Takeaways from the Big Ride Part 1

 

It is Sunday afternoon. Two days since I returned home ill from my abruptly-ended Big Ride for Kolkata. I still feel pretty unwell. Nauseous, lacking in strength and about 50% of my normal energy. My mind still feels befuddled and reality feels a step removed. It least I am holding my food down.

I have done little over the last 48 hours but rest. A couple of short walks from which I returned exhausted. At least I have an appointment with the GP on Monday morning, and we can see what treatment I need to recover. I have been using the weekend to catch up (in a basic way) on correspondence. There has been an avalanche of this. People have been so kind and caring, with messages coming from around the world. Many people who I have never met. I am so grateful to you all for your care and metta. Thank you.

My mental states are largely fine. I am not able to meditate very effectively at present so I am doing puja. My community is supportive. I feel confident I shall recover from this and be back to my normal life before long.

I have also had time to reflect on my 10 day, 420 mile bike ride. Here are a few points that I have concluded.

1) I made a mistake in doing the trip solo. Doing everything independently and not burdening others tends to be my style - for better or worse. That's OK if you stay healthy. I was very organised with this trip but I didn't take into account the possibility of having a serious crash or getting ill. Both real possibilities, and both happened to me. Being ill away from home with a loaded bike is a difficult place to independently deal with. 

2) I want to complete the trip next Spring. My desire to cycle the length of the country is not deminished. Probably John O'Groats down to Wales. This time I will do it with someone backing me up with a vehicle. My brother has offered to do this with a camper van. I want to take him up on it. 

3) Despite my getting ill, the point of the project is to raise money for Triratna Kolkata. We have been successful in that. Nearly £14K so far. That will make a big difference to activities in West Bengal. Money goes further there. Also we have recently had a bequest for the project, a sculpture by Meera Mukherjee, the late, famous Bengali sculptor. This sculpture is ours to auction at Christie's or Sotheby's, and is likely to fetch good money which will greatly help the project. A fantastic thing to have happened.

4) I find I don't feel upset or bothered at only completing a third of the Big Ride. Initially I did feel dissappointed. But now I feel tranquil about it. It is what it is.

5) Britain has so much beauty. I saw so much of this on my 10-day ride. I knew it was there, but a bike gives you the ideal, in-depth way of seeing that beauty.

6) I really enjoy cycling and want to continue doing lots more of it. At my time of life, it is the ideal way of keeping fit, getting around and keeping interested in my environment.

7) Cycling in a 10-day heatwave is very challenging. I did everything right: covering up, sunscreen, hydration nand electrolytes relpacement tablets, drinking lots of water (3 litres a ride), and sensible resting. Even so, the melting tarmac, the sunglare, the energy-sapping effect of the intense heat took me to the edge of my endurance. I discovered I am fitter, stronger and more resilient than I thought I was. Even so, I shall not do another big ride in summer, and I shall not do it solo.

8) I met some lovely people. I expected this to be the case with the Order members I stayed with and with my family, and of course, they were. What I didn't expect was to meet so many lovely members of the general public who took an interest in me, were generous to me and were good to talk to. I met some great people. Fellow LEJOG-ers all say the same thing. You meet so many nice people in Britain.

9) Britain has a massive traffic problem. Along with the rest of the world, probably. There is now so much traffic on the road. UK roads are not in good repair, I noticed. We are so car-dependent for everything. We are encouraged to cycle more, and of course, I agree with that. It is easy to do that in Cambridge, but not the case in Cornwall! Cornwall has narrow, busy roads with twisty bits and steep hills. Who wants to cycle in that? It is also the case in so much of the rest of the country. I don't know what the solution is. But on this ride, I really saw the reality of our traffic-mad little country. We have built our lives around the car. When the climate apocalypse comes in future decades, we may not be able to use cars in the same way as today.

10) SatNavs are a wonderful thing. I have a Garmin bike SatNav and it faithfully got me where I needed to go without any fuss. No need for lots of physical maps. What incredible technology it is.