What a month!  I've yet to have a proper rest after, you know, casually setting a world record for the furthest distance cycled on a Santander London City bike (more commonly known as the Boris bike), 1,144km to be exact, that’s over 700km further than the previously set record. Smashed it!


Picture 1, Ewa and I celebrating getting to Kraków and setting a new world record 1,144km on a Santander London city bike!

I took the humble Boris bike on the ride of its life for 1,000km across Poland.  A real feat, I know.  And I'm proud, exhausted and grateful for all the support along the way. 

Ewa and the Alina Foundation

It all began with my friend Ewa Holender.  
She and her family set up the Alina Foundation.  A charity that raises money and awareness for hospices in Poland.  Most hospices are ill equipped and need support.  It was Ewa's support for the charity and her shared love of cycling that spawned Cycle Poland.
The annual ride is an endurance ride, as much as a practical delivery operation as we stop over at the hospices along the way, delivering vital supplies and equipment.  The experience of directly handing over specialist equipment the hospices so desperately need is humbling; and is what keeps many of us riding again and again, year after year.
If you would like to donate for the cause the link is here: http://bit.ly/BorisBike1000


Picture 2, Alex Smith and I handing over a bed to the Elbag hospice.  Two of the three beds were already being used.

I've been taking part in Cycle Poland for the past four years.  And have known Ewa for five.  It was her idea that I ride a Boris bike during Cycle Poland, way back in 2012, though she only suggested one day.  It was my childlike impulsivity that elevated the challenge to the full nine days; and the stubborn granddad in me that pushed me to actually go through with it! 

Did I just cycle the most expensive ride ever?

If you’ve ever docked a bike in late or hired a Boris bike for longer than the free thirty-minute window, you may be surprised to know, that this wasn’t the most expensive ride ever.

Luckily for me, the cycling community is a generous and sharing one.  I made some charming and generous friends on a ride to Paris who kindly shared their contact at TfL.  They'd managed to wrangle a couple of Boris bikes from TfL and Serco for their ride back to London from Paris.

My well-rehearsed negotiation skills, after four years practicing law, and new useful contact secured me a couple of Boris bikes (one spare – just in case), free of charge, for the full nine days in Poland. 


Picture 3, at the office, just having collected the Boris bikes.  The smile masks the worry.

What on earth had I signed up for?

Once I’d secured the Boris bikes the challenge suddenly felt very real.  But it wasn't until I actually went to pick the bikes up did I realise the severity of the challenge I had given myself.  Had I just set myself up for failure?

The 4km ride from Kings Cross, where I was picking up the bikes, to Chancery Lane was my first ride on a Boris bike in over a year.  And by the end I was completely out of breath.  It certainly put every time I had cursed my reliable road bike into perspective.  Three gears and 23kg of steel are seriously tough.  And that was only for 4km!

Playing catch up

Waking up on the first day I had no expectations.  It was the dry run.  All I was thinking was that if I survived day 1, there was a good chance I would be able to survive at least day 2 and 3.  There was hope.  But even within the first few hours of the first day, it became clear that physical endurance was the least of my worries.

I had a huge mental hurdle to overcome: motivating myself riding in the loneliest spot in the pack.   
Not to sound big headed, but I’m an accomplished strong cyclist.  I’m used to leading rides, often out in front, spurring the team along.

I spent the majority of this ride at the very, very back of the group.  Forcing myself to keep up.  Every time I thought I was making some headway to catching up, the gap between me and “them” only grew bigger.
It wasn’t until day nine, when Ewa suggested I and a couple of others start cycling earlier than the rest of the group so that we could all finish together.  Even then, if it wasn’t for Piotr and Aneczka I would not have made the final stop in good time with the rest of the group.

It’s the small things that count

From day one we had glorious weather.  I was riding with the sun in my spokes and a cool breeze accelerating me in the right direction.

Given that London is usually a cold, wet and miserable place, I can see why the Boris bike was not designed for thirsty cross-country cyclist pedaling in 22 degree heat.  It’s not a surprise that the Boris bike design omits a place for holding water bottles.

The following days continued in the same vain.  Long hot days.  We would set off around 7.30am each day and ride until 5.30pm.  We went through a lot of water.  But no one had to stop as often as me to re-fill.  I tried everything to feed my athletic thirst.  I put bottles in the front basket, to only have them fall out at every bump in the road (and Polish roads are considerably bumpy).

