One and a half

Posted on November 4, 2016 by Ben Reeve

The route for next years Tour De France has been out for a few weeks now. Interesting for those that follow this sort of thing, compelling if you are planning to ride the entire route next year. It didn’t really matter what the route was, having signed up to ride the whole thing I was going to have to get around whatever they put in my way. For Robyn it was decision time.

The wonderful folk at the Tour De Force go to great lengths to ensure that you can ride the exact route as the professionals. As well as offering “The Lifer” a chance to do all 21 stages, they also offer different packages to suit all tastes. Robyn had to decide what “Tour Taster” she was going to commit to.

We knew that it would be good to ride into Paris together, the question was how many stages would Robyn do before this? Traditionally the last week of the tour involves some mountains so whatever was on offer was going to be a challenge.

Robyn’s decision making process is different to mine. I like to plan (some may say I need to control) and generally I like to go into things having analysed it to death.

Robyn’s takes a more straight forward approach, so when I asked her what she thought she would like to do we had this brief exchange,

“Well If I’m going to travel all the way over to Europe I may as well make the most of it.”

“Yes”, I agreed.

“If I ride my bike lots beforehand, I’m confident that I’ll get around whatever is put in front of me.”

“Well yes, but you need to think about…”

“Don’t start that analysing stuff, do you think I can do half of it?”

” Yes, you can, if…”

“Don’t care about the ‘ifs’, sign me up.”

And with that she has signed up to ride “Tour Taster 8 – (Semi Lifer Second Half)”.

10 Stages and a total of 1,553Km across 10 days. This is what it looks like:

Stage 12: Thurs 6^th Pau to Peyragudes. 214km.
Stage 13: Fri 7^th Saint Girons to Foix. 100km.
Stage 14: Sat 8^th Blagnac to Rodez. 181km.
Stage 15: Sun 9^th Laissac to Puy en Velay. 189km.
REST DAY: Mon 10^th
Stage 16:Tues 11^th Puy en Velay to Romans sur Isere. 165km.
Stage 17: Weds 12^th La Mure to Serre Chevalier. 183km.
Stage 18: Thurs 13^th Briancon to Izoard. 178km.
Stage 19: Fri 14^th Embrun to Salon de Provence. 220km.
Stage 20: Sat 15^th Marseille loop. 23km. & TGV to Montgeron.
Stage 21: Sun 16^th Montgeron to Paris. 100km ish.

Inspired by Robyn’s approach and how easy it makes everything, I have decided to just play what is in front of me. I am resisting the very strong urge to plan my way through each stage, instead I am going to focus on the one day where we may actually have to think for ourselves – the rest day

The TDF organisers are so good, they have even provided the following insights to what the rest day has in store, “Le Puy en Velay known for its lace, lentils and a local spirit made with lemon verbena. It’s a really lovely little town with plenty of laundrettes and cafes”.

Seems a trip to a French laundrette is on the cards for the morning and then all we need to do is find somewhere nice for lunch.

With this sorted and knowing the good folk at the TDF take care of everything else, all we have to ride our bikes “lots” before next July, and raise some money for a great cause. This is where you can help out by clicking below:

Summer is just around the corner in Sydney, time to ride our bikes lots!

Non, je ne regrette rien

Posted on October 16, 2016 by Ben Reeve

Lake Taupo in New Zealand is about as far away from Bracknell in the UK as you can get. It has been an interesting journey for the 5 of us who have been catching up. Richard, Bobo and I all went to the same playgroup together, then on to primary school. We also went to the same secondary school in Bracknell, where we met with Emma and Justin. On average we have all known each other for over 40 years.

Justin now lives in Auckland, the rest of us ended up living in Sydney. There was no coordinated plan it just turned out this way. The 4 of us catch up in Sydney fairly regularly, normally with the families, and earlier this year we decided to go on a road trip to visit Justin without the entourage.

A couple of days in Auckland and then down to Lake Taupo. We have made it to Sunday afternoon and we are still talking. Apparently no thanks to me.

Robyn, my wife, had talked to me before we left. She explained that even if it was not my intention, I can be a little difficult to live with at times. I needed to remind myself that these were my dearest friends and that to make sure it was a holiday to remember, for the right reasons, I must take or hire a bike. For their sake not necessarily mine. Riding my bike gives me a sense of calm, I feel balanced and a lot more relaxed. Without it I can go a little stir crazy. So I have managed a quick spin around Auckland yesterday and did a lap of the lake today.

