Our London-Edinburgh-London participation is in jeopardy!

Our LEL preparation has got off to a rocky start. We seriously doubt if we will even be ready to participate. This documents our first two brevets of 2025 in preparation for LEL2025

Video by Pressmaster: https://www.pexels.com/video/cooking-creamy-pasta-on-a-pan-3196175/

Video by Ron Lach : https://www.pexels.com/video/plate-with-spaghetti-and-woman-10068338/

Video by Ron Lach : https://www.pexels.com/video/close-up-video-of-a-croissant-8430966/

Video by Photo By: Kaboompics.com: https://www.pexels.com/video/three-bottles-of-soda-4465011/

Video by alleksana: https://www.pexels.com/video/coca-cola-4114185/

it’s been a tough start to the 2025 cycling season Nothing has gone according to plan Our goal this year was to participate in the most ambitious randering event of our short cycling careers That is the 2025 London Edinburgh London Grand Randine in August of this year This is a 1500 km ride along the length of Britain with 2 and a half thousand other cyclists from more than 54 countries across the world Undoubtedly this will be the most ambitious ride of our short randering careers and we were super excited We were granted entries way back in November of 2023 and we have been planning and training for this event for more than 18 months by now We had planned our travel to the event our accommodation and the location of our drop bags And more importantly we had planned our training down to the tea We had just completed a solid block of indoor training over the 2024 to 2025 Canadian winter All of it completed indoors on the Zift training platform because living in Saskatchewan can be a challenge for cyclists with temperatures for more than 7 months of the year below freezing and with snow piled up to the knee Time I have done 5 and 1/2 hours of riding 163 km 5 and 1 half hours 163 km And how’s the pressure point to your hands your feet and your butt There is my pressure points my hands my feet and my tush Okay you know I have to keep changing positions standing And it does help a little bit but um yeah just keep just keep pedaling That’s all you know just keep pedaling After a solid block of online winter training we set off on our very first outdoor ride of the season in midappril This was a 200 km bravet on an out and back course It was chilly at the start and during the course of the day the temperature just crept above the freezer Congratulations babe So this is your day one It’s my first day of my preparation for Aliel like 200 kilometers reay to bigger and back This is Jermaine’s first 200 km Uh it’s the first ride of her preparations for Al It’s now the 11th of April It’s early the year for us It’s we still have lots of snow on the ground It’s cold and uh yeah but this is the first time we can actually get out actually do a first breay It’s probably about about 2° Celsius at the moment It feels like – 5 with the windshore We still have lots of ice on the road and uh yeah it’s uh makes it a really chilly morning but I think that’s good training for Al cuz we know that there’s going to be some really cold sections You can see we’re really well bundled up Lots of layers puffy jackets reflectors all set for the cold And uh yeah but still optimistic Hopefully it’s going to be good We rode with three other club members that is Carlo John and Jonel They were all well prepared for the ride with a similar virtual training block over the winter However it soon became clear that not all was well with Germaine Although she comfortably kept up with the other riders she did not display her usual zip on the bicycle She would often drop off the back of the group with even minor changes in wind direction and a change in the pace of the group This was a signal that not all was well She had difficulty eating at the controls and this was a clear indication that she would not have the energy to complete the ride At the turnaround point she managed to eat half a Subway foot long sandwich with some difficulty Diffic really really really hard I found it really difficult today One of my worst ones I think I struggled from start to finish Just didn’t have the energy today Probably didn’t eat enough yesterday And when you had when you had your Subway did that make a difference Did it help It It made a difference a bit but I think I needed to do a bit of carba loading the day before Yeah I think I didn’t eat enough this past week Yeah And um you know I know when it’s when I take some some coke or some juice or something immediately have a burst of energy So I know it’s an energy thing that lacking Therefore it just means I’m not feeding properly you know So that’s one of the most important things I really have to figure out because it’s not it’s not I’m tired It’s not It’s just I just have nothing to I have the tank is empty basically Tank is empty On our way back we had a crosstail wind all the way back to the city However Jermaine was not able to take advantage of this Even with this minor wind concession she continued to struggle on stopping frequently to rest in the final kilometers of the ride This was very similar to the difficulty she previously experienced in her preparation for the Paris Express Paris ride in 2022 I could see