Team Brewin Dolphin Training Blog
Karen Hammond - Brewin Dolphin Business Manager
14 weeks until race day…
An email entitled “Brewin Dolphin London to Paris….” pops into my inbox one Friday afternoon, I’ve been looking for something to challenge me and maybe this would be it I thought so I put my name in the ballot and gained a place! With only 14 weeks till the race, I needed to get training but first things first I needed to buy a bike. Having not owned a bike for a few years I set to researching, wrote a list of what I need and after a weekend running around bike shops I purchased a bike, the realisation of cycling on London roads then hits me and walked the bike the 5 miles or so home from central London, training would start the following weekend!
13 weeks until race day….
Having bought a bike it was now time to start training, my plan for training is a mix between spinning classes at the gym and getting out on the roads to start to build the miles up and get used to spending a long time sat on a saddle.
Saturday morning I headed off for my first trip out on London roads and headed to Richmond Park. Having made it to the park, I cycled though one of the gates to find lots of other cyclist cycling round the park, this was a little daunting at first although as I headed off round the park and tackled the first hill, straggling a little against the wind I heard another cyclist say “nearly at the top” which was great encouragement for future training!
10 weeks until race day….
After a couple of weeks gaining confidence around Richmond Park, it was time to take on a longer distance and also to start to get some training in on hill climbs. On a foggy Saturday morning I headed off through Surrey and up to Box Hill. The ride was tough going although it did give me a chance to use the gears on the bike. Sadly the view from the top of box hill was masked by fog although after a total climb of 224m and 36miles completed, training is starting off well!
8 weeks until race day....
Cycling shoes – the less active (but equally as important) element of training for a mammoth cycling event!
Having been training in trainers for the last few weeks I thought it was time to try cycling shoes and after lots more research I purchased a pair, complete with cleats! Putting the shoes together with the cleats was fairly simple, changing the pedals over was slightly harder to do and after some frustration trying to remove them I took the bike and pedals to a local bike shop on the high street where a lovely man in their work shop changed them over for me. With my new pedals attached I walked the bike home to find somewhere safe to practice clicking in and out and to attempt my first ride.
4 weeks until race day....
Since signing up for L2P back in February my focus has been on the more practical side of cycling: like buying the bike, the cycling shoes and all the other gear you need to go riding. I’ve had many a conversation with colleagues and staff in cycle shops as well as reading great amounts of information on-line; all of which was very helpful (and still is). What I’d not really given much thought to was the psychological side of the task I’d taken on and the mind-set needed for an endurance event.
Having built up a reasonable level of fitness over the last few weeks from attending three sessions a week in the gym and riding up to 30 miles at the weekends, I decided to ramp up my training. The weekend just gone I’d planned a short ride on Saturday and a longer 40 miles route with a couple of other colleagues on Sunday which was to include a number of hill climbs.
Saturday morning I set off down to Richmond Park (a route I’ve come to know quite well now) and joined the many other cyclist who spend their weekends tracing the perimeter of the park. Although this week something felt different, I headed back home with just over 20 miles completed, feeling quite pleased with the distance covered for day 1. Sunday morning was an early start to meet my colleagues before the traffic got too busy, we headed off and the more we cycled the more something didn’t quite feel right… I seemed to have lost my confidence being out on the roads and just couldn’t get into the ride. As much as I tried and after 20 odds miles I headed to the nearest train station and caught the next train back into London leaving my colleagues to continue on; slightly deflated at not being able to continue and a brief moment of thinking ‘that’s it I’m never cycling again!’ I calmed down and steadied myself. This coming weekend is another opportunity to get out on the bike and my first experience of an organised event through the Surrey hills.
One of piece of advice I’ve been hearing is “get time in the saddle” and when it comes to the world of endurance cycling, never have truer words been said!
3 weeks until race day....
After last week’s loss of confidence on the roads I decided to go back to riding in trainers; having signed up to take part in my first organised sportive event. My main objective was to ensure that I completed the distance and also to prove to myself that I could climb hills without stopping (which on the whole I managed to do!).
