Tag Archives: cycling

cycling

2 Weeks In…

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Two weeks ago yesterday I started a new job! It’s my third new job in 5 years and a bit of a career change for me. Having spent approximately 22 years in a customer facing retail role I’ve switched to an on-the-road Sales Representative role*.

At the end of July things fell apart in my old job and I got laid off. It wasn’t totally unexpected but I was caught out by how quickly it happened and I ended up totally unprepared in terms of finding a new job. Thankfully the Irish job market is pretty good right now and I applied for a number of jobs within the first week. One of these was particularly interesting and I’d had a first stage interview when I got a call from a Rep that I’ve been friendly with for a good few years now. “S” was leaving his role to go into a family business and wanted to know if I’d be OK for him to recommend me as his replacement!

For the next week things happened very quickly, I had 3 interviews for his job and the other I’d already started the process for. I also had two other applications that contacted me expressing an interest in speaking to me. In the end I was offered both jobs but this one is the one I really wanted.

Repping is a job I’ve had an interest in for a good few years but it’s one of those roles where you need to be in the right place at the right time or have an inside track when a vacancy come up. This time everything aligned just right for me and I fit the company perfectly in terms of who they wanted. I still had to match them and prove myself in the interview process but having a personal recommendation from S, who is well respected and left on very good terms, was a huge help.

Everything moved so quickly partly as I’d made them aware of the other job application process and partly because S was leaving on the 4th of September. I started on 26th August which gave me a week and a half to shadow S, meeting some of the key accounts and getting an introduction to his region and processes and getting a good background to the full account list. Probably the best introduction I could have had!

Since Thursday I’ve had the training wheels off and I’ve been out visiting accounts on my own that I wasn’t able to get to with S. I’ve also been to Head Office for some training and induction and this will continue once a week for the next 3 or 4. It’s not the normal induction process but this way I get bitesize chunks that I’m able to deal with before I get more. All at once in one week would have been pretty overwhelming. The downside to starting so quickly is that things are a bit disorganised but the benefits definitely outweigh that and in the end it suits me. I’m also the kind of person that isn’t afraid to put my hand up and ask for help when I need it. So far I seem to have made a good impression with my customer accounts, my line manager and the sales office support staff. I just need to keep that going and improving. S was in the role for almost 9 years so I have big shoes to fill.

Some of the benefits of a Sales Rep job are the essential tools that come with the role. I have a good spec laptop and mobile phone, a good spec tablet is on the way and best of all, I have a company car. The photo above isn’t my car but it’s the same model. It’s a 2021 Volkswagen Passat R-Line and it’s way better than anything I could afford myself. I’m doing big miles each day (200-250miles/300-400km per day on average) and comfort is a big priority. This car is a very high spec and an absolute joy to drive. Fully automatic with adaptive cruise control, Android Auto and climate control makes those long drives so much easier. Switching to a mobile office has its challenges but I think I’m adapting well so far.

*I’m not going to name the company here but it’s an Irish brand that manufacture mattresses and beds and one that I know really well from furniture retail over the last 11 years or so. It’s a brand I really like and one I’m proud to now be a part of.

Although my previous job paid the bills quite comfortably I wasn’t really happy there. I was tempted away from the job before that for money and access to a company van which was great but the job satisfaction was definitely missing. The working environment wasn’t as stimulating or as challenging as the one I left and I really missed that. It was definitely grinding me down and negatively affecting me both mentally and physically. I’d lost a lot of interest in activities I’d previously enjoyed and my motivation for pretty much everything had been depleted.

My first week in this new job made a huge difference though. I won’t say I became a different person but my drive definitely came back considerably. The first weekend off I managed to get a number of jobs done around the house that I’d been putting off for far, far too long and this weekend past I actually went out for a bike ride for the first time since April and for the longest ride since April last year!

