September has been a different month for me. As I sit here, reflecting back to the very start of the month, I can only recall a few rides. I started the month off with the Tour of the Cornfields, a 100km Gravel event supported by our club. As we were the support, it was our job to go round at the back, picking up the route markers, and just generally making sure everyone was OK. There was (surprisingly) only one puncture for our group, and the turbo on Bob’s E-Bike made sure we got back in good time, tired but happy to have helped out!
It was straight back to school the day after, and the start of Year 13. My last year of Secondary School. It’s amazing how quickly time flies.
I made it through a whole week of school before it was time to head back to the ‘homeland’ on the continent. This time it was just two Kermesses to end the season, a little bit of fun with the team to round up my first year as a junior.
Saturday’s race was in a little town called Wijnendaele, famous in the cycling world as being the home town of the founder of De Ronde Van Vlaanderen, Karel Van Wijnendaele. A pretty special place!
Sadly, my race wasn’t quite as special. I hit a big stone on the first lap and split the sidewall on my front tyre. Tubeless tyres are good, but they can’t fix a tear in the sidewall. Annoyed, I jumped in the broomwagon, and spent the rest of the race handing up bottles to the team. Luckily, Paul and Reece finished in the top ten. Onto the next one.
Sunday was even hotter, out in the fields it got close to 40 degrees. Not ideal for bike racing then! I was able to hang onto the group until just over halfway, but then I just overheated, despite taking on a bottle a lap. My vision was blurring, my head hurting, I knew that was my cue to stop. I’m not afraid to push myself, but I’m also not stupid. I know my limits. Disappointed, I waited until I was feeling a bit better before heading off for an early shower.
Not a great weekend to finish the race season off, but at least I now had two weeks off the bike, and then a third to slowly get back into training again. My first week was pretty relaxed, just focussing on school. The second week, not so much.
Monday 18th 5:30AM. In a car park. Ready to get on a minibus. A pretty familiar situation for me. I was heading off to the Brecon Beacons to undertake my expedition for my Gold DofE. Nervous: not really. Excited: definitely! Hungry: always.
The first three days were pretty relaxed. We went back over all our skills: map reading, route planning, cooking, tent building, and (most importantly) what to do in emergencies. We also went on a practice walk up onto the Beacons, over a hill called ‘Lord Hereford’s Knob’. As you can imagine, the jokes were endless. We popped into Abergavenny to stock up for the four-day expedition.
Over the next four days we would walk 65km. We would be out for at least 8 hours each day. And we’d need to carry enough for to keep us going for the four days. For a lot of us, it was a challenge to eat between 2,000 to 3,000 calories each day. I had 24,000cal for the four days. The joys of being a 6’4 endurance athlete!
It also meant that I started the expedition with a 28-kilo rucksack. Thankfully, it got lighter the hungrier I was! By the end of the four days, it was down to 21 kilos.
We walked some beautiful trails, saw some beautiful views, and stayed at some amazing campsites, but the best day was the third. Starting in Hay-on-Wye, we got up onto the tops at Hay Bluff, and then walked along the Offa’s Dyke National Trail, with England on our left, Wales on our right, and views for miles! We descended 10km later, on the Welsh side, and camped next to the LLanthony Priory, a beautiful old Priory, mostly still standing, hidden down in the valley. Spirits were high when we got there, as we only had one more sleep, and a relatively easy walk the next day. The biggest task was eating up any food you didn’t want to carry. Half a kilo of rice is quite hard to eat at the end of fuelling for a week, how the Grand Tour riders manage it is astonishing!
We all made it to the finish point safe and sound, happy, but ready for a night with a mattress and central heating. A Roast Beef dinner, Wales-Australia on the TV, and then bed, ready for school the next day, with plenty of work and gossip to catch up on! Plus training restarting, it’s been a busy week, in a pretty relaxed September.
And with that, this has been my season. I would like to say a huge THANK YOU to everyone who has helped me, supported me, and developed me as a rider and a person this year. You all know who you are.
In particular:
Bob, Julie, and everyone at LVYCC, for making this season so enjoyable, and I would say pretty successful as a team.
Highway Cycles, for keeping my bike race-ready, and being so kind in the event of a ‘mishap’.
Pedal Potential, for helping me sit down and get my thoughts onto the page, for all you amazing readers to enjoy.
Matt and his team at Matts Auto Repair Services, for keeping ‘The Gilbus’ on the road, for us to be able to traverse Britain and Europe to race.
Thank you to TLC Live, Saffron Walden Round Table, SportsAid Eastern, Knight Frank, MARS, Great Dunmow Rotary Club, Fosters Schoolwear, MK1 Scaffolding, and BTLM for your financial support. It has made this season so successful, and hopefully we’ll get even more success next year.
Thank you Thomas, for all your support this year. We couldn’t have done any of it without you.
Thank you Owen for the coaching. I think it proved to be pretty good training!
To Mum, Dad, Madeleine, and Harry. Thank you for putting up with me. Rearranging your lives around my crazy life. For putting up with me only being there (at most) one weekend a month. All I can say is, it’s going to be even more hectic next year.
And finally, thank you to you. The reader. Thank you for reading my random ramblings every month, and for all your kind words. It certainly motivates me. I want to continue to have successes for you all to read about, and to keep you entertained.
Bring on next 2024.
Gilbank Racing 