Lessons From The Saddle - What I Learned From 24 Hours On My Bike

About eighteen months ago, I signed up a hilly 65- mile charity cycle event linked to the 2017 Tour de Yorkshire. I retrieved my road bike from the garage, joined my local club, North Tyneside Riders, started training and became hooked.

Fast forward twelve months and a few thousand miles of riding. Add a little alcohol (lesson one), some peer pressure and I found myself agreeing to join a club group attempting to cycle over 300 miles in a single ride (with food and rest breaks) from London to Newcastle.

Besides the obvious health and fitness benefits and the discovery of the undulating Northumberland countryside, cycling also affords me thinking time. To occupy my mind during the 21 hours in the saddle that it took to complete the journey north, I started to think about what I could learn from the experience:

Failure – the ride caused me to examine my relationship with failure and to acknowledge how fear of failure can hold us back. Having signed up for the ride, I was very hesitant in telling others. This wasn’t modesty but insecurity. What if I told people what I was attempting but didn’t achieve it? I was worried what they would think. They would see me as a failure. I felt uncomfortable about that.

Yet, challenge and courage are particular virtues that we promote in our boys at Newcastle School for Boys. Without the prospect of failure, real challenge and the opportunities it brings for learning are inhibited. Without fear, there is no courage. So what if I failed? Fear of failure wasn’t a reason to pull out although it crossed my mind seriously on a number of occasions before and during the ride.

Self-esteem – I trained as hard as school and family commitments would allow but I knew I was not as strong or as experienced as the majority of my fellow riders undertaking this challenge. This added to my anxiety about failure. What if I couldn’t keep up? What if I held the group back? Or compromised their opportunity to enjoy the challenge and complete the ride?

Relating this to my work as a teacher, it made me think about the stress placed on those children who struggle in a particular class or subject. The thought that ‘I might not be able to do this’ was stressful. The feeling that ‘compared to the others I might not be good enough’ consumed quite a lot of my mental energy in a negative way. I now understand better pupils who worry they ‘can’t do’ something that they perceive the rest of the class can.

Teamwork and leadership – I have discovered since joining North Tyneside Riders that riding in a group, it is possible to cycle more safely, faster, further and for longer than you can on your own. The more the group is able to work together; the better everybody’s performance. The stronger the communication and understanding, the more individual and group performance is enhanced. The application of this goes beyond just a better understanding when watching Tour de France highlights on television. I was only able to achieve this ride because the stronger riders did more than their share of the really hard work on the front of the group.

My next challenge? Applying those lessons learnt and a coast to coast ride in a single day. A mere 128 miles this time but with nearly 12,000 feet of climbing.