Congrats Leonard. That ride was impressive and you deserve all the accolades that comes with it. 1300 m of climbing will be a challenge. It will be about 26C in Cape Town so lots of hydration. You have encouraged me to do a 115 km ride next month since it was 5 years for my last one.
Well done Leonard… one thing that’s never or rarely talked about is having the mental strength or fortitude to finish some of these rides… sometimes I have it and sometimes I don’t…
Sincerest congratulations and a hearty "Well done!" on your 7-hour-plus trip to Oxford, Leonardo! Good on you!! Your South Africa ride may not be a day at the spa, but you've proven you can do it - and live! Congratulations on the breakthrough! Ride on!
That’s incredible. I saw in your face a smile of confidence that you were proud of yourself. That’s so cool. Keep up the good work & the postings are so fun to see and hear about your conquests
Hi Leonard chapeau! Reminds me of a ride I did from Crowthorne to Chadlington via Oxford to visit my in-laws. After Reading, I chose the lower road via Pangbourne and Goring, much easier than taking the ridge road. I was younger by 25years and surprisingly fit enough to ride my Peugeot 10spd all that way. Also rode a lot around Alton, Farnham, Guildford etc in my early 20s, so now at nearly 70 and having got the bug again , I must have some of the old muscle memory left and my fitness is increasing. Thanks to your inspiration last year I managed 90plus rides in 90 days ish! Keep up the good work and best of luck with your South African trip.
Good job Leonard, great practise to get ready for South Africa. I trust the views will provide ample motivation on those climbs, especially Chapmans Peak! Enjoy the trip mate!
Congratulations Leonard ! Well done! Good job telling your negative side of your brain to shut up! 😊. Take it easy in your tapering period and good luck in South Africa. Looking forward to seeing your SA vlogs.
Congrats. Counting those last Kilos was probably like watching paint dry. Those are the times when having a riding buddy(s) help. You can keep each other going and every so often hold a conversation. It's hard(er) when you are alone but I just keep pointing out a spot ahead and keep telling myself ride to that spot and see how you feel and next thing I know...done. Sometimes you have to psyche yourself.
Cycling is not just physical strength, it's defenitly about mental strength too. Doesn't matter how strong you are, if the mind says no, you're not going anywhere. Completing that long ride will hopefully give you the much needed confidince that you can do the ride in South-Afrika as well.
You might not believe me, but you are now capable of going up Stelvio and such. I like to do this kind of rides on vacation from town to town and 115 km with a number of small climbs and 1200m of climb in total is much harder than this one climb of 1850m and a total of 50km. It is much easier to control the speed and keep slow enough if you know this is one long climb than going up 5 or 10 times.
Congrats on the ride Leonard. I find a lot of the battle when the legs are feeling tired is with the mind. Mental strength is definitely a big factor on longer rides 👍
Amazing!!! I'm happy for your 100km. By the end of the year I will see a new video with title "My first ever 160km." And of course, we want see another big smile picture to show how happy you got with this achievement.
I am so disappointed. I was looking forward to seeing a nice long video of that ride. I'd have turned that into a nice, long 60 minute extravaganza. Congrats for getting it done, especially this early in the year. Enjoy SA and the warmer weather. You better take a good vid of that event.
Talk about a powerful journey and message. I still can't picture doing 100 km but that is my goal for this season. I really appreciated you sharing what was going on in your mind as what you shared is exactly the limiting mindset that has kept me stuck in my cycling....my life. I am learning slowly how to break through. I am going to share this with my family as we are working on 75 days of personal challenges and this video will inspire them as well. Thank you soooooo much for sharing your adventures. Now, I am off to pick up my smart trainer so I can work on joining you on a ride someday.
Wow! Awesome ride, congratulations 🎉 I’d love to hear more about the logistics of such a long ride (it’s further than I’ve ever done!). In particular did you plan rest stops along the way and what did you do about nutrition? Did you have any fear of ‘bonking’ or even fear of passing out if fueling was inadequate or because of dehydration? Thanks - and good luck with the tapering!
Bonking is a risk but if you eat and drink enough it shouldn’t really be an issue. Worst case, I would have just stopped at a suitable location and called my other half to come and rescue me.
Easy explonation; when You make some plan to do a longer trip Your mind starts to prepare and also body is noted. So You will do fine and dandy in South-Africa.. tough bits, but no worries: all will be fine! Second thing.. I do wonder how You can still find unridden roads nearby!? It’ll be fine if lived just few Years at the area, but I presume You have lived there decades.. for me, well started cycling 10 Years ago and all roads done and dosted at 80km radious and most a bit up to that. Only forrest roads and paths remains…
Congratulations. You pushed through. It isn't just the distance but also the elevation gain that made that an impressive ride. BTW what is your longest ever ride?
