Whose accepting who?

So what’s been happening?

Quite a bit has been happening, I got a mention in the New Daily online paper (the link is on the FB page), that was awesome and the person who wrote my story was fantastic at it! As well as a lovely person in general, really enjoyed it! 

Along with the online paper I released a youtube clip last week where I was talking about social inclusion and the way I see perception/judgment of me. See bottom and click on ‘Should we judge a bike rider by his or her bike’.

But a few minutes ago, fresh off the upload of YouTube!

I’m talking about acceptance and the old school days, it’s a big topic again, I have just scraped the surface so I will dive a bit deeper at a later point, as I’m going back to university for my last two units, EVER! It’s been six years, it’s been a very long time. Too long when I think about it...

So what’s been happening on the old trikey and my mini goal’s?

The first-week target was met with probably too much ease although because of COVID I’ve had to rearrange my training schedule. “You need to balance yourself”, well that’s what I keep telling myself! Anyway, the 750m elevation was met and then last week it was the Goal 1 checkpoint to see if could do 50kms for three consecutive days. I certainly completed the checkpoint but I will tell you my butt will never be the same! The amount of glute DOMS…. I’m only just getting over it.

I still can do Goal 3 both the one-hour max efforts on the roller (later today) and outdoor normal riding. However, in regards to Goal 2 that’ll have to be rescheduled to a later date as I’ll need to have more time to complete Goal 2 checkpoint, two hours is not enough to do 500m in one sitting! So the question is where to next and I think it would just be wise to do a maintenance period while I get through uni. I’m thinking something along the lines of one 50km ride per week and some hills, a bit of mixed combo but we will see how we go week by week.

As I’ve been training I’ve started weighing myself before and after the rides or exercise. The reason why I’m doing this is to work out roughly how much water I’m losing, in turn, I can work out how much I need to replenish. It’s been working well, haven’t been super strict on it, I’ll put more effort in as my training increases.

So what’s on for the next two?

Uni like I’ve said and the maintenance programme. As well as that so-called hectic schedule, trying to promote the ride whether it’s content on social media or having a passing conversation down the street. We are also hoping to hear back from some of the companies that we have approached regarding sponsorship. Another thing is creating the PowerPoints for the talks I will be doing on the journey as I’ve had a little bit interest already in Melbourne. Ideally some of these talks would be done before we depart.

How am I feeling like at the moment…? 

To be honest, I’m feeling like I’m fluctuating a lot. For example, I’m believing I can do this when I’d done the third day of the 50km ride. In my mind, I was like “yep I got this, It’s going to be EASY As” and then the next day I’m really not sure whether I can do it. It’s certainly going to be one of those mental games on the ride and leading up to it! I think I really need to set some mini-mini-goals to maintain my level of fitness and build my motivation, so I don’t have as much work to do when I return to serious training.

I have to mention the generosity of people who have donated already and I’m only in the training phase, it truly is fantastic!

Until next time (around the 5th),s check out the FB and Insta just below this to get daily content.

Should we judge a bike rider by his or her bike?

This is just a quick entry in regards to my feelings about being judged. The film covers a few topics, so strap yourself in!

Resilience for every Kilometer!

Week 23rd-30th of august

The first week my target was 750m elevation, It was easier than I thought overall. Although I did it over 6 days rather than the original five because I had foot trouble, the issue was not enough velcro, which made the foot slide forwards and come undone (that was such a hassle having to stop and do it up every time!) also it was making my knee swell and get inflamed on the inner (medial) side. As a result, it was making lose quite a bit of power which meant it was making me rely on my left side to take most of the load, a fair bit of effort involved! It’s all sorted now, we just modified with some more velcro.  

We’ve managed to finally write something up in the pitch, thanks to help from some good friends. We ended up just doing it in PowerPoint form and it was alongside a media release that was done during the national stroke week (second week).

At the same time, I’ve done the filming for my experience on mental toughness/resilience, and now I’ve handballed the editing off to a friend.

How do I feel about everything… a bit more relaxed, like everything is a bit more achievable with just getting things off the bike done. I’m not so worried about the bike, I believe at the moment that I’m very capable to do the actual riding part.

Week 31st-6th of September 

This last week, the second week has been a solid week, probably the best week of all in the mini 8 weeks training! It might have something to do with it have been national stroke week, maybe I’m not sure….! Anyway I did 160km’s over 5 days, generally I’ve been starting bike training on Tuesday giving me a two-day rest of the Sunday-Monday. I hit that weekly goal with ease.

On the two legs, not the three wheels.

With it being national stroke week (31st-6th), I’ve been hoping that some sort of media would have covered my story in TV form with my media release, to give it more magnitude of what I’m doing, however, I didn’t hear anything from that area. But I did have an interview from a lovely person in the news daily that will be released next Sunday, I’m very excited about that!  

The feels….

I’m very excited about the online news from the news daily, I cant wait to see what the writer comes up with! With the pitch pretty much done, it’s all about approaching the business’s with specific partnership’s, that I can cope with however I’m feeling a little bit pressured with the time ticking and also it being till October-November until we start going back to some sort of normality from this COVID…. I’m trying to back myself and soothe it by saying ‘it’s okay we’ve got time and I can only do what’s within my power at this given time’, that’s all you can do.

I’m feeling really confident with my training at the moment, happy! That’s all I really need to say about it, apart from ill have to change my second goal of my 500m of elevation in one sitting, with the restrictions but I can look at this positively and say it’s a goal that I’ll have to prolong and keep training for that.

So the next two weeks

We will be hoping to hear back from the trike manufacturers about talking of sponsorship deals, that’s the plan anyway, thing’s never go to plan though!

In the meantime what is within my power is the recording on social inclusion in regards to my experience on judgementalism and acceptance, two separate videos, so don’t forget to subscribe and follow on all the social media platforms so you can stay in the loop!

Training wise 750m of elevation this week over five days as well as 3 sessions of gym workouts, thinking Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at this stage anyway. The week after its Goal one of the mini 8 weeks training, 3x50km’s in a row, I’m surprisingly looking forward to it but that’ll probably change on the day haha!