Beginnings

It is said that a journey of a thousand miles begins beneath one's feet though I guess in my case a saddle might be a better description.  Having never ridden competitively or even taken part in a sportive before, why have I entered the Etape Caledonia  in 2012? (I'm asking myself that question as well)

This all begins in November/December 2010 when the company I'm working for advertised for volunteers to take part in charity bike ride from London to Paris at the end of June 2011. Like a lot of things it seemed like a good idea at the time, it could not possibly been the two extra days holiday given by the CEO in addition normal holiday allowance to those taking part.

So there I am in January signed up for a 200 mile cycle over three days with two slight problems, firstly no suitable bike to do this on and the slight small matter of raising £1200 in sponsorship. The bike proved to be easy, courtesy of the cycle to work scheme, I  became the proud owner of a new Specialized Allez Sport 18 thanks to all the helpful advice received from Clive Mitchell Cycles in Truro

Raising the sponsorship was a different matter altogether and  at one stage I was beginning to feel I had bitten off more than I could chew... But after several street collections, bingo evenings, bag packing at Marks & Spencer's, cake sales and several ingenious raffles including one where people would guess where I would fall off my bike between London and Paris I finally made the target the day prior to departure.

Doing all the training for the charity ride and taking part in the ride itself I discovered that I have awoken a road cycling bug and I have been well and truly bitten. Not that I was not a cyclist before as I had a old Marin mountain bike bike that had been laying dormant in the garage for a few years. Which had previously been used for jaunts to the Lake district and city centre commuting.

Here I am now with an entry for the Etape Caledonia  and about to take part in my first ever sportive the Lands End 100 on Sunday October 16th........