Ride Two — The One After a Long Day at Work
Ride two of the Cycle the Month Challenge: 18.97km after a long day at work. Not the biggest ride of the month, but the kind that keeps a challenge alive.
Not every ride is going to be an epic.
Ride two of the Cycle the Month Challenge for Prostate Cancer UK came at the end of a long day at work, and it was never going to be the day I went out chasing distance. It was the day I went out because I said I would.
18.97km. 55 minutes and 33 seconds. An average of 20.5km/h and 292ft of climbing. Short, honest and done.
Where the Reality Starts to Show
That’s the thing about a month-long challenge. The first ride is easy to get excited about — you’re fresh, the fundraiser has just gone live, and the whole month is still ahead of you. Ride two is where the reality of it starts to show. There’s no fanfare, no big summit photo, just the choice between the bike and the sofa after a day that’s already taken plenty out of you.
I chose the bike, and I’m glad I did. There’s something about getting out on the road in the evening that resets the day. Legs turning, head clearing, the work stuff getting further behind you with every mile. By the time I was heading home, the day at the desk felt like it had happened to someone else.
Habit, Not Fitness
Twenty kilometres an hour average isn’t going to trouble anyone’s Strava leaderboard, and that isn’t the point. Consistency is the point. A shorter ride done is worth infinitely more than a longer ride imagined, and the miles all count the same when they’re going towards Prostate Cancer UK.
That’s what this challenge is really testing. Not fitness, not speed — habit. Can I keep showing up on the ordinary days, the tired days, the days when nothing about it feels like an adventure? Because those are the days that actually add up to a month.
One more ride in the bag.