It was only 34km but mentally it was much bigger than that. I’m starting to shake off the mental negativity that was allowing me to put off activities and tasks, making it acceptable to find excuses to stay at home and stagnate. I have a good way to go yet but I’m pretty sure that this new work/life balance, belonging to a team once again and a sense of achievement will be the driving force to help me get there.

the sunny and warm weather was a definite incentive to get out on the bike
riding the new lifford/castlefinn greenway for the first time

A Lightbulb Moment

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Over the last 12 months I’ve had a number of failures in terms of reaching goals I’ve set myself. Each time I’ve set myself a challenging target, worked hard for a period of time, had some kind of knockback and given up. This last few months I’ve given up on a number of things and it had become worrying to me that giving up and admitting failure was becoming too easy. Not that giving up is always bad but it was having a significantly negative effect on me mentally that I wasn’t happy about. My badly organised trip to the Mournes is a perfect example of that trend and the negative effect it had on me.

Then I had a lightbulb moment last week when listening to a podcast and coming across the 25% Rule for the first time….

Dr Alok Kanojia: The 25% Rule To Achieve Your Goals (1:18)

The bigger our goal is the harder it is for our brain to get on board with doing it. So, the 25% rule is take anything that you want to accomplish, cut it in half and then cut it in half again. This should be your first goal at a minimum, you can even cut it in half again.

For example if I want to ride a 200km Audax event then my goal is not to ride 200km, not even to ride 100km but is to ride 50km. Once I have that done then I can set a new goal. My approach last year was to target a 600km Audax event! Any wonder I failed, any wonder I gave up in April, tanked my motivation and haven’t ridden a bike again until recently!

Last year was the culmination of a number of years of spiralling goal failures that totally destroyed my enjoyment of cycling. Each time I would set a big goal, run out of steam during the process, give up and leave myself totally demotivated. Eventually I would get myself remotivated and set a new goal. Learning nothing from my previous failure this would be an even bigger goal, I would “fail” even earlier and leave myself feeling even more shit than before, take a longer break from cycling and eventually I end up not cycling for almost a full year.

I’ve done this with multiple things, cycling and weight loss being the two most obvious and closely linked but I’ve done it again this year with hiking. Earlier this year I decided that I wanted to do some multi-day hiking. Two YouTube friends (Andrew and Ian) did two big adventures last year that were pretty inspiring. Andrew hiked a large section of the GR221 in Mallorca while Ian hiked The Fisherman’s Trail in Portugal.

Both trips inspired me to do some multi-day hiking myself. Some kind of divine intervention must have occurred as it did dawn on me that heading to a foreign country with little to no backpacking experience was probably not the best idea so I came up with a plan to do something similar in Ireland before committing to a foreign trip. I decided that The International Appalachian Trail was a good idea. I have walked some sections of this during other hikes, have wanted to walk more for a while now and it’s easy to access as it’s all within Ulster. I decided on a 3-Day trip (Dungiven to Castlerock) and a 5-Day trip (Portstewart to Waterfoot)

I scheduled the first trip for the end of March and the second for the end of May so the first one is already done. It was a bit of a disaster! My plan was 18km Day 1, 30km Day 2 and 14km Day 3 for a total of 62km. This was nuts! The only day that made sense was Day 3 and there was no way I was going to be able to walk 30km on Day 2 with a full camping setup especially after 18km on Day 1. I made a video of my experience that I’ll link to below but SPOILER ALERT – I gave up on Day 2!

Coming home from that trip I felt crap. I was pretty much for giving up on backpacking altogether and I was in a real funk for a week or two. Listening to that podcast though made me recognise the traps that I was falling into. I was in a mindset that only big, challenging goals were worth working towards yet not recognising the steps along the way that are needed to achieve these goals. I was doing exactly what the podcast guest described and predictably failing. As I said at the top this was a bit of a lightbulb moment for me.

What am I doing differently now? First of all I have totally revised my plans for the IAT in May. Instead of a 5-Day 95km trip I’m now planning a 3-Day 45km trip taking a much more achievable 15km per day average. Instead of walking from Portstewart to Waterfoot I’m only going to do the Moyle Way section from Ballycastle to Waterfoot. I’ve walked this distance in training and I know I can do it.