the disappointment on her face Her expectation of a strong ride had evaporated and all she was trying to do was survive She did complete the ride but was bitterly disappointed with her performance We had a chat about how she felt after the ride [Music] It became clear that she had some form of gastric distress and was not able to eat enough to fuel her ride We discussed strategies on how to overcome this challenge and came up with the following [Music] plan We agreed to first of all eat a substantial carbohydrate meal in the days leading up to the next ride To eat a meal at the start of the ride Avoid sugary drinks immediately before getting to a control point as this may suppress our appetite We committed to eat first at the control points before drinking any fluids so as to optimize stomach space So with this strategy in mind we decided to tackle our second brevy of the year Our second brevy was a 300 km brevy about 2 weeks later It had an even earlier start and was colder than the previous brevy So this time we were truly bundled up with jackets and pants long- fingered gloves and with buffs across our faces We were once again joined by our friend Janelle and another experienced rander called Joy who had ridden with us many times previously Janelle set off at a cracking pace and we did not see him again for the duration of the ride Joy rode more sedately with Germaine and I I continued to monitor Germaine’s fueling and she appeared to be following the plan This equated to a slightly better riding pace and a bit more zip in hustride While we do not have elevation to contend with on the prairies we do have the wind and the wind gives us the prairie mountains However the wind is not always consistent in its direction We had a crosstail wind for most of the way north from our starting point At the turnaround point it became clear we were going to be challenged by a substantial headwind on our return leg How you doing I’m exhausted The wind It’s like climbing a big hill Relentless Just not so It’s really tough I just need a few minutes Tabby what are you doing today I’m doing a 300 The first part was quite good last time but of course now we have a head crossing head It was about this point that Jermaine advised me that she was experiencing pain on the outer portion of her right knee The knee was painful each time she flexed the knee She felt that the long cycling pants that she was wearing was placing way too much pressure on the knee and causing pain With each revolution of the pedals the pain intensified and eventually we had to stop purchase a pair of scissors and cut away the long pants from applying any further pressure onto the right knee But by the time we did this it was too late She already had an area of redness and swelling on the outer portion of the right knee and gently touching the knee caused significant pain The location of the pain was consistent with a condition called ilot tibial band friction syndrome Now this occurs when the long fibrous band that extends from the outer portion of the hip down to the knee is pressed against the bone on the side of the knee and causes inflammation of the tissues between the band and the bone We suspected that the following combination of conditions had probably contributed to the inflammation Firstly the tight pants leg compressed the band against the bone injuring the underlying soft tissues Secondly her saddle was way too low and this caused excessive knee flexion which increased the opportunity for the band to compress against the soft tissues at the knee And thirdly that the resistance caused by the strong headwind may have placed excessive force on the knees during the ride By removing the compressor closing and raising the saddle height we were able to relieve most of the pain But unfortunately it appears that the damage to the knee had already been done Nothing He’s taking a jacket off [Music] The knee pain deteriorated despite our efforts to reduce the stress of the knee and at just 10 km to complete the ride Germaine ground to a halt [Music] We slow down completely using just the remaining leg to pedal slowly to the end We did complete the ride but her confidence was shattered The first two pas were fraught with problems and it did not appear that we would be able to adhere to the tight schedule that we had prepared for our preparation for the al While the fueling issue appears to have been resolved this injury appears to be much more serious And even with the best planning if we cannot train then successful completion of the LAL is very unlikely We intend to ride a 400 km brave this weekend on which the video is being released It is super optimistic given the difficulties we’ve experienced so far But our training schedule is tight and we don’t have much time to procrastinate or recover Is our dream of participating in the allel over even before the season begins I will keep you updated as to our progress or lack thereof Let me know in the comments below what your goals are for the 2025 cycling season and how your training is progressing Is it all light green for your training or are you also struggling to overcome hurdles Please remember to like and subscribe And until the next time we meet please ride safely [Music]