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OPINION

The long, quiet, road to Istanbul.

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The Secret Ride

It always starts the same way, you see something that piques your interest (and you know it’s probably a bit daft to start off with), and then like a seed it takes shape in your mind, growing slowly, developing into something a little more each day. Then all of a sudden you realise you’re losing sleep over it, planning, developing, and simply seeing if it’s feasible in your own mind.

Once that’s done (it nearly always ends with the right outcome) then comes the first crunch - committal. 10 minutes and £165 later, there’s an email informing you that you’ve officially entered the 2014, 2000 mile, Transcontinental race, from London to Istanbul in August.

This will be my 5th bike race ever, the first at age 14 which ended with a real wheel unable to move and the last at age 18 which involved legs unable to go around. And that was nigh-on 2 decades ago. Well, actually it will be my 7th, for some unfathomable reason I’ve signed up for a couple of TT’s with my university in April.

Ok, this is fine, just train hard and it will all go swimmingly. What could possibly go wrong?

Well, my wife could find out about it before I plan to tell her. That’s kind-of a biggie. I’ve got a history with this, it’s all about keeping it on the down-low until plans are fully sorted and everything’s in place.

You see a couple of years ago I cycled LeJogLe in 10 days, and that got me hooked to this cycling malarkey. Then last summer I tried to cycle to Latvia to see my wife without her finding out until I arrived. I didn’t manage that one, but I got to the other side of Poland in 3 days before she found out about it! And she found out about it by Googling my name and seeing that I was tweeting from Poland.

So this stays covert until April! Cheers!

Why April? Well, that’s simple. I’m doing an MBA at the moment, by April I’ll be 6 months in and sitting on a solid pass mark with all the tricky modules and exams completed. Think of it as a reward.

I will be using the esteemed pages of Road.cc to journal my training (how the heck do you train covertly for a 2000 mile race!!), physical and emotional challenges in the lead-up to the race and putting up a race blog as it happens.

So, obviously I smashed the Festive 500? Well no, I got precisely no miles in at all during that time. For the 3rd year in a row I’ve not managed to complete the 500, this time I didn’t even start, family illness meant Wifey was away for 5 days visiting a very poorly granny, leaving me with 3 small boys to look after, and that’s not conducive to riding, so that was out of the window straight away.

Training started slowly after exam week at university back in January. Longer early morning rides, disguised by a new vigour to lose weight. As the days get longer, my work-load changes at uni, and like a perfectly formulated A-Team plan, it will all come together at exactly the right moment!

Happy riding wherever your front wheel takes you!

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8 comments

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bfslxo | 10 years ago
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(how the heck do you train covertly for a 2000 mile race!!),
I have got to hear how you pull that off, can't wait!  41

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themartincox | 10 years ago
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I know right, students pah!

I wanted to do this race last year, but it coincided with the cross-europe ride which was under (secret) prep already so couldn't do both.

It's going to be a hoot  16

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ragtimecyclist | 10 years ago
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Typical student, full of excuses  3

But seriously, i look forward to hearing more about this, nothing quite like the word transcontinental to make things sound dramatic!

And i have to say, getting to the far end of Poland before your wife found out you were having a ride is impressive...i usually struggle to make it as far as the back gate!

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themartincox | 10 years ago
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It's 6 months away still, so plenty of time to train the whole body  3

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geargrinderbeard | 10 years ago
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Yeah! Can't wait for this but have to admit am training my fingers looking at new bike parts rather than my legs!!

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Gareth_Baines | 10 years ago
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See you on the start line  4

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Gkam84 | 10 years ago
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Does this have any way of qualifying you for RAAM  19

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themartincox replied to Gkam84 | 10 years ago
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"Does this have any way of qualifying you for RAAM?"

No, but I'm sure a good time wouldn't hurt i you asked nicely lol

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