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As promised last week, I’ll tackle the first question that was asked. This one came from Victoria on Twitter and she wanted to know:
What do you do when things go wrong?
The very short answer actually comes from the boy scouts: always be prepared. However, there are different kinds of ‘preparedness’: physical, mental and logistical.
The obvious one should be physical preparedness. You do all your training to be physically prepared for whatever it is you are planning to do. You hopefully have a training plan of some sort and build yourself up to your goal. This should be fairly straightforward and logical.
The more subtle ones are the logistical and mental preparedness. With logistical preparedness I mean checking your kit, sorting your travel and your devices, knowing your route, knowing train stations. All the things that need to be in place to make your ride happen. Mental preparedness is your ability to focus, step back and evaluate situations rationally and based on the evidence make decisions.
So here’s an example, which is actually what happened on my ride last weekend. Get your highlighter pen out and see what types of (un)preparedness you spot.
After many weeks spent on the turbo, I was out on my first ride outside, a nice rolling 60 miles, nothing too strenuous. I had left a bit late because I struggled with my Garmin to get it to upload the route, and then at the start found it hadn’t uploaded the route. I had printed the cue sheet, so decided to ride after that. It just meant stopping frequently to check I was still on course. Along the ride I picked up signposts for the sportive the next day and followed them.
At 4pm I noticed I was on the wrong route, I was on the 80 miles instead of the 60. Google maps revealed, there was a quick way along the A road to Billingshurst, which would eventually get me back onto my route.
4.30pm in Billingshurst. I knew sunset was at 5.30pm. I had 3 options:
I wasn’t going to sacrifice the ride, besides on the A-road I would make my way quickly to Haywards Heath. Or so I thought.
5.30pm. I am in the middle of the woods, miles from anywhere but just about to pick up the A272. I have 2 options go right to Billingshurst (5 miles) and take the train or go left 14 miles to Haywards Heath. I had no lights apart from a little red rear blinker.
The smart thing would’ve been to go to Billingshurst, clearly, but I had my heart set on Haywards Heath. It went downhill from there. I ended up in the pitch black, channelling my inner McGyver constructing a make shift light with my bento box and my phone, which got me to the next petrol station 2 miles from Haywards Heath, where finally I called it quits and phoned a taxi!
Be prepared.
This does not mean that you become a totally frenzied, panicky person over all the things that could potentially happen. It just means to increase your awareness and your ability to access back up plans when needed.
So, next time you go out, don’t be a numpty like me. Prepare, get yourself ready and then you’ll be in good stead when things go wrong.
Cheerio until next time.
Happy training,
Christine
#askthegoat