London Nightrider 2013

Well I did it! 100 km cycle ride around London at night in a time of 7 hours and 48 minutes total with a moving time of 6 hours and 6 minutes. The training paid off and I made it around... just. Enjoy the photos below. Here are a few highlights of the night:

• Riding along with a large group of other cyclists, I felt like I was in the peloton on the Tour de France.
• Being cheered on by random strangers on their way home from a night out as we cycled by at 3am.
• Explaining what we were all cycling for to a passing motorist whilst stopped at a set of traffic lights. Just as the lights changed to green she shouted to me "You people - you're changing the world! Thank you!"
• My wonderful husband Mark, who cycled the whole route with me, despite having done no real training just to be there for me and massage my aching shoulders at every break point.

Thank you so much to all those people who have sponsored me already or pledged to do so. Together we've raised nearly £500 for WaterAid. Your donation will make a massive difference to the lives of families across the world who don't have access the most basic human requirement - clean water.

If you haven't yet sponsored me but would like to donate, there is still time! Every penny really does count. Just go to http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/JoSouthernwood and hit the 'Donate' button.

Before setting off

 

Loads of cyclists in Central London

With my medal, totally exhausted!

Lask weekend of training

Just one more week to go until the Nightrider challenge. Unfortunately for me, training did not really go according to plan this weekend. Having planned my route and fixed my latest puncture, I set off on route 12 of the national cycle network yesterday afternoon only to get another puncture 6 miles from home. Luckily, it happened right outside Stevenage Station so I just hopped on a train back to Hitchin where Mark fixed it for me. Thanks Mark!

This morning I decided to give it another go, and what a beautiful day for it. I made a few adjustments to my bike first, changing the angle of my seat so it is less horizontal and attaching a bag to the seat post for snacks and supplies. I only had 3 hours but I managed to go 30 miles. That's a bit less than I wanted to do this weekend - I had planned a 40 mile round trip - but given that I did 2 hours of salsa this afternoon as well, I think that's more than enough exercise for one day. I had no problem with fitness or my legs getting tired but my shoulders were beginning to hurt again towards the end of the journey so I'll have to continue upper body strength training to help alleviate that. The changes to the seat position seemed to help too as I felt a bit less numb by the end of the ride.

This evening I have come to my bike only to find the back tyre is flat again. Seems like the patch didn't take very well so that's another job to do before next weekend along with fitting a bell, buying some spare batteries, bigger carry bag to attach to the frame and a spare inner tube. With any luck I will have some time to go for a final long cycle on Thursday this week which is looking like another lovely sunny day.

Training so far...

I'm not gonna lie. My training schedule for my 100 km charity bike ride hasn't really been going very well. To start with, the weather hampered my training schedule in the early part of the year - as I mentioned in my last post I don't cycle when it's raining or when it's less than 10 degrees outside which meant that training on an actual bike (as opposed to one in the gym) didn't start until early April.

Secondly, I have had so much on recently that I've been working quite a lot during evenings and weekends which means I haven't gone on as many long bike rides or done as many gym sessions as I would have liked.

Thirdly, given the option, I'd rather go dancing than cycling. So all in all, training has been slow going.

However on a positive note, I went for a long bike ride 2 weeks ago - about 40 km - and definitely noticed that whilst I haven't been training as much as I should have, the hills were definitely easier this time around than they were a couple of months ago. Plus, I didn't feel like I might collapse before getting to the top of the hill! Less good was the burning sensation in my shoulders that started about 30 km in...the forward leaning position of the road bike is not good for my already weak shoulder so I think I may need to do some upper body strength training to help with that.

I can't believe there's less than a month to go. Must go cycling every weekend from now on! If you feel you'd like to sponsor me  you can do so here - every penny will go to WaterAid to help them provide clean drinking water to the world's poorest people http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/JoSouthernwood 

A New Challenge

So...at the start of the year, I decided that I wanted to do some kind of charity challenge to raise money for a worthy cause. It's something I'd been thinking about for quite some time but never got around to doing, so this year in the spirit of New Year's Resolutions, I decided to JFDI and booked a spot on the 2013 Nightrider London, a 100 km cycle around London at night and chose the charity WaterAid. If you'd like to sponsor me, you can do so by clicking here. Thank you for your support, every penny makes a difference!

Why WaterAid? Last year I spent some time in a township in South Africa where the people living there had to walk every day to a dam to fetch water. Although the water was clean, collecting water was hard work, time consuming and inevitably meant that standards of hygiene were often poor and instances of disease were high. I saw first hand the impact that this had on the people living there and these weren't even the poorest people on the planet so imagine what it's like when the only water available is not only far away but also dirty. WaterAid works with local partners in some of the world's poorest communities to help them access safe water and sanitation. This not only brings obvious health benefits but means that children can go to school and women can go out to work instead of collecting water, giving them a chance at creating better lives for themselves and breaking the cycle of poverty. Seems like a good idea to me, so this is my chosen charity. You can find out more about WaterAid here www.wateraid.org/uk/

Why London Nightrider? I struggle to motivate myself to do anything without some kind of goal or target so I wanted a physical challenge that would encourage or indeed require me to get fit. I hate running so that rules out marathons, walking is ok but seems more about endurance than fitness so that just left cycling which the fit the bill and seemed like the best idea. After a bit of searching I settled on the Nightrider which is 100 km cycle around London at night - seems like a challenging yet achievable distance given that I don't really cycle much. More about Nightrider here www.nightrider.org.uk

Training so far...Well, I have a bike and some padded pants (essential, even for girls I can assure you!) and have been increasing my general fitness levels over the last couple of months by going to the gym, playing badminton and dancing. I've been putting off going for long bike rides because of the bad weather but now, with just over 2 months to go I fear it's time to brave the cold and actually get on my bike. Check back regularly for updates on how training is going and if you feel you want to sponsor me, you can donate easily and securely online at my Virgin Money Giving page http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/JoSouthernwood

Preschools & MAD about Art

I didn’t really realise before how much of a difference there is between the different preschools in the township. I’ve been mostly working at Wonderland which has 32 kids in the older class and is fairly well equipped. Inside the kids have tables and chairs, several books, loads of posters on the walls, crayons and paper to draw on and a few puzzles to play with. Outside there is a small playground with swings  and an area for them to run around.