I wanna say we'll done and I am happy you completed and exceeded your goal..but, nobody in the remarks seems to have mentioned this part.. I'm curious if you brought enough snacks, water and have you stopped along the way for fuel? That's an easy 2 bottles of water and a few treats,gels type of ride im guessing and you'll want to "practice" fueling so not to run into exhaustion like you mentioned a few times . Good luck on your trip and..well done, remember to bring enough fuel 😉👍
Loving those deep section wheels ❤ wouldn’t you be better off with shallow rims for the climbs. Or have you (like me) decided on deep sections because they look cool?
Well done Leonard🎉!!! Full of admiration! I am though slightly worried that you didn’t mention fuelling and hydration in your ride. (in fact you rarely do). Is it an area of improvement for you do you think?
Well done Leonard it sounds an adventure, that’s a great distance to do in prep for your trip. I’m always nervous of just planning a route that I’m not familiar with but sometimes it’s the only way to discover new things.
Thanks Heidi, I was also a bit nervous about the route. At one point, in the middle of nowhere on that tough Caversham to Didcot section there was a closed road. Fortunately, the Karoo told me to turn left just before. Not sure what I would have done if it hadn’t.
Hats off Sir, epic ride! Whats the weather forecast in SA? is it going to be hot? I see another viewer covered this one but I too was thinking hydration etc here but im sure you've covered the bases! 😁😁😁
Good job Leonard, my longest ride was 50 miles that’s like 84 kilometers. How long did it take you to do that ride? I did mine in 3hrs and 15 min.Good luck in South Africa !!!
I am planning my first 200km ride in the near future - it will be a flat one with only 1200m of ascent before doing a a more hilly one in a couple of months. I did a flat 100 miles last week with only 1100m of ascent. Last year I did an "easy" 100 miles with only about 2000m of ascent before tackling a "normal" (for the Peak District) one with 3300m in the autumn. I think it is the way to go when pushing up the distance. Are you taking your own bike to South Africa?
If you are in the UK, Joining British Cycling gives some great insurance benefits. I would definitely recommend joining. As for theft/ damage insurance for your actual bike there isn’t one particular company that I would recommend. They are all pretty much as good as each other.
Just keep doing this, I'm fighting to get back to fitness, I'm with you right now. Keep doing this the weight will scream off your bones you won't believe it.
My buddy and I came over to your lovely island in 2016 and rode from Inverness back to London Chris crossing both countries back and forth about 1200 miles in total but it took us about 25 days. Because we kept stopping to see the sights and meet some really wonderful people
Really enjoying your videos. I just can't relate to the other videos that talk about miniscule improvements that don't apply to me. For most people, it's about getting out there and doing the work and understanding all the "evils" that stop us from doing it. Thanks for the help!
Well done Leonard. It's amazing how far you can go if you can just convince yourself to try. I count down the kilometres in the same way, it doesn't really help but its something to occupy the mind.
Congratulations. You are in great shape for South Africa. Not sure what your vlogging plan is for SA but my recommendation would be to do as you did on the Oxford spin and just enjoy the cycle. You've given us plenty of great films so take a break and enjoy it. Also, the shot in Oxford where you walk out onto the green looks very like a similar shot form the film Saltburn? Then again, | could be imagining things. Thank you, great video.
I’ve not watched all of Saltburn but I know it was set in Oxford so it’s more than possible. My love of the city comes from watching Inspector Morse and Endeavour.
Very impressive distance. Also that takes a lot of discipline, especially for how you described it. Not to mention the hauling of your weight. But considering how I've dropped around ten pounds just since Thanksgiving from times on the road bike (more often than the other two), or the combination of stationary bike and bike of only 45-50 minutes probably, for the average time per day over winter, and it must of been some hours of riding to do that, I'm thinking that would of made me look like some weird gypsy put a curse on me like in that King movie "Thinner" by the end of it!
True. But I'd say ounces as in it's English. The other point I wanted to make is that related to your video title, I think it could be said a guy is stronger (than he thinks) in the spring if he didn't shut down cycling over the winter months.
@@jollygoodvelo No, it's s whole film. From a Stephen King novel. Maybe twenty years back. The guy is a lawyer who's enormously overweight, has an accident with his car and kills someone. This head gypsy relative puts a hex on him after he gets cleared of the manslaughter charge and he starts getting rapidly thinner no matter how much he eats. Ok yeah, 1996, I checked.
Well done on your big ride. It'll be warmer on your event which helps. Remember your food and drink regime, stop looking at the Karoo and enjoy the ride. If you have to walk 150 yds on a 60 mile ride so what. Good luck on your venture. Just enjoy it.
Awesome job Leonardo! I stupidly set off on a very similar ride re- distance and elevation on what turned out to be the hottest day of 2022! Nothing beats completing what feels like an impossible challenge! Chapeau! You can now set off for SA full of confidence and the knowledge that you can do this alone, so in the company of like minded cyclists, you will have a ball 😊
Top job sir! Always amazes me, how much we humans can do, if we put our mind to it. Not having any obvious bail outs always helps concentrate the mind! Well done, you've got this!