I’ve also got myself back on the bike! Nothing spectacular but I have a pretty low base that I’m re-starting from. Virtually all my cycling fitness has evaporated and it will take some time to get it back. Instead of setting myself big targets I’m being conservative. My first goal is just to get out regularly. I have a simple 20km loop close to home and my plan is to ride that twice a week (hopefully 3) until I get some kind of legs back again. If I can get myself built up to a 50km ride by the end of the summer then I’ll be very happy but I’m not putting myself under any pressure. It’s time to go back to where I started and maybe remember why I enjoyed cycling again!

I have had this idea in my head the last couple of years that I don’t have time to devote to cycling and hiking, that if I’m going to be really good at either one then I won’t be able to do the other. I’ve now realised that I don’t need to climb Everest or ride 600km in a weekend and that I can enjoy both by relaxing, enjoying the process and mixing them up as much as I can.

Now all I need is a decent Summer to get weather that will make it all more enjoyable…

Link: RTE.ie

Planning…

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To keep my positive focus I’ve now booked time off work for the 600km spin. It starts Saturday 10th June so I’ve booked a couple of days to allow time to panic properly and get my bike and gear sorted. I’ve also booked the week off after for a bit of a holiday. I hope I don’t need it all for recovery!

Perspective

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I’m having some real doubts about the Audax Challenge I’ve set myself this year. The turn of the month, my reasonable success restarting training in January and starting to increase my training for February has made it all more real than it was in the early days of January.

My first big marker is April 23rd with the Dark Hedges 200. I’m mostly confident that I will be able to manage that ride. I’ve done both the course and the distance a number of times and know what to expect. It’s the next BIG marker that has me really worried – Coast to Coast 600 on June 10th just 7 weeks after the Dark Hedges! I’ve no experience of distances over 200km and none of multi day rides either. That scares the 💩 out of me right now!

part i

part ii

Where the brain starts to screw me now is with those doubts. I’m finding it much harder this month to keep the same motivation for my training. Some of this is that the initial excitement is wearing off and that shit’s getting real. Mentally it would be much easier to find an excuse to give up than deal with the possibility of failure. However, I keep setting targets, making plans and focusing on the next ride.

On Sunday I rode almost 60km, slightly longer than I expected and my longest ride since August 2021! Milestones like that keep me motivated.

Perspective? My blogger friend Jim at Fit Recovery is dealing with the shock of being made redundant after 25 years with the same company and the prospect of starting all over again with a new company. Good luck with the new job Jim 👍

Light Up My Life

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As requested by Paul over on 36×25.blog here is a rundown of the lights I use to keep me safe and allow me to ride at night.

Daytime Riding

I know a lot of people who dismiss the usefulness of lights during the day but I’m very much a “be safe, be seen” type of person and ride virtually every time with a rear and front flashing light.

Up front I have a Lezyne Micro Drive 500 XL. This has nine different modes including flash, pulse and various levels of steady light. It has an integrated adjustable silicone strap that fits pretty much any handlebar size and a weatherproof full size USB plug (no lead required) for charging. The USB plug is protected by a removable, chunky rubber cover which is its only niggle. This cover is not attached to the light body and can fall off or get mislaid. Thankfully these are available to buy separately despite the light now being discontinued (other current models use the same charging system). Despite having mine about 5 years I still haven’t gotten around to creating a fixing system and yes, I have managed to lose a couple of them!

The photo above shows the light on the top of the bar but I prefer it under the bar and the adjustable strap allows for this very easily especially as the light can swivel on the strap. Keeping the light under the bar gives a cleaner looking cockpit and more space on the bars.

My rear light (Cateye Viz 300) resides on my seatpost as I use a bottle style tool kit in my second bottle holder and no rear saddle bag.

This light is pretty new and really good. I was lucky to avail of a deal with my club where they bought a batch of these and subsidised the cost to members. It only cost me €15 which is an absolute bargain.

