Fail

So let’s just get this done. My name is Paul and I FAILed my 2020 Resolution Ride Challenge.

At the back end of last year fellow blogger tempocyclist came up with the unique challenge to undertake a 100km ride every calendar month. Great idea. Just twelve rides. It resonated with me, it was achievable, so I decided to give it a go. Simple right?

I hijacked the idea and after I rode my first one in January and coined the title ‘Resolution Ride’ it became a thing a couple of us rider/blogger types undertook for the year.

All of my Resolution Rides are here

Each month we’d post about that month’s ride and all was going well until COVID and the pandemic indirectly messed it all up for me.

So COVID-19 spread and it became a pandemic. My holiday in March was curtailed for the last week (lost a week of proper gravel riding in Fuertaventura). Then I got home and had to stay home to work. Literally everybody in the country wanted a bike and the company I was working for decided to close down, I was up for redundancy and the shit hit the fan. Overselling bikes that didn’t exist, unable to cope with the volume of business coming in and no one gave a shit until it was too late. This took a toll on me and aswell as losing my mojo for a few things including riding my bike, it ended on a sour note and I left under a cloud but the good news is I got a new job. I had missed some rides but I vowed to get back on it and complete a symbolic 12 for the year.

I managed to bag a couple of rides back to back on a three day tour to Torquay which was probably the highlight of my cycling year but then they dried up bar one on my new Dolan GXA bike.

So here I am. End of the year and I’ve done 9 out of 12. Why? No excuses really I could have knuckled down and got them done but I guess work, the new job and commuting by bike became a priority. I couldn’t physically achieve both as my weekends were with my lad or recovery. Something had to give and the Rezza rides were it I’m ashamed to say.

Two things I’ve found out this year are that, firstly, riding an extra 20-30 min each way on a commute physically counts and carrying all your luggage although fine, takes longer and is physically harder too. It has taken a while to adjust and find a balance. At the moment I’m on 3 rides a week, 2 days off in between them. The job itself requires more driving too sadly. Finding time to ride 100km in between driving, riding to work, recovery and family has been hard to do and with my job set to change again with another store coming under my wing in early 2021 I need to face the reality, riding may have to be little and often with just an occasional event or tour.

So I have no idea what next year will bring now but this year, although ending positively in part, for my cycling it’s been pretty shit in terms of distance and rides completed. Failing the Resolution Ride challenge has just put the nail in the 2020 coffin.

Happy New Year people.