It started out well. It ended well. Incomplete but complete enough. Not quite finished but above and beyond.
I was looking for a challenge to motivate some riding. It was dark all the time, it was wet all the time. It was hard to want to go out and ride.
I started following @iamTedKing on social media after Bikepacking.com shared his incredible record on the Arkansas High Country Race. It is one of the great aspects of social media that you can experience a world so far removed from your own.
The #DIYGravel challenge looked like an excellent excuse to get out and have fun. I dived right in on day 1 and went up a nearby hill that I had never been up before. It was well worth it.
And then I came home and wrote a caption…
To go out will always make you feel better
but the cold, dark, wet makes you consider whether,
You really want to plunge through the sludge,
lose grip, fall over, resort to a trudge.
A breath of fresh air, a hill to climb,
to see a view, to write a rhyme.
A challenge then, to motivate:
12 Days of riding before we celebrate.
12 days till then, where do we go?
1200ft up and what do you know
We’re on to 11 so lets take it slow
11 Christmas songs, ho ho ho.
Unexpectedly, I ended up rhyming. It was fun.
Dark nights, bright lights.
Clear skies, a rare surprise.
Up onto the bridge,
what you can hear,
11 Christmas Songs
to raise festive cheer.
Only 10 days remain,
Tomorrow, ride again.
I had set a precedent though so I had to continue.
Down to the beach, daylight out of reach.
10 mid-ride pushup, singlespeed so push back up.
9 days left and intervals next.
9 sprints back up the hill,
10 sketchy descents takes some skill.
Tomorrow 8 times to turn right,
Hopefully get some daylight!
Some were good, some were not.
Some were long and others short.
As it is with life, and with rides.
You just have to dive right in, see what you can do.
This was all as new to me as it is to you.
8 right turns will get you somewhere,
Don’t take a left or you’ll be elsewhere.
2 more right turns to get you home,
In time for work and to write a poem.
Bonus points for not turning left?
Tomorrow we ride far to the east.
Then back west, 70 miles at least.
On the sixth day, or day 7 of the countdown, the challenge was 7 decorated houses. However, this day also coincided with the winter solstice and hence Restrap’s Solstice Century challenge.
I was in deep and loving the riding, how could I refuse?
Ride to the east,
to the end of the road.
Turn back at Fife Ness,
progress is slowed.
West into the wind,
tick 70 miles.
A rare winter sun,
fatigue induced smiles.
One hundred miles in,
the daylight race is on
To get back home,
before it is gone.
The challenge complete,
you may have wondered,
why 70 miles
and then one hundred?
70 miles,
for DIYGravel
a swap with day 6,
no time to haggle.
100 miles,
challenged by Restrap
A solstice century
across the map.
The next day I didn’t feel like riding. I didn’t jump back in later either.
A failed challenge? Well it depends on how you look at it.
The goal was to have fun and ride consistently. I was lacking motivation in the dark, wet Scottish winter. In that sense it was a huge success. I enjoyed every ride and I rode every day. It culminated in a brilliant day out on the road bike and my fastest ever century ride.
However, every challenge has it’s parameters. You accept them when you start. You take it on with full knowledge of the end point. You start with the intention of finishing. Every time you don’t finish, you’re laying the seed in your mind, the acceptability of not finishing. The freedom to give up when you’ve had enough. The option to identify as a casual rider, not as a racer.
Is that what you want?