Hire Bike = Friendship Insurance

It’s a shame I didn’t ride my bike on Friday as well, it would have spared poor Bobo a rather intense discussion that we had over dinner. Certainly not my finest work and fortunately for me Bobo was still talking to me on Saturday.

Getting away from the chatter of everyday life and a change of scenery gives you a chance to reflect. We have had lots of time to reminisce about years gone by and to replay some of the fond memories of growing up.

“Would you change anything or do anything different?”, was an interesting topic of conversation over dinner last night. There was nothing of significance that anybody would change. Sure we may have approached certain situations over the years in slightly different ways, in my case Friday night’s dinner and there was a New Years Eve party in 1991 where a slightly different approach may have delivered better results. But even these bad decisions make you who you are today.

Even when I set out this morning on my bike, feeling slightly shabby from sampling too much local Pinot last night, I had no regrets. After riding the first 2 hours into a headwind through rolling countryside I was feeling very regretful.

Then I just reminded myself there will undoubtedly be moments like this in France next year, (not alcohol induced I hope) so I just kept grinding away and was rewarded by some stunning views and a tailwind home.

From left to right – Ben, Bobo, Justin, Emma and Richard

As much as the Tour next year is occupying my thinking and planning, Emma and Bobo have already been thinking about how we will celebrate our 50th birthdays in a few years time. Apparently we are all off to “Hawaii 50”, kids get to stay at home but any other old school friends are more than welcome.

We also have plenty of time to decide where to go in Hawaii, I know there are some big volcanoes you can ride up, probably worth thinking about adding that to the itinerary for one or two of the travellers.

Let There Be Light

Posted on October 9, 2016 by Ben Reeve

When we signed up to ride the Tour we decided to tick a few other things off the bucket list. Robyn has always been very creative and as we talked about different fund raising ideas she came up with a beauty. As her birthday was approaching she had a rather unusual request for a present and then she set about a few novel ways to encourage folk to make a donation.

This video explains it all…

A lady of many talents

Fill Your Boots

Posted on September 18, 2016 by Ben Reeve

One of the side effects of growing up is that you somehow become responsible. When I was growing up we used to have things called sweet shops, this will give you a clue to the generation I belong to. It was a treat to go for a visit and I could never understand how the adults could resist the urge to buy as many sweets as they wanted. I couldn’t fathom why the grown-ups around me with the money and the freedom to do what they liked, just didn’t fill their boots.

Teenager in Boots

A similar pattern emerges through adolescence. Whatever your indulgences there will be a point, in my case waking up with a terrible hangover, when you start to ponder if the excesses of the day before were really worth it. You ignore it, try again, then a short time later you have the terrifying realisation that you can’t really behave like this anymore and you have started to care about what the boss thinks. Now you are on the slippery slope to grown-up responsibility.

There are a few grown-ups who have somehow managed to avoid this slope of responsibility and are still behaving with the freedom and enthusiasm of a child with a $100 note in a sweet shop. For the majority or us, we have to wrestle with our conscience and our ability to see beyond the impulse for instant gratification and weigh up the long term impact. If I have that next drink, dessert or ride those extra km’s, what will be the implications?

Even if you do throw caution to the wind and go for it, you will often regret it the next day as you no longer back up like you used to. The road to recovery gets harder each time and unconsciously this modifies your behaviour, then one day you are quite happy to be the designated driver and drink fizzy water all night!

Mid-life is exactly what it says, you are in the middle of something, no longer young enough to behave with reckless abandon and you still have a significant time before you arrive at your final destination, old age.

Like many others I manage these forces in my life today and yet I still have this strong urge to just cut lose, to fill my boots, and jump into my passion without worry or justification.

So I have decided that this year I need to regress, to do exactly what I want and to create a life for the present and not worry about the future beyond 24th June 2017. For this is the day that I will start riding my bike on a 21 day charity cycling journey that will take me over the same Tour de France route that the pros will tackle, just one week ahead of them.

I love riding my bike, I have done for the last 5 years. Starting off as a complete novice I have thrown myself into riding greater distances, participating in sportive’s and traveling to various places in the world to ride.