The event a ‘Standard’ route of 77 miles and an elevation gain of 4589ft was going to be tough! I set off early on a slightly wet and windy Sunday morning with the hope that the weather would soon improve and with the first couple of hills completed the weather did improve and it turned out to be quite a pleasant day for cycling. I made good time to the first feeding station at just over 30 miles and enjoyed a flapjack and water before heading off to the next stop which was just over 11 miles. This part of the route was fairly level in comparison and so should allow for some good time to be made. A brief stop to let the riders on the Surrey Cycle Race pass by, which was amazing to see them all riding together at such speed and I made it to the second feed station in a slightly longer time than I would have hoped. I stopped for slightly longer at the second station after getting into a conversation with the helpers at the stop. The last 47 miles were going to tough especially as everyone needed to be back by 5pm and also included two killer hills, with one last feeding stop with 13 miles to go I still wasn’t making good time and after topping up on another flapjack I headed off for the final section. I made it just about half way up the first of the last two hills before stopping and walking the final part as I reached the top one of the organisers stopped and asked if I was OK and offered to take on me some of the way on the route by van. I was in two minds but had lost more time than I would have liked and at this stage was not going to complete the remaining route in time and so took the organiser up on his offer to be dropped off to complete the last three miles. I was pleased to have completed the majority of the route and proudly wore my medal back to the train station home.
With only a couple more weekends left I’m feeling confident that I’ll be able to complete the distant on the days and am starting to look forward to joining the event!
2 weeks until race race day....
After completing a good distance the previous weekend I was feeling a lot happier about the distances we’ll be cycling each day on the way to Paris. I had however cycled in trainers and I was determined not to give up on the cycling shoes as I definitely had noticed the difference when not cycling with them. Anyone I’d spoken to about the shoes had said you need to persevere and that falling over was inevitable no matter how experienced a rider you are. It was suggested that I try mountain bike cleats and pedals instead of road ones and with cleats and pedals changed over I set off through Surrey and completed just over 30miles and 750m of climbing, with each mile my confidence continued to grow and I’m feeling even happier that I’ll complete the distance in a reasonable time each day.
10 days until race day....
On Friday I had the opportunity to visit Cure Leukaemia and the Centre for Clinical Haematology in Birmingham to see all the good work that they do and also to hear about how the charity benefits from fundraising. The Centre is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year and on arriving at the clinic Professor Craddock CBE gave an overview of the research and the advances that have been made in the treatment of leukaemia over that time and also spoke about future advances which they are working towards to eradicate the disease within our lifetime. We also met Jaymz Goodman who is currently undergoing treatment for blood cancer and he spoke about how the charity is supporting and helping him through this stage of his life.
.jpg)
It’s clear when you walk around the Centre how dedicated all the team are in their work and the support that they offer to patients undergoing treatment. It is also clear that they are more than filling the space that they current occupy and there are plans to further expand the Centre so that more patients can be treated and the funds that we as cyclists are raising from taking part in this event will go some way to the Centre achieving this aim.
2 days until race day....
.jpg)
The last 14 weeks since I signed up for this event seem to have flown by and somehow it’s the week of the event itself. At this stage I’m feeling confident that I’ve done as much training as I can and am sure that everything that I’ve learnt in the last few weeks will be remembered at the right times throughout the rides!
With the arrival of the kit last week and a lovely sunny weekend I took the opportunity to do a short ride out on the bike to see what the kit was like and thankfully it seems fairly comfortable, whether I’ll be saying the same at the end of day 1 is to be seen. Now I guess it’s time to rest up before meeting in Greenwich Thursday morning.
Stephen Martin - Head of Brewin Dolphin's Glasgow office
I have to tell the team about my wee toes!
I had been confident about my winter training in the warmth of the spin class at a Glasgow Gym clocking up 3 or 4 one hours sessions a week (mostly!)
So, a wee 40 miler in Angus (Arbroath to Montrose then Brechin and back to Arbroath) would be a breeze and it was now Easter so we could be assured of a wee bit of warmth. Silly me.
