One whole hour without stopping

In another hooray for me moment… I just cycled for one whole hour. Without stopping! Who would have thought that was possible!!

I decided yesterday, while taking a day off from riding that I needed to build endurance rather than just focusing on speed. So I set myself a target of an hour of cycling with no target distance.

Goal setting is key? Right? That is what they say on the TV when interviewing famous sports people. So now I have my goal. They also go on about preparation. I believe that may be the second key.

So ever one to leverage the experience and insights of others, I undertook an intensive program to prepare. In the 20 hours between setting my goal and the achieving my goal (did I mention hooray for me??) I was totally focused on my objective.

Let me share my preparation with you. 

1. Get up, make coffee and do three loads of washing
2. Make waffles for breakfast for my beautiful boys
3. Clean up after breakfast
4. Make coffee
5. Go shopping for a birthday present for the sleepover Hugh is going to
6. Get my eyebrows threaded (highly recommended if you have never done it) because I have to look fabulous tonight… but more about that later
7. Buy two books for my boys as a reward for being well behaved last week… they were awesome… as long as I ignore all of the bits where they weren't!
8. Come home and make lunch because as usual when I walk in the door, before I have put down my keys, someone always announces that they are hungry. I know right?
9.  Try on evening gowns for big red carpet Hollywood party tonight. Oh dear, they were all fabulous a few pounds ago. I hate that closet shrinkage! There must be a product which stops expensive fabrics from shrinking while left on the closet… must investigate
10. Drop boys off at sleepover party. Hamish is just visiting for a couple of hours because it is a Nerf Gun party and the big boys need targets! So younger siblings are being paid to be targets. What a fabulous idea!!
11. Rush to the only store near me to purchase fabulous frock for red carpet Hollywood party with my stylist Paul. Need to leave in 1 ½ hours and currently have not done my hair and do not have a frock. But at least my eyebrows look fabulous! So at least there is no pressure!
12. Find fabulous frock by an Australian designer Lisa Brown at a wonderful little boutique called Milk and Honey. It is a little bit long, but luckily I have the most fabulous pair of suede boots which make me nearly as tall as Paul – that is a difference of nearly 10 inches. Note to self, do not wear boots while driving. May end badly!
13. Get home and get fabulous. Can’t do usual ritual of having a glass of champagne while beautifying… have I mentioned Paul is not coming as he is flying to San Francisco tonight. Feel’s weird. I can’t believe he hasn't booked me a car service so I don’t have to drive and can arrive on the red carpet in style. I know right?
14. Paul goes and collects Hamish from party having finished is target duties. Luckily despite the rain he is still moderately l clean, so off we go!
15. Arrive at party. Fabulous, fabulous, fabulous. Met by the Paparazzi, had a wonderful night. Great food, great company. Won 2 Oscars. Hooray for me again! Collected one on behalf of Paul. Photos will follow!
16. Drove home with Hamish and tucked up in bed by midnight… just.

So this morning after a surprising little sleep-in and collecting Hugh from the wonderful sleepover.. if you are not a parent of kids a certain age. A sleepover is the best birthday party in the world. The parents love you because you get a night off. Bliss.

Anyway, back to my preparation and goal.

So this morning I headed down to the studio and started cycling. I thought my beautiful boys might come down to the studio to cheer me on and give me encouragement when it all got a bit too hard for me… as it now doubt would, despite my intensive preparation… They felt that it would be more beneficial for me if they spent the time playing computer games… they are in the middle of launching a rocket into space and trialing different fuel cells and centers of thrust and centers of gravity.. as you do. So I left them to their important scientific endeavors.

So I was in the studio with all of my friends… not even any web bots for company.. and I did it! One whole hour and I traveled.. wait for it… prepare to be amazed… 19.6 km. That is way higher than I was expecting. So excited!

So for all of the glass is half full people -   I traveled just less than half of my shortest cycling day on my adventure… BUT I prefer to look at life the other way up!

To digress, a great quote from Paul… “The glass is not half full, and nor is it half empty, you have twice as much glass as you need!”

The lesson I am taking away from this is… set your goal, prepare to achieve your goal and you may surprise yourself with what you can achieve!

I can totally do this!

W x