But some of the other volunteers went to Ikamva Lethu preschool today and they told us that they had no resources at all. No tables and chairs, all the kids just sat on the floor. No pens, crayons or paper to draw with. No pictures on the walls. The toilets are blocked and parts of the building are in need of repair. This particular school just doesn’t have any funding and is run by a couple of women who want to provide this service to their community because they see the need for it. Last year the school was about to be shut down for environmental health reasons before Edge of Africa stepped in. A school in Germany did some fundraising to help to pay for some of the refurbishment works and Edge of Africa volunteers helped to do the work. The volunteers are now working with the teachers at the school to fix the remaining structural problems and get their accreditation. It’s hard work teaching with absolutely no resources. The teacher spends most of the day just talking to the children, explaining things to them and getting them to repeat things she has said. They don’t even have a very big outdoor area so a simple game of catch is a problem because the 43 kids at this school couldn’t even stand in a big enough circle to throw the ball to each other.

Yesterday afternoon was spent at MAD about Art running an after school group for teenage girls. The purpose of the group is to allow the girls to talk about things that they are going through during those difficult teenage years, promote discussions and allow them to ask questions about anything in a non-judgemental environment. Most of the girls were between 12 and 14 but were asking questions about subjects that you wouldn’t expect them to have to deal with at their age. Big life questions about sex, relationships, contraception, drugs & alcohol abuse, domestic violence. Most of them say they have a boyfriend and the group leader thinks that most of them are already sexually active but from the sort of questions they were asking us, it seems as though most of them don’t really understand what they are doing or what is happening to their body. One girl asked about her periods – what they are, why she gets them – it must be a frightening thing to start bleeding one day and not be prepared for that or understand why. I don’t think these questions are encouraged at home and these sorts of subjects aren’t discussed openly so they have clearly been getting the wrong idea about stuff.

I think most of them found the session useful once they got over their initial embarrassment about asking questions and discussing things together. Myself and the other volunteers tried to give them the facts whilst making sure that they understood that they are in control of their own bodies and that they have a choice when it comes to what they do and don’t do with their boyfriends. It’s such a difficult conversation to have with any teenager but in a culture where men often treat women with disrespect and that is ‘normal’ for them, it’s even harder.

Hand in Hand continued...

Yesterday one of the ladies from the Hand in Hand Group said that she had seen Agnes and found out where she was staying, so I went with the project coordinator to find her and speak to her. We wanted to check that she was OK and find out from her what she wanted to happen next.

It turns out that she has now gone back to live with her auntie who brought her up after her parents died so she at least has a place to stay and food to eat. Agnes said she’s going to sign up for child support on Monday and her aunt has agreed to look after the baby so that Agnes can go back to school, finish her studies and then look for a job. So a happy ending to the story J

The Hand in Hand Group

Yesterday was my second meeting with the Hand in Hand group which is a support group for single mothers, pregnant ladies and those who want to have a baby. The idea of the group is to provide support to vulnerable women who might otherwise struggle to look after themselves or their babies. It was the ladies from this group that came to the house to cook us a typical township meal a couple of weeks ago.

Last time the meeting took place in the home of one of the ladies, Agnes, who is 19, has a 9 month old baby and lives with her boyfriend. Yesterday morning we called at her house in the morning as we were in the area anyway for a different project but she wasn’t there. Later, at the Hand in Hand group, Agnes didn’t turn up and we found out why from one of the other women. Apparently her boyfriend had kicked her out of the house the day after she came to the volunteer house to cook for us because when she returned home that night she said she was too tired to cook him dinner. So now she has gone back to live with her grandfather which isn’t much better because the rest of her family are resentful of her and angry that she doesn’t work and that the money now has to stretch that bit further.

Agnes’ story isn’t uncommon. When she became pregnant, her school excluded her so she didn’t graduate. Because she didn’t graduate, she will struggle to find a job of any kind, even an unskilled one, as most employers want to see a graduation certificate. Because she couldn’t work, she relied on her boyfriend’s income to support herself and her child – the ladies at the Hand in Hand group told me that he has kicked her out 4 or 5 times before and she always ends up going back to him because she needs the money and a place to live. If she leaves him, she can register for child support but that would only give her 280 ZAR per month – about £30. Out of that money she would need to rent a room somewhere which might cost 150 ZAR per month, so that doesn’t leave much for food and clothing. Food is cheaper over here, but not that cheap! And if she wants to go back to school Agnes would need to find someone to look after her son while she’s there and find the money to pay her own school fees. Unless she finds a job, Agnes will not be able to afford to pay the fees to send her son to school when he is older.

The problems she faces, the lack of money, lack of support from her family, lack of any way for her to generate an income for herself, all drive her back to her ‘boyfriend’ even though their relationship is unhappy and unstable because it’s the only way she can provide for her son. It saddens me to know that men here are able to treat women with such disrespect and that women sometimes just accept that as a way of life because it’s all they’ve ever known or because they feel they have no other options. I’m hoping that the Hand in Hand group will be able to somehow give Agnes the support she needs to go back to school and complete her studies so that she at least has a chance of finding a job and making a new life for herself and her son. I want to help her but I really don’t know how.