100 days of biking

There will be chaos – keep pedalling.

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A gang of Team Singletrack riders rode every day in April 2016 for ’30 Days of Biking’, a personal and charity challenge. So often we hear people say ‘oh, I need to get out and ride more’, but how often do we actually do anything about it? Sometimes you might go as far as entering something that requires training, but how often does the training actually happen at anything other than a last minute panic stage? A regular challenge seems a good way to boost the will to get out there – it could be to ride every day; it could be to ride every weekend. They’re your rules, you make them up.

Reader Darragh Maloney got in touch to tell us about his own ‘100 Days of Biking’ challenge. It’s a nice story, and features yet another example of our late Deputy Ed. Jenn Hill inspiring people to ride. If you’re looking to boost your riding mojo maybe this will inspire you to set your own challenge…

30 Days of Biking Stoodley

By Darragh Maloney

Two summers ago, while noticing the different bikes about the house, I realised I had six-ish, almost one for every day of the week. And it was May.

My sister had died suddenly the year before, which got me thinking: if this was to be my last summer, I’d want it to be a good one. And with almost a different bike for every day of the week, why not use them? So I posted it on Facebook – could I string together 100 days getting out every day on the bike? Well, there’s one way to find out…

A couple of loose rules: cycling to and from work doesn’t count. It’s only 2.5 miles, and if I could count that, it wouldn’t encourage me to get out for an actual spin. Also, rides would be recorded with two photos – one of the bike I used, and a selfie with whoever was along. That’s a lot of selfies of just me, but also some great selfies of group spins. GPS recording wasn’t something I was going to bother with, nor was a minimum distance. After all, if you go to the skate park, or the dirt jumps, distance doesn’t come into it, and I would be doing both. Trials and jumps are just as much fun as XC .

So how did it pan out? Well, there were half asleep 6am spins when I knew I wouldn’t get out after work. There were big XC spins, while being aware that the next day wouldn’t be a day off. I even did the European Masters Marathon Champs in Ballyhoura without a day off in the run up, got up the next day, and cycled to the highest point on the track to watch the Elite Men. I’m living in Belfast, and we had the Giro Grand Depart, so I managed to get a selfie with world track champion Martin Irvine, who was on his way to the TTT start. I got soaked lots. I scared myself lots – probably every second day, sometimes from doing something stupid on the mountain bike, sometimes from drivers if I was on the road bike. Sometimes, just ‘cos downhill.

By day 90 it was taking its toll. Thank goodness for coffee spins, of which there were only two. I thought there’d be a lot more, originally. I did have the day where the normal 20 minute climb took 45 minutes, when I then turned round and went home exhausted.

Weirder still was day 100 – out with some friends in Rostrevor on a Friday evening on my big enduro bike (2002 Santa Cruz built with modern(ish) parts) for two hours. That was to finish. However – the next day was a 50km XC race, round my local mountains. I had visions of heaping the bike in the ditch after 10km and quitting, but instead I took 30 minutes off my previous best time.

There were lots more stories. There was also a snag: I was a groomsman at a friends wedding in Malta in the middle of it, so I had to ‘suspend’ it for 4 days. Screw it. My idea, my rules!

I posted the two pictures daily on Facebook, and it got momentum with my friends, and with friends I made along the way. This helps when you don’t feel in the mood, can’t be seen to not make it, especially around day 60.

My mother arranged some of the photos and had them printed, and my dad framed it. I asked her to add the quote I saw in Jenn Hill’s article about the Great Divide, ‘There will be chaos, keep pedalling’.

100 days of biking

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Hannah Dobson

Managing Editor

I came to Singletrack having decided there must be more to life than meetings. I like all bikes, but especially unusual ones. More than bikes, I like what bikes do. I think that they link people and places; that cycling creates a connection between us and our environment; bikes create communities; deliver freedom; bring joy; and improve fitness. They're environmentally friendly and create friendly environments. I try to write about all these things in the hope that others might discover the joy of bikes too.

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