Shaving your head doesn’t make you go any faster, trust me.

So, we started pitching to a few companies. When I say we I mean Mark. I have no idea how to do it, wouldn’t know where to start! I’ll learn as we go. I’ve already learnt a lot about creating websites. With me, I’m very ‘scared’ (I think is the fitting word) to fail in the academic side of things… So having mates there to help you and teach you is really my approach to learning. Anyway, that’s a side story, we are waiting to hear back from them, fingers crossed!

On the website, I’ve transferred the route I’d made into a more readable detailed excel spreadsheet about the ride and the exact locations we should be each day. I suppose you could say my predictions. So I expect leaving from Steep Point on the 2nd of August by mid-December in 2021 I should be in Sydney. Now, I just need to work out how to put it on the web and have the ability to change it on a day to day basis. Also, I’ve got to plan further ahead, when to leave from Sydney to head up north, got to get the timing right because I don’t want to head up too early and have to wait around until after the Wet. I’m thinking at this stage about the 20th or so of January 2022 but will see, I’ve got some time to think about it. 

Talking about academic learning, I’ve started back at uni, I’m surprisingly liking the subject. Social Bases of Health: Global Perspective. It’s basically about the determinants of health. One of the assessments (last week for me) you get to do a creative output piece eg infographic or a poster but I’ve chosen to make it into a rap song about SES (socio-economic status), the social gradient, and health inequalities in regards to health promotion. With the topic being, you probably could have guessed, stroke! I’ll keep you posted on how I go in the next blogs I do.  

On the human-powered vehicle, I did the retest (Goal 3) outdoors, and my view is I SMASHED IT! From memory was something like 14.8km’s per hour average, It was certainly one of my more positive tests. So now it’s just maintenance, steady-state. It should be easy right? It won’t be I’ll tell you that right now! I need stimulus or my mental strength weakens dramatically. So I’m just going to mix it up, like this week my goal will be 100km cumulative throughout the week and next week I’ll spin the bottle and see where it lands. 

It’ll hopefully keep me motivated enough and I’m hoping that in turn, it’ll keep my emotions at bay.

What am I feeling ‘right now’? 

Pretty steady-state to be honest, nothing to get me really worried about, that’s a good thing! That’ll probably change when I head towards the last weeks of uni block cause I have the rap song due, we will have to see. As they say in the classics ‘only time will tell’!

Alright, as always. To follow for more content see the links at bottom of the site.

Anyway じゃあまたね

Means ‘see you later’ in Japanese

Whose accepting who?

So what’s been happening?

Quite a bit has been happening, I got a mention in the New Daily online paper (the link is on the FB page), that was awesome and the person who wrote my story was fantastic at it! As well as a lovely person in general, really enjoyed it! 

Along with the online paper I released a youtube clip last week where I was talking about social inclusion and the way I see perception/judgment of me. See bottom and click on ‘Should we judge a bike rider by his or her bike’.

But a few minutes ago, fresh off the upload of YouTube!

I’m talking about acceptance and the old school days, it’s a big topic again, I have just scraped the surface so I will dive a bit deeper at a later point, as I’m going back to university for my last two units, EVER! It’s been six years, it’s been a very long time. Too long when I think about it...

So what’s been happening on the old trikey and my mini goal’s?

The first-week target was met with probably too much ease although because of COVID I’ve had to rearrange my training schedule. “You need to balance yourself”, well that’s what I keep telling myself! Anyway, the 750m elevation was met and then last week it was the Goal 1 checkpoint to see if could do 50kms for three consecutive days. I certainly completed the checkpoint but I will tell you my butt will never be the same! The amount of glute DOMS…. I’m only just getting over it.

I still can do Goal 3 both the one-hour max efforts on the roller (later today) and outdoor normal riding. However, in regards to Goal 2 that’ll have to be rescheduled to a later date as I’ll need to have more time to complete Goal 2 checkpoint, two hours is not enough to do 500m in one sitting! So the question is where to next and I think it would just be wise to do a maintenance period while I get through uni. I’m thinking something along the lines of one 50km ride per week and some hills, a bit of mixed combo but we will see how we go week by week.

As I’ve been training I’ve started weighing myself before and after the rides or exercise. The reason why I’m doing this is to work out roughly how much water I’m losing, in turn, I can work out how much I need to replenish. It’s been working well, haven’t been super strict on it, I’ll put more effort in as my training increases.

So what’s on for the next two?

Uni like I’ve said and the maintenance programme. As well as that so-called hectic schedule, trying to promote the ride whether it’s content on social media or having a passing conversation down the street. We are also hoping to hear back from some of the companies that we have approached regarding sponsorship. Another thing is creating the PowerPoints for the talks I will be doing on the journey as I’ve had a little bit interest already in Melbourne. Ideally some of these talks would be done before we depart.

How am I feeling like at the moment…? 

To be honest, I’m feeling like I’m fluctuating a lot. For example, I’m believing I can do this when I’d done the third day of the 50km ride. In my mind, I was like “yep I got this, It’s going to be EASY As” and then the next day I’m really not sure whether I can do it. It’s certainly going to be one of those mental games on the ride and leading up to it! I think I really need to set some mini-mini-goals to maintain my level of fitness and build my motivation, so I don’t have as much work to do when I return to serious training.

I have to mention the generosity of people who have donated already and I’m only in the training phase, it truly is fantastic!

Until next time (around the 5th),s check out the FB and Insta just below this to get daily content.

Should we judge a bike rider by his or her bike?

This is just a quick entry in regards to my feelings about being judged. The film covers a few topics, so strap yourself in!