Cycling challenge requires fitness first

Cycling challenge requires fitness first

Recently, I joined the gym. But have I been? Have I heck!

I didn’t join to sweat it out on the running machine or anything silly like that.

No, just the gentle Pilates and swimming for me, thank you very much.

I’ve managed to go to one Pilates class so far, which was in fact just what my back neededâ€" and even signed off by my doctor, I’ll have you know.

As I grabbed my yoga mat in the exercise studio, I knew that the dreaded “Are there any injuries I should know about?” question would come flying out of the teacher’s mouth any minute.

And inevitably it did. And I coyly admitted I have a “lower back issue”.

Thankfully, she didn’t ask me to elaborate until the end of the class.

And I was impressed with her reaction to me, in fact, having a couple of tumours parked on my spine, as this usually freaks people out.

I was also impressed by her insistence that I come to the class again.

But I haven’t, y et! It’s hard to make time for myself these days, and that’s through no fault but my own.

I’ve not been entirely slacking in the exercise department, though.

And I still made myself take part on day three of our annual CoppaFeel! Biking for Boobies event last weekend, which covered the length of Cornwall, 130 miles!

My day only happened to be the hilliest of all three, and the coldest and wettest. Some call me stubborn, I say stupid, more like.

Although I was on the back of a tandem with my friend’s boyfriend Matt, who has the biggest calf muscles on the planet, I still struggled for the long, hard five hours I spent on the bike.

I know I shouldn’t be too hard on myself, but it really did HURT.

Fortunately, on the back of a tandem, I had the bonus opportunity of letting go of the handlebars so I could stretch out my back when needed, but at one point even that gave me no relief and I found myself fighting back the tears.

< p>A fight that was followed by a stern inner-self talking-to. I dug deep and dressed as a geisha with a headband that read “fighting spirit” in Japanese, I made it across the finish line at Land’s End after conquering 50 miles of Cornish hills and beautiful countryside.

I was so proud of myself and even prouder of the 46 others that had managed to do all three days and raise almost £10,000 for CoppaFeel!

Next time though, I’ll train first.