Apology (A Classic Challenge from Specialized )
I am sorry my blog is dominated by this challenge but to be truthful I have nothing else to write about as this challenge is taking up so much of my time. If you have any doubt about this then let me attempt to put it into perspective.
We are now on day 26 of the 47 day challenge, Target: 32,100m (105,312 feet)
Current standing:
- Elevation gain: 23,902 meters (78,419 feet) 74% complete
- Distance ridden: 1,421 km (883 miles)
- Time In The Saddle(T.I.T.S.): 77 hours
- Average TITS: 2.96 hours/day
We all know its not just the time in the saddle, its the stopped time, the preparation time before and cleanup afterwards. Its easy to see that I am consuming over 4 hours a day attempting this challenge. Is there any wonder I was getting breakfast at 4:30am today! I try not to effect my family life with my riding too much but its hard to hide this amount of riding.
Why so early
Its not hard to see that getting up early is a way to hide several hours especially if your partner prefers to lay in when not working. Even when she is working I am able to finish a reasonable length ride before she leaves for work giving us some face time. For those who don’t know, I have a reasonable and flexible working environment where I work at home. I am able on occasion, to ride a little longer during the day but I can’t make a habit of it. I am in charge of the shopping, cooking and washing up so its next to impossible to go for a ride later in the day. So, early mornings it is.
How can I understand how much climbing that is
To quote a statement by my son, “David Ellison To put this in perspective, Mount Everest is 8,848m (29,029ft) high. So you’ve climbed it twice already.” That statement was made when I reached 2/3rd’s of the challenge target.
By the end of this challenge, should I complete it, I will have climbed and descended the equivalent of Mount Everest over 3 times!
How am I going
To be truthful I am getting very tired. It looks like I might be able to string 3 days together before taking a rest day but I am experiencing ever decreasing energy levels which might push me closer to the end date before I complete it. At this stage I am hoping to finish it in 14 to 15 days time leaving me 5 days to the end of the challenge. Should we get some rain then that might push things out and if I am unable to recover enough on a single rest day it will also have an effect. I may also have to pull back to under 1,000m climbing per ride which will also have adverse effects. It is unlikely that all these things will interfere however, there are others not mentioned yet like my knees are starting to feel the heat, I am starting to get a lot of creaks from the bike! Anyway, as long as everything doesn’t go wrong I should have the opportunity to complete it in the time frame allowed.
So, if you are doing this challenge then:
- how are you managing to find the time?
- What aspect are you finding to be most difficult?
- Are you expecting to finish it or are you just seeing how far you can get?
- Have I given you a greater perspective on this challenge?
- Had you realized just how big a challenge it is?
Let me know what your thoughts are in the reply form below!