Family in their bed, and off at 7am on Easter Monday- sun splitting the sky and the C class roads virtually empty and dry and no wind at all, accept a very mild haar coming in off the North Sea.
All going well except for my toes. I had left my overshoes in Glasgow as I was assured of a warm front hitting by Monday. Nothing of the sort.
After 5 minutes my feet and especially my toes were almost frozen. It could have been the Artic. 2 1/2 hrs later I had just about managed to cope with them but it was torture and, having been out in a few Scottish winters before, I was staying well clear of the shower on my return to base.
A full one hour later my toes were still Baltic but I eventually managed to navigate the shower but not without some pain.
Other than that a great ride through the amazing Angus countryside but I will never underestimate our brilliant Scottish weather again. My toes wont let me!
Alasdair Ronald - Divisional director of investment management, Brewin Dolphin Glasgow
When a group-wide e-mail was sent at the beginning of February regarding a London to Paris cycle, I thought “why not?” At 57 years of age, this would be my last “big challenge” and so I put my name forward. A couple of weeks later, I returned from a short break in the sun to hear that my application had been successful and suddenly realised that I would need to start some serious training. Although I had been going to the gym, I hadn’t been out on my bike since taking part in the Five Ferries Challenge in September 2014.
.jpg)
Serious work on the bike in the gym started in the third week of February and I took in some 40 mile cycles on my hybrid along a canal path at weekends. Having taken advice, I bought a new road bike early in March and then would go out most mornings for an hour and took in a 50 mile route on one day at the weekends. The route had a climb of over 300 metres so I was feeling optimistic.
But, as Robert Burns said “the best laid plans of mice and men gang aft agley”. In the middle of March I contracted a virus which I thought might last a few days. No panic, the Easter break was coming up – four days when I can get out and so some serious road work. Sadly the anticipated recovery failed to materialise, I had no energy, felt dreadful, stayed indoors and probably was awful company. As I write this, I am only too well aware that I have not been out on my bike for over 2 weeks.
Next week my colleagues and I have arranged a fund-raising event in the office and hope to add significantly to the sum of over £4,000 that has been raised already for Cure Leukaemia. It should be a good evening with cheese and wine and a guest speaker. I am looking forward to it. But much, much more I am looking forward to getting back out on my bile and getting sufficiently fit that I can take part in the event in May, knowing that I will complete it.
Stephen Jones - Brewin Dolphin Co-Head of Private Clients
Brought back down to earth with a bump – on it’s not all about my lack of fitness!
One of the first questions I am often asked when I visit a branch is “how’s the training going Stephen?” I am a tad embarrassed to admit that up until this weekend I hadn’t started and in fact hadn’t been on my bike since the first week in October. I had rather too much cycling last year and whilst I wasn’t completely mentally scarred by the TdeF I had rather lost my cycling ‘mojo.’ Your commitment to and enthusiasm for this project together with a modicum of personal pride (I don’t want to be the anchor chain on Team Brewin) galvanised me to finally do some training last weekend when asked by Birmingham colleague Paul Fielding to join him on a training ride.
Knowing that Paul would be pretty much match fit I planned on a WattBike work out on Saturday morning to get the legs spinning but the warning signs were immediately evident as I couldn’t even complete the standard 20min warm-up routine that I would have breezed through just 12 months earlier. Abandoning that I settled on a more leisurely 45 min spin while I watched an episode of the excellent The Night Manager on iplayer. Preparing for the Sunday ride and hunting down kit took somewhat longer than I expected. Something that I wouldn’t have even thought about 12 months ago needed to be planned well ahead – pumping tyres, charging gears & garmin & where did all my kit go?
It took a while but eventually I was ready to roll on Sunday morning when Paul duly arrived at the agreed meeting point (my house) and we set off just after 8am. It didn’t take me long to recognise that Paul was covering the ground a tad faster than me. Admittedly he had warmed up by cycling to my house but he looked in good shape and the extra 2 stone of weight that I have put on since last summer made me blow a bit up the hills – In fact for a while I was convinced that my back brake was dragging on the wheel rim! The intention was to do a 50 mile circuit but we only managed a rather shabby 33 miles – Paul making the excuse that he had to get back for his son’s football match. I was delighted but also somewhat chastened as to how much speed and endurance I have lost but hopefully this will act as the kick up the backside I needed to get out and do something.