Along the way I have become fitter, happier and more adventurous. Three years ago I rode with the Tour De Force who organise the tour for the William Wates Memorial Trust. I rode for 8 days through the French Alps and finished up in Paris. It was the closest you can get to being a pro, all you have to do is sleep, eat, bike, repeat.

Since returning from that adventure Robyn, my lovely wife, has joined me in my cycling pursuits. We are well aware that we can come across as a bit of a cliché to some of our friends – married couple with teenage kids, spending quality time on bike rides, drinking lattes and wearing matching Lycra.

But bike riding is a little bit more for us, it has become part of who we are. We have spent a lot of time riding with each other over the last few years, completed some of the most challenging one day events here in Australia and have been thinking about bigger challenges.

So we decided to jump in and sign up for next year’s Tour De Force. I will be riding all 21 stages and will be known as a “lifer”, we are still debating how many stages Robyn will do. We shall wait for the course route to be published but as a minimum Robyn will ride the last week of the tour, over whatever mountains they put in our way, and our reward will be that we get to ride into Paris together.

My Grand Depart is still over 270 days away as I write this, which should give us plenty of time to get organised. Given that we live in Australia and with everything else going on in our lives we have already started to plan. From a work perspective we will fit our training around our work commitments and combine the two. If we have to travel, the bikes come with us. Holidays have been planned around cycling adventures and training blocks. The kids will get to experience real independence and learn to look after themselves, unless they want to join us on the road.

A fundraising thank you for your donations

We are going to enjoy ourselves as we get ready for the Tour and along the way also raise some money for a great cause. We have been thinking about creative and innovative ways to fund raise and we have already put one into practice. Rest assured we will be asking for a donation from you all along the way and also hope to be able to offer something in return.

We will be recording our journey to the start line with regular blog updates and we have developed our own website to keep track of it all. Our media savvy teenagers also advise us that we have to have Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts so we can develop a following. The accounts are in place, let the following begin.

You can check it all out at www.ratherberidingmybike.com and we look forward to sharing our bike indulgencies along the way.

Cheers,

Ben and Robyn

The Italian Job

Posted on June 8, 2016 by Ben Reeve

There is no better way of experiencing what a country has to offer than by going for a bike ride. You get to see first hand the countryside, the architecture and, if you have enrolled in one of their most popular sportive’s, meet the locals and observe how they like to ride to their bikes. In Italy they like to ride their bikes fast, just like they drive.

I travelled to Bormio in Italy with my friend Anthony and a group of his bike riding mates from the UK to participate in the Granfondo Stelvio. They had organised everything and I was incredibly fortunate to just be able to tag along. Great roads, good company and all I had to do was ride my bike.

Travel broadens the mind and it also highlights the differences between cultures. I have ridden in France, this weekend was the full Italian experience. Having spent the day amongst the locals here is what I observed:

Style
A MAMIL (Middle Aged Man In Lycra) would seem to be a generic look regardless of their nationality. The Italians just do it with more style and panache. From the coordinated club casual wear, down to the team kit, there didn’t appear to be a fashion faux par anywhere.

Fluro
The Italians love fluro colours, yes it may seem a little contradictory to talk about style and then mention fluro in the same breath, but somehow it seems to work. The brighter the kit the better from what I could see. If it was you or me wearing it we would look like some sad 80’s throwback, on a well groomed Italian with designer stubble they get away with it.

Bells and Whistles
Italians like their bikes. I have not seen so much expensive carbon on a start line before. Normally on these mass participation races you get a segment of hardcore cycling enthusiasts who ride their steel bikes and do so with pride. I only saw one steel clunker yesterday and it turns out the rider was from London.

Food
Only in Italy could you be greated at the top of a climb with a man with a tray of focaccia and pizza. I almost looked around for the red wine and was willing to call it a day there and then. It doesn’t matter if you are on top of a mountain there are standards to uphold and at every rest stop the food and drinks were marvellous.

Steep
The Mortirolo may only be 11km in length but it is brutally steep. Lots of switchbacks have you weaving up the mountain on a single track road. Then once you are near the top, the road becomes a concrete path; super steep and slippery. Most people have the sense to get off and walk. There are a few riders who demonstrate their strength and bike handling skills and ride up this “goat track” and there are others like me try to emulate them and fail. For a while I was looking good, shouts of bravo from the other walking cyclists echoed around me as I ground my way upwards. Then I lost traction, hit a rut and next thing I am on the deck. Fortunately I was going so slowly you couldn’t say I crashed, I just fell sideways. I am not sure what the others were saying as I lay on the ground still clipped into my cleats, but I sprung up, dusted myself down and pretended like it never happened. I even thought about trying to get back on but opted for the far safer option and started to trudge to the top with the others.

