlebars to here at the end of the aero bars. This will allow me to carry a bag where the light used to be, that I can fill with food. Always a good thing.!!

www.justgiving.com/stop-ebola Thank you

40 miles for the day

617 in total

17 miles a day since 31st Dec 2014 (just about.)

Spare a thought

Yesterday as I was out on the road, a fellow cyclist died in an incident near the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital.

At the time of writing, no details have been released about what happened. As a cyclist though our thoughts go out to his family and friends at this incredibly difficult time.

CARB - on offset

One of the great things about cycling long distances, especially at my age, where it is acceptable not to refer to oneself as a serious athlete, is that you can combine the pleasures of riding with those of eating...a lot!

So it was today, that having piled into a headwind in minus degree temperatures for a couple of hours I delighted in turning into Brandon Country Park and its warm and comfortable cafe. I determined not to be a glutton having only ridden 40 miles at that point and ordered what I thought was a conservative but deserved baked potato with chilli con carne. Alas! They had run out.

The second option, described as a large yorkshire pudding with sausages and vegetables didn't sound like it would be too much of a problem to fit in and I duly visited the rest room while it was being cooked.

Indeed so confident was I that this meal would slot into a corner, ready for the return 30 odd, that as I came back to the counter to pay, I picked up a piece of date and walnut cake.

My only advice to you is; visit the Brandon Country Park restaurant, but when they say BIG, believe them. It was, as you can see, the size of my head.

I could not use the aero bars on my bike for the next hour and a half!

Miles for the day 77

Total 577

Average 17 since 31st Dec 2014

www.justgiving.com/stop-ebola