Introduction: Fifty cyclists, including Novacroft’s Duncan Smith (2nd/3rd Line IT Analyst) and Daryl Hurst (Head of Research and Development), will be taking on the 230 mile ‘Ride for Hope’ cycle challenge from Northampton, England to Ypres, Belgium, from July 6th – 9th 2017, in aid of the Northampton Hope centre. The route takes them from Northampton to Enfield (72 miles, day 1), Enfield to Canterbury (80 miles, day 2) and Canterbury to Ypres (73 miles, day 3) followed by coach travel back to Northampton. Novacroft will be following Daryl and Duncan’s journey, from training to the event itself, and the trials and tribulations in between.
“Friday after work I cycled down to an empty car park at the back of the Saints Rugby ground to practice clipping in and out of my pedals as I wasn’t feeling massively confident about how quickly I could do either. The last thing I wanted was to get to a junction and not be able to unclip my foot… ‘Tiiiiiimmmmmmmbbbbbbbeeeeeeeerrrr!!!’
Anyway, after about 45 minutes of unclipping, stopping, pushing off, clipping back in, unclipping the other foot, stopping, pushing off, clipping back in I was finding it easier and quicker and my confidence grew.
With my new found confidence I was determined to get out and do a 30+ mile ride over the weekend. I managed to plan a 35.5 mile route using Strava and exported it to my Garmin 810 bike computer.
I set off just after 9am on Sunday morning. 2.5 hours later I got back home safe and sound having done 36 miles. Happy, tired and with a little bit of chafing I had completed by first real training ride. The plan for the following week is to do at least another 25 miler in the week and then I’ve got the first of the Hope Centre training rides which is another 25 miles.
I just need to make sure I put some udder cream* on!
*Udder cream was originally used on milking cows to stop soreness and chafing on their udders. Cyclists soon realised the benefits of using it on the parts that might rub on the saddle!
Duncan and Daryl need to raise £500 each as part of their commitment to the Hope Centre. If you’d like to add your support and help them reach their target, you can access Daryl’s JustGiving page here and Duncan’s JustGiving page here.