Mountains
Nature may be accountable for the stunning scenery but at some stage somebody has to decide to build a road up it. The Stelvio pass is as picturesque as any. An iconic climb for any cyclists and it does not disappoint. A 20km climb, it tops out at 2,750m with snow still on the ground. Any other nation would have left it to its own devices. The Italians built one of the highest paved road in Europe up it. Tunnels, numerous switchbacks and crazy Italians climbing and descending (once you complete the race to the summit you have to rug up and descend back down) only adds to the fun.

It can be difficult not to make generalisations and revert to nationalistic clichés when you describe different cultures. The reality is that these observations are grounded in the truth and that is why they stand the test of time.The Italian bike riders (men and women) like to ride with determination and intensity. I have never been overtaken on the descents by so many people. I am at best a cautious descender. I can normally hang onto a bunch but not this lot. Maybe it’s their superior bike handling skills or familiarity with the the mountains, either way they race down them as though their life depends on it. This passion was evident all day. Without understanding a world of Italian, if you listened to some of the conversations going on in the bunch you would have sworn there was about to be a punch up, then there would be a cheerful “ciao” and riders would move on. They were probably discussing the quality of the focaccia at the last stop.

All bike riders love riding their bikes, the Italians just seem to do it with a little more style

Hitting the town after we all completed the race. Cheers gents!

If You Can’t Beat Them…

Posted on May 2, 2016 by Ben Reeve

Over the last year I have written a lot about riding with my wife. I thought I’d get Robyn to share her perspective with you.

My mother tells people that I ride my bike because otherwise I wouldn’t get to see my husband. He’s alright my other half, but I’m not going to invest huge amounts of time and energy just to stare at his backside or hope that he might actually talk about anything other than average speed, cadence and how mentally prepared I am!

At Uni I always rode a bike and later on when I lived in Dublin for 5 years it was my main means of transport. Moving to Sydney, working, getting married, having children and just the noise of normal life just seemed to take priority over anything else.

I have watched at close quarters Ben’s midlife crises; first the running, then I lived through the subsequent damaged knee and finally laughed our loud when he first appeared in Lycra. The reality was that I ended up living with somebody who was happy to parade around in public with the anatomy of a Ken doll.

Mostly I was just pleased that he seemed happier and had something to occupy his time. We still managed to do all the things we wanted to do as a family so I let him get on with it. Then one day he suggested that I should get a road bike.

Why not I thought and I picked up my shiny new bike in November 2013. At first it was a novelty being on something that was sleek and fast. I enjoyed learning to ride it, how to use the gears and waddling around in in my cleats at the café like all the other Lycra clad wanabees.

We’d get up early on a Sunday, ride for a couple of hours, I’d get to see the city from a different perspective and always felt I had earned my breakfast.

Then one day at the start of 2014, at one of our favourite café stops, Ben asked me what my goal was.

“To get home, do the washing and have a quiet afternoon”, I replied.

“No what’s your cycling goal?”, he asked.

“I don’t have one, do I need one?”

“Well why are you riding at all?”

This stumped me a little, I rode my bike because it was fun. It was also very easy for me, all I had to do was agree to getting up at 6am on a Sunday with my delighted husband who was genuinely pleased that I’d go for a cycle with him. He did everything else I just pedaled.

Now at 8am on a Sunday morning over my latte and mushrooms on toast I’m getting interrogated about my cycling vision. Somewhat reluctantly and just to shut him up I settled on the concept of getting fit, Ben’s eyes lit up: he had a plan.

Little did I know that over the next 2 years my metamorphosis from occasional social rider was going to entail serious amounts of time in Lycra, see me take my bike on our family holiday’s and acquire an extensive wardrobe of bike related clothing that is even better than my husbands. It has culminated in me riding the Peaks Challenge at Falls Creek a few months ago, a 235km ride in a single day over some big mountains. A result that I am proud of and well worth the time and effort.

