ANDY

I just want to say a huge thank you to my cycling coach Simon for all his work to get me through my recent endurance charity ride.

I was raising money for 40tude, a charity dedicated to curing bowel cancer. I rode the 4 Compass points of the UK mainland - Lizard Point to Lowestoft to Dunnet Head to Ardnamurchan Point.

The total distance was 2300km with 18,000 metres of climbing. I completed the ride in less than 7 days, spending almost 100 hours in the saddle, and I did this all during a heatwave.

I could not have done this without Simon’s training programme, coaching, constant enthusiasm and motivation. Over the last year, we worked on building strength in the gym and building endurance on the bike with planned BIG VOLUME weeks to practice back-to-back long rides testing out kit, nutrition and bike fit to figure out what worked for comfort as well as speed.

It was great working with a coach who's also done a lot of endurance cycling because of his understanding of what it takes is not just about fitness, but mindset, working on the controllables and planning for upsets along the way. I would recommend him to anyone considering any ultra-endurance event.

Thank you, Simon, and yes, Devon is bloody hilly!

PS - you can read more about the ride at www.40tude.org.uk or watch various videos of the ride on the 40tude channel on YouTube.

Andy Peterson