Today I received some really sad news when I was told that Roy Wardle passed away. Roy was one of the patients that the TdeF team met when we visited Cure Leukaemia before we set off on our ride last year. He was a great guy and a huge inspiration to the team and we will all be devastated by his death. News like this serves as a reminder as to why finding a cure for this terrible disease is so important and how proud I am of Team Brewin for all that you are doing to help others like Roy.
Roy featured in a video that Cure Leukaemia made for us that was shown on the team bus as we hit the Pyrenees on day 10. We were all shattered and it was deeply moving and hugely inspiring and motivating. Roy’s quote was “just keep pedalling man” & that is what I intend to do from here onwards. RIP Roy Wardle.
Judith Clapp - Assistant director of investment management at Brewin Dolphin's Edinburgh office
With 7 weeks to go until the Grand Depart, Saturday was the going to be the biggest test yet. Training had started mid-February with a few solo rides building up to around 80km and it had been going okay. However this was a ride with some of the team from the Edinburgh office and I would really find out if I was going to make the 500km from London to Paris. It didn’t start well when on my way to meet the team I had that moment (apparently it happens to all cyclists) and completely forgot I was clipped in to my pedals and it dawned on me as I slowly toppled over.
Thankfully nothing was hurt (other than my pride) and even better no-one had seen me. On I went and we set off along the coast at some pace. After 30km we turned in for the rolling hills of East Lothian. Time flew by as we cycled in a group and 4.5hours later after covering 100km we arrived back in Edinburgh. The sense of achievement felt wonderful and I certainly enjoyed that evening’s pizza and glass or 2 of wine. I am now looking forward to London to Paris with a sense of excitement rather than trepidation. Now I can focus on raising as much money as possible for Cure Leukaemia!
Stephen Carpenter - Senior Paraplanner, Financial Planning, in Brewin Dolphin's Marlborough office
So it’s the start of training week 4/10 with 6 weeks to go.
Last week’s Strava Leaderboard gives a distorted impression as my big ride on Tuesday saved me from disappearing off the table
The training schedule last week (3/10) was disrupted by house sitting and dog walking whilst my wife Kate was on holiday. This meant that I was only able to squeeze two rides in and a lot of dog walking. The Tuesday ride was meant to be a 4 hour hilly ride but changed to an 8 hour 100mile ride to make up the mileage. But this was disrupted by heavy rain, a temperature drop to 5c and wind after 4 hours, resulting in a shortening of the route to 77 miles. A learning point from this ride was the need to fuel properly, as I only had one energy bar. There was another in the pack but the first was meant to be ‘a delicious banana flavoured snack’ however the taste was close to what I would imagine being ‘monkey poo’. I have now asked around my cycling buddies and the general consensus seems to be to keep trying different flavours and makes until there is something tolerable.
Thursday’s ride was a hill climbing session (no.2), which involved riding up a hill for 5 minutes over and over again whilst in the saddle. After 6 repeats the hill prep was over.
Week 3 ended nearly on target for mileage with 149km out of a planned 151km being completed, assist by the long Tuesday ride.
This week (4/10) is a tricky training again as I have a blood donation appointment on Tuesday evening and a hospital visit on Wednesday to try and sort an old snowboard injury. This means some cunning planning and a few early morning starts are needed. Monday has started with a 6:20 ride off and a hilly route to pick up the lost mileage from yesterday. I will also need an early morning start tomorrow to get the hill climbing session (no.3) ticked off. This will involve my least favourite version of climbing as it will be climbing standing up for 1.5 mins and repeated 8 times, at least I live in Wiltshire and have a variety of hills to play on.