Once I uttered those fatal words, “I’d like to get fit”, things changed. Here are the key revelations that I made along the way.

Make The Time For Yourself

Remember to do your own thing!

My initial fitness regime involved “Turbo Time”. Sounds impressive but basically it means sitting in the spare room on a turbo trainer for hours pedaling. Ben had discovered some approach which required me to ride at a certain heart rate (MAF training or something, I’ve never cared what was behind it just loved the fact that it got me fit and I lost a lot of weight in the process). It might sound dull but compared to cooking, running the girls around or other boring chores I soon learnt this was my time.

The wonders of modern technology meant that I could spend the hour long sessions watching my IPad and completely disconnected to whatever was going on in the house or around me. Downtown Abbey, Gavin and Stacey and all of The Game of Thrones were consumed in my quest to build a base. A couple of these sessions a week and a ride or two at the weekend and I was ready to take on some bike challenges.

Play The Bike Card

How many bikes does it take to…

Linked to making time for yourself is the wonder of “The Bike Card”. If your husband is a certified bike nut who takes great delight in not only his exploits on his bike but yours as well then you find yourself in a very powerful position. The normal delineation of duties around the house can easily get reassigned if there is an urgent bike related matter. For example if the girls need a lift and I haven’t been on my bike yet, then clearly my bike session needs to take priority and Ben has to step up. You just need to work out what you do and don’t want to do around the house and play the bike card.

Own Your Goals

As I got fitter and enjoyed the time on my bike we began to look for some events to participate in. Rather than a gentle first event mine was a 165km lumpy ride, The Fitz’s Classic Challenge, in Canberra. I had ridden enough to know I would get around, it was more a question of how I would feel and in what shape. We had a great day and I was delighted to finish in a respectable time and to feel a sense of achievement at my first big event. With this ride under my belt the thought of riding the Peaks Challenge was discussed. Ben had done it twice before and had really enjoyed it, it would be a big challenge but if I trained he felt I could complete it.

As part of our training we did The Fitz’s Classic again a year later. This time I was considerably faster but crossed the finish line feeling completely underwhelmed. Unlike the year before, where just getting around was an achievement, this time I had high expectations for how fast I could go. As I talked this through with Ben we realised that unintentionally he had been pushing me as he was trying to get me ready for the Peaks Challenge. Rather than owning my ride I was trying to please him and not communicating how I was actually feeling; which was knackered and disappointed, despite going faster.

I realised that I had to own my training and rides from then on. My goal became to get myself in the best physical condition I could so that I could enjoy the Peaks Challenge. Ben would plan our rides and then I would be responsible for altering them based on how I was feeling. On the road I was to communicate exactly what I wanted him to do. If I felt good we would go faster. If I needed to, he would slow down. I didn’t need to be motivated or screamed at I just needed to know that he would do what I felt I needed to get round and enjoy myself in the process.

Prepare To Be Surprised…

One of the side benefits of getting into cycling with my husband has been how attentive he has become. Not so much to me, after 19 years of marriage some things you don’t need, but to my bike and my wardrobe. I have never once had to clean my bike , fix my bike or do anything other than just ride it. He takes care of it all.

The normal household budgeting policy has also gone out of the window if new bike kit or new bike parts are required. The more I have pedaled the fitter I have become and the leaner I am. I need a new wardrobe. Not a murmur from the Household Treasurer.

And then for my birthday last year something very expensive turned up, something round, shiny and delivered in some serious packaging. In fact 2 of them, brand new carbon fiber wheels, custom made and personalised to match my bike with my name on them. If you asked me 19 years ago if that would have been the perfect birthday present it might have been grounds for divorce. The reality is he absolutely nailed it, my very own little black numbers!

Enjoy, Enjoy, Enjoy…

Nobody makes me ride my bike. I do it because I want to and because I enjoy it. I enjoy being fitter, I enjoy the time I get to spend doing something for myself and I enjoy being able to achieve the goals I set. The Peaks Challenge was just the result of doing what I love, riding my bike. I am fortunate that it is also the thing that my husband loves and we can indulge together. It’s something that I will continue to do and will continue to get excited about where and what we can ride. There is talk of doing the other Peaks rides and also a trip to Europe next year. Yes, it will be something to do with the Tour De France and I wouldn’t want it any other way.

Rather Be Riding My Bike

Author Archives: Ben Reeve