New Year's Resolution

I am sure, along with millions of others tonight, I will be making some new year's resolutions, some of which I hope I will keep and others which I probably will not. 

Three years ago I made a new year's resolution to get my lardy ass into gear and get myself fit. I didn't want to be a fat 50 year old. So, as you may have read in my other blogs, I took up cycling and it became part of my life. Against the protestations of my wife and family I commuted into work whenever I could (in most cases this worked out three or four times a week, therefore averaging 60 to 80 miles a week, 100 miles if I managed all five days). This, along with training for a London to Paris Charity ride, got me as fit as I had been in many years. I lost shedloads of weight and felt so much healthier all round.

Now, as I write this blog on New Year's Eve 2014, I have plunged into new levels of unfitness, so much so that I do not want to step on the bathroom scales (at least while I am wearing anything that might add to the weight!) and I dread to try on my 34" waist suit trousers that I have just taken to the cleaners as a delay tactic. I don't want to shave off my beard incase my double chin is just too horrific. Yes I know it's vain but I never said I wasn't!

"So what went wrong, Paul?" I hear you say. "You were so svelte and so fit just two years ago. How can you have let it all go?" I made up the question (especially the word svelte, to try to give me something to go for!). But yes I fear I have 'let it all go' and I am wracked with self-loathing and regret for doing so. And now I need to do something about it. Either that or my wardrobe of 'slim fit' shirts (that I was so delighted to be told by the staff member in Charles Tyrwhitt I qualified for) will be consigned to the charity shop - and that I cannot afford.

But it's easy to 'let it all go'. It is amazing how quickly you can lose fitness and put on weight. 

It all started during my last few weeks (or was it months?) where I was unhappy in my job, and it was simply easier to catch public transport than to cycle into work. And probably because I was fed up I'd have a cheeky beer in the evening, or maybe a glass or two of wine, not to mention the crisps and sweets to munch on or maybe some popcorn (it's healthy isn't it!). 

Then I went on holiday for two weeks in October and did very little but eat and drink  - I am sure I'd read somewhere that the Mediterranean diet was good for me!! 

Then, when I got back, to work my employer had moved office to central London (from Vauxhall) and the route seemed so complicated and congested so I got my 'feet under the desk' for a bit before I half-heartedly cycled in half a dozen times. Then finally I changed job to work for the British Red Cross, who are based near Moorgate. Again I waited to get my 'feet under the desk' for a couple of weeks (you know, find out where the showers are, where I can store my clothes, etc.) so I think I've cycled about 8 times in all in two months - it is quite a trek at 14 miles each way. Then it was the Christmas party season, the roads were icy or wet and there was no 'reason' to cycle. 

The rest is history. But I am now back where I started three years ago. At least it feels that way, but I would like to think I could still cycle back from the bike shop without getting out of breath! I thinkI am still a bit fitter and I think my cardio vascular system is in better nick. But heh the ride to work next week will be the test.

So, when you are making your resolutions tonight, send me some positive energy and help me out a bit to achieve my goal to get fit again. I don't want to be Chris Froome I just want to avoid the dreaded 'middle age spread' that my parents used to complain about.  I promise if you do so that I will get back to writing the inspiring and motivating 'The Blogging Cyclist' and 'The Charity Coach' Blogs that you tell me you like!

Have a wonderful 2015, and get out there on your bikes soon.

Superhighway to Hell or Superhighway to Heaven?

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, proudly launched the Barclays Cycle Superhighway scheme in 2010. Armed with £50 million of corporate cash over 8 years to deliver a radial (sadly not radical!) network of cycle routes into central London, he must have thought he was on to a winner. With a modest aim to increase cycling in London by 400% and the equally modest ambition that 5% of all journeys in London would be by bike by 2026, he must have thought that he had a quicker win than kicking an ageing Ken Livingstone's mayoral ambitions into the long grass would be just two years later.

But just how transformative have the cycle superhighways been? So far four out of the planned 12 routes have been opened. Transport for London (TFL) claim that there are more cyclists as a result. They say that cycling has increased by 46% along my local route, CS7, three quarters of whom are commuters. They also claim that the average journey time has been reduced by 5%, and that 80% feel safer by using the Cycle Superhighway.

