GIFT OF THE RAB
Cycling Plus’s brand marketing manager Steve Fearn shares his Deloitte Ride Across Britain story
I’m still quite new to cycling, so I’ve been steadily working my way through the various milestones: first 50-miler, first 100, first back-to-back hundreds. Entering the Ride Across Britain possibly wasn’t the next logical step from those, but I couldn’t turn down the opportunity to take part when it came my way.
It took a lot of work, on bike and body, to get me ready in the nine months that I had to prepare. Cycling Plus’s 2017 Bike Of The Year, the Specialized Roubaix Comp, seemed like the perfect bike, so I splurged on one of those at the turn of the year. In March I headed to the Chichester Institute of Sport, where Dr Andy West and his team of performance experts put me through the wringer to develop a tailored training plan to get me through to John O’Groats. To tune my Roubaix, I had three hours at Bike Science in Bristol, who, with its Retül fitting system, genuinely transformed my riding comfort for the rest of the summer.
I trained for around 20 hours a week all summer, combining commuting, indoor Zwift sessions and two longer rides on the weekend. A handful of sportives broke up the routine and helped hone my group riding skills, which would prove invaluable come September.
So, how was it? In a word, tough! 100-plus miles for nine days straight was always going to be, no matter how much I trained. Aside from some knee pain, which was solved with some new cleats, and a disorientating sugar crash in the Cairngorms, I felt physically strong. I was less prepared for the emotional toll, however. Throughout the event, you do little else than ride, eat and sleep, so it can feel too relentless to be enjoyable at times. That said, the camaraderie of my fellow riders, the positivity of the RAB’s crew of chefs, mechanics, medics and masseurs working in the ‘RAB Bubble’, as they call it, made for a truly unforgettable journey. The route was also a masterpiece, taking in some of the finest roads Britain has to offer. Special mention goes to the new section in the Cairngorms, which provided the best riding I have ever experienced.
Would I do it again? No. But for me this was about achieving a life-long goal. And it’s best left as a once in a lifetime thing.
What RAB has done is whet my appetite for more. Maybe not bigger – 1000 miles feels plenty – but just more cycling, perhaps similar audax-style events. If you’re considering it for 2019 I would absolutely say go for it. It’s an all-consuming physical and emotional challenge like no other, and one I’m immensely proud of conquering.