Week 4/10 as mentioned in my previous blog started with a reasonable commuting ride on Monday of just over 42k. Tuesday was more of a challenge with the plan being to do the hill climbing session of 1.5 minutes of standing climbing repeated 8 times. For this challenge I needed a sufficiently steep hill that was not so far away. The hill chosen was Ham hill with a maximum gradient of just over 17% according to Strava, but I lost count around number 5 and decided that just in case I should do one more, resulting in the 9 climbs! The other part of the challenge was that because I donated blood on Tuesday evening I could not commute in by bike and had to be back home for 7am meaning a 6am roll off.
The importance of donating blood was highlighted by my friend John, who is in remission from Leukaemia at present, he reminded me that he had 10 pints of blood during his recent treatment programme and that O- is the blood that he was given. Now although it is unlikely that he had my O-, I like to think that in some way I might have helped.
On the nutrition front I have trawled eBay to get hold of another 30 energy gels and a 2.2kg container of energy powder to help with the longer rides.
Thursday I collected Chris Harris for his first ride in this year. Chris has committed to do the Wiltshire 100 in September for the Wiltshire Air Ambulance and is a keen but under committed cyclist (sane). This will hopefully be the start of a few more accompanied rides as the weather improves.
Week 5/10 started with a big ride out on Sunday with another 6am start which is becoming the norm, the ride was meant to be ‘ 4 hours easy’ but the deteriorating weather encourage a faster early pace over the 4hours and 104k bagged and 275Km for the calendar week and my biggest weekly total so far.
Thomas Lack - Brewin Dolphin COO
I have completed a few rides now and my training feels well underway. Admittedly I have started a little later than planned, a combination of an impossibly busy family calendar and dreadful weather.
On Good Friday I took advantage of the great weather and cycled round the Surrey Hills for the morning, taking in some good mileage for the first time in a while; I managed 58km and 720m of ascent taking in Ranmore and Box Hill in quick succession.
I felt good for the ride but Box Hill was extremely busy with cars as well as cyclists – not something I had needed to worry about during my months of gym-based training.
I was planning a much longer ride for Easter Day but the weather had other plans and I was rescued by my wife at Newlands Corner cold and very wet.
Paul Fielding - Divisional Director of Investment Management at Brewin Dolpin, Birmingham office
Unlike my colleagues in the office who are keen cyclists, I myself am a relative novice and a new member of the Lycra Clan. Indeed the last time I rode a bike seriously was when I had a paper round over 20 years ago. With a decent(ish) level of fitness due to lots of running I thought why not, it can’t be that difficult can it? Well how wrong was I? When running you can strategically avoid hills and this is actually something that I’ve become quite good at, to the point where I’m something of an expert at finding downhill or flat routes. When cycling you can’t do that. Hills are quite simply a nightmare and for some reason the keen cyclists seem to like them. Why? I have no idea!
A few weeks back Stephen Jones and I went out for a ride and he took me on a route which about half way round included a hill that nearly killed me. ‘It’s a short one Paul’ Stephen announced. ‘Short but steep so get your cog in the lower ring’. This near vertical hill (I kid you not) went on for near on 600 yards and once at the top with my lungs collapsed Stephen rolled past me and carried on barely breathing! It took me a good 10 minutes to recover. That was a real wakeup call and showed me that I need to take this seriously.
One thing that I have been taking seriously since signing up though is fund raising. I think it’s easy to forget that the main reason we’re all doing this is to raise money for Cure Leukaemia. Aside from the usual suspects of friends, family and colleagues for sponsorship I have carried out two static bike rides with a bucket. These were hugely successful and I would recommend anybody riding to consider this if you want to boost the amount raised. The first was held in the reception at a local sports club where I am a member. I borrowed a spinning bike from their gym for one hour with my son jangling the bucket as people walked in and out. I was amazed at the end to count up £213.50. That’s £3.56 per minute of riding! The second was held a few days later at my son’s football ground during the usual Saturday morning training session with my bike and a turbo trainer. Once again I was staggered to count up £140 for two hours riding. That’s over one third of my personal fund raising target and useful training for just three hours work. Well worth those riding thinking about.