I am a daily user of CS7, which runs from Merton to the City, although I leave the 'highway' at the so-called 'Stockwell Gyratory System'. I have to say that whilst cycling has certainly transformed my life and my daily commute, and that having the Superhighway there certainly encouraged me to cycle to work, I am left somewhat disappointed by the route. 

I don't want to completely rain on the Mayor's parade. Don't get me wrong I think he has done much to promote cycling as a serious travel option, and the recent Ride London initiative was clearly a huge success. The Cycle Superhighways were a bold initiative and present London as a city that supports cycling for green and health reasons. But if I were the teacher marking Boris Johnson's school report, I would probably make the comment 'could do better.'

So why am I disappointed? 

The sponsorship by Barclays presented a great opportunity to do something really good for cycling. We are all used to corporate sponsorship for public initiatives and most of us can completely see the benefit of funding public projects in this way. But given that £80 million was never going to change the world, why stop at Barclays? Why not look at other corporate sponsors to do something really good. After all, in the depth of the recession, if Barclays could afford such large sums, why could not others be persuaded?

At the end of the day, the Cycle Superhighways are just a bit of blue paint on the road. If a car, bus, taxi or truck is going to cut me up it will do. Apart from awareness raising and perception changing, the majority of non-cycling road users do not understand cyclists and their behaviour, good or bad. I have to suffer the daily dangers of drivers trying to beat me to a left turn, pulling over for emergency vehicles without a glance in their side mirrors or pulling out from the kerb without checking to their right. Cycle Superhighways will never change this.

Secondly there seems to be no attempt to maintain the routes. On our ever potholed roads, every time a pothole is filled on the Cycle Superhighway, a bit of the Barclays blue seems to die. In one section near Clapham the blue has all but worn away. One wonders whether sustainability was ever built into the plans. Or was that left to local authorities without any advance warning.

Thirdly, I don't believe we will ever see truly safe cycling until cyclists are separated from motorised road users. Even motor-cyclists (yes I used to be one!) are an absolute danger to cyclists, especially when they use the Cycle Superhighway to get past static traffic.

Fourthly I do wonder whether the much-heralded growth in cycling in London (and elsewhere) is a result of the massive successes achieved by Team GB in the Olympics and Wiggins and Froome in the Tour de France, as well as a genuine desire on the part of the british people to be more active and green, combined with an ever-growing despondency with our failing public transport infrastructure. 

Fifthly (and somewhat more flippantly) @MayorofLondon has never once responded to my Tweets on this subject! I'll try once more when I publish this blog!

So in answer to the question posed in the title of this blog: riding down CS7 through Tooting, it sometimes does feel like AC/DC's proverbial Highway to Hell, as I am forced to skid to yet another halt by another crap driver not seeing me. Yet at the same time I feel glad to be able to be a cyclist, glad to have that option to get to work, glad that I live in a city that is commutable by bike. So yes, sometimes, just sometimes, CS7 does seem a more 'heavenly' option than the alternative, which for me is the northern Line.

Why three bikes are better than one!

I suppose as a relative newcomer to the world of cycling (I have only been seriously cycling since May 2011) you could put my enthusiasm for riding bikes down to novelty. Whenever you take on a new hobby, it is easy to come a bit obsessed and I suppose I have done that with golf in the past. There was a time when nothing would get in the way of a round of golf, nor from constantly searching ebay and golf shops for the next item of equipment! I still love golf but I am not playing as often as I was, I almost never buy new equipment and I don't like playing in bad weather.

Is this down to my new obsession for cycling? Well possibly but I don't think so. There is time in my life for both interests as well as my need to spend quality time with my wife, family and friends. But there is something different about cycling. I am beyond the stage of wanting to constantly buy new clothing and equipment. I simply don't have any more drawer space for cycle jerseys, bib shorts or waterproofs. I normally delete the daily emails from Wiggle, Evans, Edinburgh Bicycles, Planet X and all the rest as I have neither the time nor money to look at them. I even read my Cycling Active magazine with less eagerness than I used to, because apart from upgrading my lights in the autumn, there is not really anything I need.

