Read about Dave

"I was a 19 stone pie munching truck driver, my weight now is 12 stone,
this site is for of us giving advice and tips on positive ways to a healthier lifestyle"

The Beginning

Wow where do I start: this is a short version of my personal story to tackle the Revolve 24 Challenge on a Bicycle around Brands Hatch.

In January at an exciting conference I had the pleasure to meet and talk to Simon Harmer (@shorterSi on Twitter) his aim is to inspire and be inspired, I became inspired.

I was inspired by his story of being in Afghanistan working as a medic, getting his leg's blown off, coming home and never giving up on fighting to achieve at life, at challenges to compete in sports and win. the win is in the taking part of course.

I decided at being nigh-on 18 stone it was time to sort my fitness and wellbeing out, a diet was not going to work I needed to have a lifestyle change, I had already offered to help the team being put together for the 24-hour race, by helping with the set-up, driving etc., not the riding of a bicycle that I hadn't been on since I was at school,

"I still couldn’t handle hill’s but hey, life’s all about going uphill. And good cadence in your general life will always help."

I decided at being nigh-on 18 stone it was time to sort my fitness and wellbeing out, a diet was not going to work I needed to have a lifestyle change, I had already offered to help the team being put together for the 24-hour race, by helping with the set-up, driving etc., not the riding of a bicycle that I hadn't been on since I was at school,

Then I soon got a gentle push lol to take part, I mean how hard can it be? Right! Olly my training guru well he was the one that gave me that gentle shove into taking part.

I brought a hy-bred mountain bike in March and started to go on 5-10 mile rides, eating a little healthier and soon the weight started to drop, it was clear that my energy levels would not get me around Brands so I had to Step up, Step up on everything I was doing, completely change my eating habits, as the 3 stone I thought I wanted to lose, needed to be much more, build strength buy another bike, this time a proper Road racing bike, I went with a nice little red number, (Fuji) went out and brought new training kit, I had no idea. no idea there was so much stuff one short little fat chap needed to just ride a bike, I even joined Fit-Box a gym of personal workouts with your own trainer, someone to push me way beyond anything I had done let alone attempted to do, the 6 months of training were extremely difficult, as we could see other riders taking part we're doing much longer rides, looked much fitter, this race was about now trying not to finish last, and we knew it was a challenge,

My personal weakness was going uphill's my cadence was completely out of sync I couldn't handle the 22 gears, this now seemed impossible, I then watched a video of super bikes around Brands and saw never ending hill's. my heart dropped I needed s massive boost, took a week out of riding to change my mind set, spoke to Simon, spoke to a few people in fact it became clear I just needed to reboot the cognitive part of my system, looking at mind-set and balance worked wonders, helped to focus on what matters most to me, that was to try and help as many other people that I could, small changes bring Huge rewards thought process if you like,

With this I had a good few weeks, training became normal life. joining the gym was working, even trying Yoga for my balance, the mind was strong, I was stronger and I had lost loads of weight, people noticed, this boost played its part, was we ready for Brands, of course not, no way near it, however we we're on our way, knowing that no sleep, heaps of bad foods for energy and smiles always smile and laugh as a team, because crying was not our game, “together we were stronger”

A few training rides with the team, Aussie (Mark) gave great advice and finally helped me understand cadence, I still couldn’t handle hill’s but hey, life’s all about going uphill. And good cadence in your general life will always help, use it for swimming, running even walking better. A true friend with great guidance

What can I say about Olly: This guy has help change many things in my life in the past year, I know he didn’t have much else going on apart from having a child of course, Hopefully we’ll have many more events together as I think we can grow as a team.

Dom (the Dominator) Having done a 40 mile with Dom I knew he was strong, it’s not easy, but he looks like he’s been on this exercise trail for years rather than just the 18 months, I hope we get closer from this experience and do more, I could teach how to handle more than 3 pints, maybe.

Andy and Liam The Pit Crew, well we didn’t stop laughing during the worst of the rain the cold the endless exhaustion oh of course they (Andy) fixed the bikes, ran around and done loads more for me and the guy’s I think I thanked them both, maybe that’s another drink I might owe now x

 

Tags: training, revolve 24 challenge, bicycle, bike, the beginning

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