I don't want to be deliberately cryptic about the title of this blog entry, as I'm aware that a deliberate attempt at being cruelly vague whilst appealing to some, may just hack off anyone else that might be reading. I won't explain it fully only to point you in the direction of Colonel Chris Hadfield's book "An Astronaut's guide to life on Earth" wherein you can search for this line "Getting ready to play Rocket Man" and its context. You can dismiss it, or align it with anecdotes of things already achieved or things that may yet happen in your own life, whether you know about them yet or not?
First up, some housekeeping; I've spent many years blogging in my industry (bicycle retail) so I know that your attention can be hard to keep, so please don't be discouraged by the length of my first few entries as I have a scene to set. I promise these blogs will get shorter, more informative and more specific as they go on. So here I go in earnest...
Part one: Allan Doyle. For more years that I can remember I have loved cycling, Mountain biking specifically. I have always done it on my own terms, never joining a club in any real way, never overtly following any real trends in bikes or fashion, though in my role as a cycle industry professional I have always been acutely aware of everything happening in the world of bikes.
When I was young I would snaffle my Dad's Raleigh Olympic out of the shed and ride it for miles when he was at work and return it with him being (I still assume) none the wiser. When I was really young I used to bomb around on the then standard collection of Raleigh Budgies, Strikas, Grifters and Choppers that used to litter the small street of council houses in the tiny Scottish village where I grew up.
Over the years I've tried road riding, BMX, trials, hill climbing, Cross Country MTB, Downhill and all kinds of other disciplines of cycling on my journey to discovering that I wasn't especially outstanding at any of them, instead discovering in the last 4 or 5 years that I am happier riding my bike on my own terms with no real mind to the achievements or goals that I would set for myself when I was younger. Truthfully, I don't really think I cared about them back then if I'm honest. They were all a bit superficial.
Outside of all this idealism I have had a varied life that has contained some sublime experiences right through to personal tragedy and a million other bite size moments that have shaped who I am today. No different I suspect to the vast majority of people who populate the planet, its all relative I guess.
However, whenever I pulled through though, whenever I found my feet and found "normality" there was always bikes. Always!
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| Doune Byre (bothy) in winter last year. Places like these are where I feel I belong. |
Part two: Waiting for a sign...
"You may not believe it, but I don't believe in miracles anymore. And when I think about it
I don't believe I ever did for sure"
I had a crisis of confidence at some point in my late 30's in that I realised I was not 25 anymore, had put on a few stones and just generally resigned myself to being a bit of a lightweight when it came to appearing equal in ability to the people I found myself riding with. But I didn't really care enough to do anything about it as I felt I had nothing to prove having been such a prolific rider in my earlier years. My wife Donna is famous for being understanding about my cycling and has never prevented me from stepping out the front door to do anything let alone riding bikes, but still the motivation to make a change to the status quo was lacking. Bad weather, feeling crappy, no-one to ride with... all common excuses. And work, oh yeah we all have work to do right?
Like the folks we all know all patiently waiting to win the lottery, I was having the "water cooler discussion" with myself about what I was going to do with the money, when in fact I hadn't even bought a ticket to win it. I was hoping for something to come along, a moment of clarity, a kick in the ass, a bolt from the blue with no effort or input from myself. A cosmic convergence where the universe would suddenly intervene and force me to act, to again become the 10 stone trail skilled endurance machine that is 20 years my junior. I waited and waited resigning myself to its improbability.
On the couch one night, (probably with my hand deep inside a bag of those sweet chilli Walkers Sensations) an old family friend (Melissa) sends me a text "Wanna do Tough Mudder?" without really thinking about it, I said yes. Several months later after hitting the gym together, encouraging each other with another friend John Clarke, we crossed the line at Dalkeith, in 2013 with me 2 stones lighter and a new outlook on what I could actually still do if I put my mind to it. Although not particularly "tough" Tough Mudder gave me something to shoot for, which made the difference. Not for any huge achievement or goal, but just as a waypoint to move forward to and ultimately to move on from, perhaps to another "thing".
After Tough Mudder I stayed fit, entered a few MTB events, qualified as a Mountain Bike Leader, outdoor first aider, made some career changes and generally took up a better outlook on my health and wellbeing. I also got myself a few new industry retail qualifications and am currently cramming for my level 3 Mountain Bike Leader award.
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| Melissa and John. after Tough Mudder. Me in the middle. |
It really can't be underestimated what having positive like-minded people around you can do for your confidence and outlook on life and whilst Gary can be relied on to further expand on every point ad-infinitum, I always look forward to hearing about his latest or indeed his legacy of personal capers in the great outdoors. Always encouraging, honest, constructive in his criticism and open to all of my opinions and questions, Gary is a constant source of knowledge and inspiration. So you should take me at my word when I tell you what follows next is entirely his fault...
Part 3: Bored yet? Here's the point...
The HT550 (Highland Trail 550) is probably the biggest adventure you can have in Scotland without actually crossing onto the islands. In 2014 Gary took part in this and as I watched his progress online via his Spot Tracker GPS unit thinking that I had missed my opportunity to do such a thing, that I wasn't fit enough, my mind-set wasn't right or any amount of reasons not to seriously consider my own attempt. Soon after that I began to compare this to my Tough Mudder experience with Melissa in that if you commit to something, pay for it, tell enough people you're doing it and start to buy equipment to do it, then you pretty much have to do it!
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| The Highland Trail 550 route (anti-clockwise) |
So whilst I am committed outside of this area in cyberspace to attempting a completion of this monster ride, this first blog post is a marker for me to look back and remind myself that I told the world that I was going to set off on this ride in a late summer window in 2017.
Wait, 2017, why not this year?
2016 will be the year of the Cairngorm Loop, (CGL) a 189 mile independent time trial around the Cairngorm national park. Whilst I have bikepacked, camped, bivi'd and bothied before all on bikes, I have never done it against "the clock". Also 550 miles unsupported on the bike is a HUGE undertaking that requires proof from the organisers of at least the distance of the CGL has been done with reasonable success. The CGL is a shorter, but very challenging and sometimes remote ride taking in some epic scenery and some of the best trails the country has to offer. I'll be taking on some parts in bite size chunks as a recce over the coming months before making my attempt in the late summer. An ideal place to test myself and my equipment.
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| The Cairngorm Loop route. |
You can check out the websites below for more information, the routes, the rules and what it might take to actually go through with these rides.
http://www.highlandtrail.net/
http://www.cairngormsloop.net/
Cheers for reading and please add me to your follow list and come back.
Allan
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