But nothing will stop me being excited every time I open my bike shed and seeing my three bikes safely locked up and ready to ride! I use my bikes mainly for commuting these days, although I do have the occasional weekend or weekday pleasure ride if I have the time. I have no plans to take up cycle racing (too old!), no plans to join a cycle club (don't like cliques!) or to do anything but the occasional sportive (Note to self: see if I can get a place on Ride London 2014) but I just love the flexibility I have with three different types of bike. I always joke to my wife about getting a fourth, as I don't own a proper off-road bike, but I am only half joking. There is room in my shed!

But why do I need three bikes? Or to re-ask the question at the top of this blog, why are three bikes better than one? The simple answer to the first question is I don't need three bikes, I have three bikes because I can. But the answer to the second question is more straightforward. Having three different bikes gives me flexibility, even if I use them all for commuting. It is ideal to have a choice of bikes for different uses and conditions and if one bike needs fixing I will aways have an alternative.

Bike 1 is a Specialized Sirrus hybrid. It is the basic model, and it was my first 'born again cyclist' bike. I bought it when I had no idea that this was going to become a passion and obsession. It is black, has mudguards and a bell. It is not exciting. But it is great for wet days when I need more grip on the roads, if I want to ride through the park on my way to work and it is comfortable and sturdy without being too heavy. It is a triple speed so I have a range of gears, so if I do want to go up some hills or get some speed on the downhill I can. It is great for winter riding, but I don't use it in the summer.

Bike 2 is my road bike. It is a Ridley EOS upper-entry level model that cost me about £900 two years ago. It is the bike I used to do my London to Paris ride last year and I use it it for longer rides and to commute to work when I want to go fast or when it is windy and I need to be lower. It has an alloy frame with carbon forks, and I have upgraded the wheels to Mavic OpenPro with 105 hubs. I have no intention of buying a carbon frame bike at the moment, and I love this bike. It is light and nimble, and the frame is great quality, and the full Tiagra gear and brake set does the job.

Bike 3 is a single speed/ fixie although I never use it on fixed gear. I bought it new on ebay and it is a limited edition Chrome-Moly Specialized Langster in a chrome finish. I have taken off the track-style drops and fitted flat bars, which give me a far more comfortable riding position. I changed the saddle initially for a Selle Rolls vintage style mount, but it was too hard so I have instead fitted a Charge Spoon saddle which I also have on my Ridley road bike. It is super-comfortable. I love this bike because it looks great (even with raceblade mudguards which I take off when it's dry), and I do not have to worry about gears or maintenance. A single speed for commuting is ideal and it keeps me fitter, because I have to stay in the same gear for hills! I bought this bike initially as a bit of a fashion thing (at my age!!), but it is now my favourite bike for commuting and popping to the shops. It is a just a great bike. I love overtaking the roadies on it too, as it has great acceleration. It makes me feel young!

So that is why I have three bikes. I am not a show-off nor particularly materialistic. It just makes sense!

Let me know what you think!

How do raise over £2000 for a charity cycle ride with the minimum of effort

Yes I admit it! I am a MAMIL! A middle aged man in lycra who rides an expensive road bike (one of three bikes I own!) mainly for commuting, but also on the occasional longer foray out into the Surrey hills. In fact I have been known to ride up Box Hill on the odd occasion- yes that's the one that thousands of other like me regularly hold up the traffic on a Sunday morning in a vein attempt to emulate their hero Sir Bradley Wiggins. But I don't do this because I think I look good in unfeasibly tight clothing (not possible unless you have the physique of an Olympian!) or because I am going through some middle age crisis (I did that when I bought a motor bike some years ago, now the proud property of some other middle aged geezer I am sure!). I do it because I love cycling, I love the freedom it gives me on my commute. I can now get to work (10 miles ride) in well under an hour and be sitting at my desk by 8.15, having had a shower, and with a nice coffee and a bowl of Oatso Simple in front of me. I also do it because it keeps me fit; I have lost two inches from my waistline and a couple of stone over the past two years. Can't complain about that can I!

