I have signed up to the Ride Across Britain, 969 miles all the way across the island from Lands End to John O' Groats in nine days.
I asked Helen whether it was okay before I did anything. Her first reaction was pretty negative but when I said it was outside the school holidays and therefore had no childcare implications, she was indifferent. I checked again with her once more then signed up and paid the deposit quickly before any doubts could emerge. Sure enough, a few days later Helen realised what the RAB entailed and wasn't quite as supportive! Too late!
I have wanted to do LEJOG for years and have read several books about it. There seemed to be many barriers to me doing it, mostly the logistics of doing a self-supporting ride of that distance. The RAB is very expensive but seems to remove most of those barriers.
Apparently training plans are sent out in November. My mileage this year has been woeful after a nasty crash on my first sportive of the season. I had planned on doing my Imperial Century this year and at least four sportives over the summer. As it stands, I haven't cycled more than 50 miles in a single session and have only completed a single medium length sportive. My total mileage is less than 700 miles for the entire year, two hundred less that the RAB! Last year was slightly better at 900 but still poor compared to the two and a half thousand miles I managed every year from 2011 to 2013. I am hoping that having a clear target of the RAB in September 2017 will focus my training and diet to get me back in the good place I was in three years ago.
