One of my companies organises cycle rides from London to Paris. It’s a 300 mile journey over four days with the longest day coming in at around 90 miles.
People who come on these rides prepare – or not – in different ways. They can broadly be categorised into four groups:
- The Professionals. These are the club cyclists who are riding big mileage every week both with their club and at home on their static bike training systems. They are well trained and well prepared and predictably cruise through the trip.
- The Weekend Warriors. These are people who train with one long cycle ride most weekends. They survive day one of London to Paris but then they struggle from day two onwards as their bodies aren’t used to consecutive days’ cycling.
- The Wingers. These are people who have done virtually no training at all and predictably suffer even before we get to Dover! They do eventually get to Paris but only with the help our transport.
- The Commuters. These are the people who cycle 10-15 miles every day to work and back. They have never ridden 90 miles before but they do surprisingly well cycling to Paris. Their bodies are accustomed to being on a bike and they just sit there and get on with it.
Preparing yourself for any pursuit in life is pretty much the same – whether it’s losing weight, training for a sport, studying or running a business. Being a ‘professional’ takes a large commitment and life often gets in the way. But the best alternative if time is short is to be a ‘Commuter’ – put a regular modest effort in every day and over time this steadily builds up to an impressive result.