That's enough self indulgence, but I hope you can tell I am passionate about cycling! In fact apart from moving to the charity sector over 20 years ago and meeting my wife just before that, cycling is by far the best thing I have ever done! What I really wanted to do in this blog is tell you about how I successfully fundraised for a London to Paris cycle ride I completed last August in aid of ChildHope, the children's charity I am a trustee of (soon to be Chair). I like to think I did this efficiently, effectively with the minimum of effort, but in a way that respected and valued my supporters. www.childhope.org.uk

I have been a trustee of ChildHope for almost three years. Whilst I make a monthly donation via payroll giving and the occasional one off donation, buy Christmas cards, sponsor people occasionally, etc. I thought I was not doing enough. As I had just taken up cycling, I signed up for an open challenge event with Discover Adventure, almost a year before the event itself. I figured this would give me plenty of time to get fit (cycling 300 miles over 4 days was something I had never dreamt I could have achieved!) and to start fundraising (I thought this might be a challenge). I knew I did not have the time or the patience to be doing cake bakes, boot sales, street collections or selling my body (that might have raised 10p!), but I did want to raise a reasonable amount of money. I thought £2,000 would be reasonable and achievable.

So how did I go about this, given that I have no rich friends or family members, and wanted to spend more time on getting fit than raising money?The getting fit bit was the easy one. I enjoy cycling, so I cycled into work as often as I could (the 2011/12 winter was appalling if you remember, so this was not as often as I would have liked), I bought a rowing machine that now sits proudly in the spare bedroom, and I took part in two sportive events. I ate carefully and tried not to drink much alcohol. I did not stick to my training plan but I knew I had the fitness to complete the ride. The fundraising bit was the thing that scared me more. Even though I have raised millions as a professional fundraiser over the years, this was different and I knew it would require careful planning.

I drew up a table of gifts. I know this sounds ridiculous for two thousand quid, but it really helped. I knew my maximum level donations were going to be probably £100 and I knew the minimum might be a fiver or a tenner. I worked out how many gifts at each level I would need to reach my £2000 target. In fact I set my target at £1600 on my JustGiving page so that I knew could beat it!

I then drew up a list of everyone I know, family, friends, neighbours, contacts and everyone I have worked with in the past, including two chairs of committees I have worked with in previous jobs with whom I am still in touch. I figured they might be at the top of my gift table! I emailed all of these contacts asking for their support for me and ChildHope. I posted the fact that I was doing the ride on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. I put a footer at the bottom of my work email. I talked about the ride with everyone I came into contact with.

At Christmas I sold ChildHope christmas cards at work and pledged to match the value of the cards with a donation to my fund. I sold things on ebay that I did not want and that I would not miss. This generated a couple of hundred pounds. But by far the majority of my money came in by my email campaign.

What was interesting was the way the money came in. As I have already said, my 'major gift' amounts were £50 and £100. I was surprised and delighted by the number of these I got from people who I really do not know that well! By far the bulk of my income came from the £10 and £20 donations but it was the bigger donations that were the ones that made the difference! 20 £50 donations are a far quicker way of generating £1000! I was also surprised by those who do not give! This included friends and colleagues I thought I could count on. I did not take this personally; I think many people just forget to give, even though they have every intention of doing so.

Every donation I received I wrote a personalised email. I did not think that the automated email generated by JustGiving was sufficient. I wanted my donors to feel really good about supporting me. And I actually got feedback from several that they really liked getting the personalised email!

When I had completed the ride (different blog, different time) I wrote to all my donors with a detailed description of the ride and reiterated the difference their donation would make to the children ChildHope work with. Of course I also sent them a copy of the picture of me standing in front of the Eiffel Tower, biker aloft! Again I got good feedback on this letter.

All in all I raised £2500 for ChildHope. I was proud of what I had achieved and the difference this will make to our beneficiaries. I was proud that, as a trustee, I had done something that many of my peers had not yet done.

NB: This blog also appears in my other blog: www.thecharitycoach.blogspot.co.uk