I emptied my back pockets of food to be replaced by water bottles, which inevitably put a lot of stress and weight on my lower back.  Not ideal for a nine day ride.  Each day required riding an average of 130km (81 miles). 


Picture 4, the water bottle dilemma. 

Every bike deserves respect, even a clunky Boris bike

On day three, we rode through a 5km stretch of gravel.  A nightmare surface for any bike with rubber wheels.  Everyone else had slowed down.  This was the sensible decision to make.  Expensive road racers are not worth ruining for the thrill of racing downhill at 30kmph.

A Boris bike, which was fast becoming my worst enemy, was such an inferior bike, the thrill easily triumphed.  I had to stop and wait for the van so I could switch to Boris bike number two.


Picture 5, when you get a puncture, you take pictures of everyone flying past...


Picture 6, Stu Metcalf and I repairing a Boris bike puncture in the field.

Let the rain pour

Just before the second longest day (ie 150km), we experienced torrential rain.  The silver lining to this story was that this was the only day where I had fun.  Actual fun.  The handling and agility of the Boris bike in the wet was so amazing that I almost forgot about the pain!  


Picture 7, day of torrential rain turned out to be the one of the easiest!

At the brink of giving up

The lowest moment on the trip was day eight.  The penultimate day.  The last two days were the hilliest days of the entire trip.  The Boris bike does not do hills when it has to keep up with a peloton.  It is not built to go swiftly up a hill.  The pain was torture.  After that day, for the first time I wanted to give up cycling.  Ewa was surprised to hear me say that.  Earlier, Ewa explained there were three types of fun.  Type 1 fun is where you enjoy it, type 2 fun is where it is not fun while you are doing it but it is fun later upon reflection, and finally type 3 fun is where you almost die trying to make it fun.  Take a look at the picture below, it is at the top of a 2km climb.  The average gradient was 7% all the way.  Day eight for me was definitely type 3 fun.  I felt like a convict of the road, trapped. 


Picture 8, at the top of the 2km hill climb that had an average gradient of 7%.

Kraków

The last day could not have come sooner.  Day eight had almost broken me to the point that I never wanted to cycle again or even mount the Boris bike for the final day.  Having gone to bed earlier than everyone and with a good nights rest under my eyes, the weather was sunny and wind appeared to be blowing elsewhere. 

There were hard hills, there were lonely times on this day, two special people stuck with me on this last day and exhausted themselves.  When we rolled towards and into Kraków and it was the best 10km of my life.  For some reason the last 10km did not hurt at all.  All I wanted to do was to thank everyone who had leant me their wheel or encouraged me to follow their pace.  Everyone on the ride helped me.  Everyone on the ride helped me break the record.  Everyone who rode this year should be proud to be part of this great achievement.

Picture 9, riders of Cycle Poland 2015.

Thank you all for your support and help. 

Picture 10, Boris one and Boris two.  I'll love and hate these bikes forever.

GPS data

Day 1 Gdańsk to Morąg 
1/4 https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/812344254 

2/4 https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/812344553 

3/4 https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/812344609 

4/4 https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/812344653 

Day 2 Morąg to Ruciane Nida 
1/2 https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/812345068 

2/2 https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/812345142
 
Day 3 Ruciane Nida to Supraśl 
1/4 https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/812345429 

2/4 https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/812345491 

3/4 https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/812345545 

4/4 https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/812345628 

Day 4 Supraśl to Siematycze 
1/4 https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/812345976 

2/4 https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/812346025

3/4 https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/812346077 

4/4 https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/812346154 

Day 5 Siematycze to Firlej 
1/1 https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/812346582 

Day 6 Firlej to Kazimierz Dolny 
1/2 https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/812346823 

2/2 https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/812346900 

Day 7 Kazimierz Dolny to Kolbuszowa 
1/1 https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/812347181 

Day 8 Kolbuszowa to Grybów 
1/2 https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/812347370 

2/2 https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/812347419 

Day 9 Grybów to Kraków 
1/2 https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/812347584

2/2 https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/812347631

Contacts
Alina Foundation: [email protected] // +44 (0) 1494 812342
Prasan Modasia: [email protected] // +44 (0) 7907 093647
Donation link: http://bit.ly/BorisBike1000 
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