Me, myself and the Bees

Me, myself and the Bees: May 2013

Tuesday 21 May 2013

Bikes, Boobs, and 100 miles

A few months ago... Some friends and I decided to take part in a charity bike ride.  This is a small piece of a much bigger plan to make changes to our lives.

This small piece of the plan consists of cycling 100 miles over 2 days in the beautiful setting of the South Cornwall coast.  Its not for the faint hearted but certainly something that is a challenge for us all but we are sure we will reep the rewards of achievement, personal goals, fitness and satisfaction for making time to do this.

We are cycling in a team called "Bumbling Boobees" in an event called Bikin for Boobies which is organised by a Breast cancer awareness charity called Coppafeel.  For more information about Coppafeel please follow this link
http://www.coppafeel.org/

This has been quite a rushed task giving ourselves just 2 and a half months to get ready. 

It all started with a 3 and a half mile ride leading up to 7 miles, then up to 10 miles, 15 miles but we got stuck on 22 miles for a while due to injuries that kept recurring for me.  I was experiencing lots of pain in my right knee, something that I'm used to since leaving the British Army as my knees have never been the same since.  But after seeing a Sports massage therapist, a doctor and a Physiotherapist the problem was finally found.

My right knee is certainly where the pain is but it is actually part of an unexpected problem.  I have had knots found in my bum, my IT band and thigh.  6 knots were found and they were tightening my upper right leg muscles which in turn were pulling my Patella Ligament out of alignment which holds my knee cap in place.  So basically friction from a ligament not moving in its normal place caused me to contemplate my taking part in this bike ride and to seek professional help.

After Physiotherapy, massage, new stretches, ice packs, cold water baths and plenty of rest was needed to get me passed the 22 mile point.  I managed to reduce my recovery time after a ride from 3 days down to just a few hours.

We knew that we could get me passed this 22 mile obstacle.  So last week we done a 40 mile ride, it took us 5 and a half hours, with a few stops especially for me to stretch, even so the pain reappeared at mile 30 but sheer determination or stubbornness got me to the 40 mile finish line.

All of us have loved cycling recently but knew that something was not quite right.  It was decided to visit a friend who is a bit of a cycling guru.  After meeting up with him it was shown that our bikes were not suitable for the event that we are taking part in.  For me personally, instead of mutilating my bike to make it more user friendly it was decided to rent a bike for the event.  I did experience a lot of disappointment realising that my position on my bike was causing my problems.  I have used this bike for the past 9 years for mountain biking, trails and short trips but it is not suitable for the longer journey.  So now I am very much looking forward to using a hybrid bike which is a road bike but with more comfort like a mountain bike (or so I have been reliably informed).  The main point I took from the meeting that day was that if I can cycle 40 miles on my bike, then 50 or more miles should be no problem on the hybrid bike that is coming my way soon.

Only time will tell.

I will keep you updated with the event, as it is this coming weekend

If you would like to sponsor me by donating towards the breast cancer awareness charity called Coppafeel, then please follow this link
http://www.justgiving.com/Ian-Glastonbury

Best wishes
Ian



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