Ever since living in Scotland it has held a special place in my heart. I feel there is a life time of adventures to be had in the north, and even though I live in Hebden Bridge these days, I’m often hatching plans to cross the boarder for a little adventure of a lifetime, again. Tomorrow evening at 6pm, I’ll be crossing that boarder once again for another adventure, another learning experience and another sufferfest. This time on the road, my Vir Fortis fat bike left behind for this assault on Scotland. The plan is simple, ride from the boarder at Coldstream, and continue until you reach Tongue on the north coast, in one effort. 24 hours is the timeframe I have limited myself to, it’s not a record attempt, there's no trophies, no medals, no firsts, no fan fare. Just me and a film crew (so you can watch and enjoy at some point) riding my Colibri, life at it’s simplest. Although it would seem a long way, this is a stepping stone in a much grander plan I’m working on. Just a little spin to see how my body handles this sort of fatigue, so I can understand the work I will have to undertake for the bigger plan to be a success. As with all of these things I do, there's a risk, my eyesight isn’t getting better and the hours of darkness always trouble me. I have planned this ride as best I can and put things in place to give myself the better chance of success. However the great thing about having adventures, is the unknown outcome. As I sit here and type this,
I’m in a world of organising stuff, sorting kit, spares, loading route maps, all the fun logistics of planning an epic. I’m nervous, excited and a bit terrified if I’m honest with myself. I’ve been scanning the forecast for the last couple of weeks to see what I’m up against, but today I’m not looking, whatever the weather, I’ll ride south to north as planned. I was asked last night if there was a head wind, would I ride it in reverse? I answered no, I’m not looking for an easy ride, whats the point in that? We learn from struggling, fighting, digging deep, going beyond ourselves. That’s when I learn about myself anyway, that’s the experience i want to have.
I’ll be doing my best to tweet live from the road with how things are going. If you want to follow me, my twitter handle is @stevebatembe it would be great to have you along for the ride, and I just might need a virtual peloton to get me to the Tongue by 6pm Friday night. Thanks also to Alpkit, Sonder Bikes, Dirty Dog Eyewear, Hunt Bike Wheels, Lusso Clothing, U.S.E, and Devereux Cycles for the support, you guys are heroes!
Cheers
Steve