Getting ready

Filed under Not the Seasoned Cyclist, blog

I left my job last week. I said goodbye to all my workmates at a sambucca fuelled leaving do. The next day at work as my colleagues gathered round my desk to say a final semi-formal goodbye I blushed because they were all staring at me. And because I was overheating from the most disgraceful hangover of my life, which was compounded by an awful fear that I would have to run to the loo during my leaving speech. No more about that though because you might be reading this over your breakfast.

So what on earth is a sambucca swilling girl like me doing writing a booze filled blog for sportsister.com?

Well I should say I’m not always boozing. I do other things too like climbing, and more recently, cycling.

And that’s how I find myself here, writing as a “sister in the saddle.”

In three weeks time I’ll be in the saddle a lot more often than I ever have been before, when I start what I hope is going to be the bike ride of my life, cycling from Ushuaia in Argentina up to Cusco in Peru. Or to put it more neatly: Patagonia to Peru.

The ride is about 4500 miles along the roads and tracks of Argentina, Chile and Peru, taking in enormous glaciers, the Lake District (a far cry, I imagine, from the Cumbrian Lake District where I grew up) over the Andes and through the Atacama Desert, where all those Chilean miners were rescued in the autumn. My tour through some of the most amazing nature in the world will be peppered with pit stops at towns and cities where Danny (my boyfriend and cycling partner) and I plan to dance some salsa! Oh, and give our kit a proper wash. The trip will take about 5 months. The cycling will be amazing and very tough.

Tough cycling is all well and good when you’re a cyclist. I’m not one. I only started braving London’s streets on my bike last summer when I was practising for the London to Brighton bike ride. That ride, at 54 miles, is still the furthest I’ve ever cycled in one go. Until very recently, lycra was just a fashion statement/error, made in the eighties when I was 9, long since left behind. Now at 29 I’m about to embrace the stretchy stuff like never before. And cycling shoes. I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to them. But I’m going to wear them because I know I’ll need them on the hills (mountains actually).

How am I in this situation then? A non-cyclist, about to cycle through some of the world’s most rugged and challenging terrain. It started, very simply, as a wish to see some of South America at a slower pace than you can on a bus or a train, giving myself time to meet people, take in what I see and stop wherever and whenever I want. I had been enjoying cycling and wondered if I could do it by bike. Almost immediately I dismissed the idea as whimsical. But it didn’t go away and the more I read, the more I thought “this is possible.” That was in the summer and now here I am, about to set off.

As this is going to be a huge physical challenge for me, I’ve decided to use it as an opportunity to raise money for charity. All the money we raise will go to Crohns and Colitis UK, a charity supporting people with inflammatory bowel diseases and trying to find cause, and eventually, a cure. You can read more about their work at www.nacc.org.uk and visit our fundraising page at www.justgiving.com/patagoniatoperu

So this is a trip into the unknown, and of course I’m apprehensive, but very excited too. There’ll be ups and downs and I’ll be blogging as I go. For now though, it’s back to my prep, which includes making some final adjustments to my beautiful bike, Sheila, which I’ll introduce you to at some point soon.

If you want a sneak preview, you can read more at www.patagoniatoperu.com