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