I run it on flash mode (but not the most annoying pattern) and having seen it on other club members’ bikes it’s really noticeable.

spot the guy with the same light

Removing the light from the holder is a bit of a faff and rather than potentially breaking it I tend to remove the whole thing, strap and all for charging. This means I could potentially lose the strap but on the flipside I’m unlikely to lose the light while out.

Night Riding

First of all I use both the above lights, still in flashing mode. I don’t use the Lezyne light on full beam mode. I found it weak for night time MTBing and upgraded to a better light (below) but I haven’t tried it on the road. I think I’ll see what it’s like this week in case I ever need it as a backup. As a flashing light it’s an effective additional eye catcher for approaching traffic.

My main headlight is the Moon Meteor Storm Pro which was originally purchased for MTB riding off road on forest tracks and trails. The level 5 full beam is really good for this kind of use.

Using it on the road though, it’s not as good. L5  is way too bright for cars while L4 or 3 are less dazzling but don’t provide as much visibility. Changing through the levels requires cycling down and through the flashing modes which isn’t practical when riding fast. The light did come with a remote that I’ve never used (and had forgotten about until now!) that might make this a bit easier and I will investigate that this week also. The model I have (max 1700 lumen) is now discontinued but there’s a very similar new version available with a 2000 lumen boost.

The major downside of this light is its weight. Including the mount it weighs 260g. It comes with a helmet mount but I wouldn’t fancy that weight on my head!

This light though is rock solid. When properly tightened the mount will not move no matter how rough the road surface. This was especially good on fast forest tracks on the MTB. However, I managed to break the clip on the base of the light on an Audax ride when trying to adjust the angle while riding. I was concerned about blinding oncoming traffic so tried to twist it down by manipulating the light itself. Of course it moved, the mount didn’t and the plastic clip broke. As it is part of the light body it can’t be replaced. A bodge repair using electrical tape saved me that night and a slightly tidier wrap of tape now secures the light to the mount.

This year the club is repeating the light subsidy but this time it’s front lights – Cateye AMPP 500. At €15 again it’s too good to miss and even if it isn’t as good as the Moon light it will be a good replacement for the Lezyne. I’m hoping to get mine this week and I’m looking forward to testing it.

On my helmet I use two additional lights. My old rear light (Cateye Rapid Mini) is now on the back as a blinking high level visibility light.

On top I have a second Lezyne Micro Drive 500 XL. This is set on the lowest full beam level and I find it incredibly useful for reading my Garmin screen and checking gears, seeing my pedals for clipping in etc. On this mode it gives me just enough light and lasts forever. Also it’s not very heavy meaning it doesn’t annoy me at all. A heavy light could cause a sore neck or cause the helmet to tilt annoyingly to one side or down over my eyes.

Future Upgrades

This setup works well for me and I’ve used it successfully on Winter 200km Audax rides when shorter days mean that I have to start and finish in the dark. However, if I’m going to ride 400km and 600km this year I’ll need to upgrade my headlights for longer lasting performance.

The ultimate Audax setup would be a hub based dynamo but I don’t fancy spending that amount of money. This light could be a very good alternative – IXON IQ Premium from Busch + Müller. It runs on AA size batteries and two sets will provide 10 hrs lighting and if I run out of rechargeables then regular Duracell will work in a pinch. At €80 on most sites it’s a lot cheaper than a dynamo wheel!

not the sexiest of lights!

Be Seen!

It’s important not to forget the second part of that saying and make sure that as well as being able to see I can also be seen. On local roads round home I’m riding shorter loops and I’m happy wearing a reflective harness. This doesn’t interfere with my pockets and is enough that I can be seen by following or oncoming cars.

On Audax rides when I spend a lot longer riding in the dark and being a lot more tired I prefer something a lot more visible and have used a light reflective workman’s shirt over my gear. This is heavier, less fitted and restricts access to my rear pockets but is incredibly visible at night.

Header image by Reactual.com