The Tour of the Cotswolds 2024 | Emotional breakdown
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- Опубліковано 30 чер 2024
- Last weekend was a busy one, firstly the Brompton world Champs, then the Via Criterium and then on the Sunday i woke up at 4am to drive to the Cotswolds for the Tour of the Cotswolds hosted by Ride 247. A great day out for me but a bit of an emotional breakdown... Let me know if youve ever felt like this. With cycling there is always a bigger fish but what i struggled with that day was more that i felt like i didnt belong a tough emotion to handle when you put so much into something. Anyway, hopefully i took this situation and turned it on its head to provide a great day out on the bike. Well organised and some exception food stops.
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I love the fact you post the unvarnished truth rather than just edited highlights that make you look good. I hesitate to say "warts and all" because there are no warts here, but I dig the honesty and willingness to say "hey, I wasn't as strong as I thought I was" or whatever it is. I'm sure many of us have those thoughts, and as I've indicated on some other videos they have prevented me from trying certain things. I very much respect your approach to having a go at things that aren't knowingly comfortable. Also I just like the way you talk about things. It's great commentary
Kudos to you for recording this. I did the ride solo. Once I got my head round being overtaken by almost everyone, it was okay and I did the full 247k. Survive and Arrive was my mantra in the end.
Well done for getting that beast done, just didn’t have it in me that day. But those food stops really were something
Great riding with you boss, those potholes are something else aren't they!!
You seem to have most of them memorised
@@thewattlife it does help :)
Potholes.. welcome to Gloucestershire!
Great ride mate, love and admire your honesty. I'm an Aussie living in the Philippines - at age 57 I'm fit for my age (I think) but I can't begin to compete with younger rides.
I experienced what you have on this ride, it took me a while, but learn to just CHILL - Now I ride more by myself I find I explore, see more and enjoy much more. I've subscribed - can't wait to watch your other videos. Cheers mate, convict Jono
Kudos on posting a video that shows the tough times and not just the high times. I figure (hope!) we all go through rides like that and it was impressive to see you stick at it and reassuring to hear the demons from someone else’s head, telling them to quit. Good work, all around.
Cheers man, think i just had a bad day of it. Glad i got the ride done though
First time watching your channel. So impressed you were brave enough not to sugar coat the experience and showed the reality - bravo. I got into cycling 10yrs ago, but have never done a ride like that and it felt like my longest ride ever of (only) 42 miles almost killed me. These days I love commuting on my brompton and trying to go as fast as I can on that. Re strengthening your legs, I'd thoroughly recommend training in barefoot shoes eg vibram fivefingers. I row in them and my legs are sooo much stronger now. Climbing - even on my brompton - is much easier. As well as going fast! Good luck, mate.
Thank you man, I did the Brompton world champs last month. It was a lot of fun
Just subbed - looking forward to see the channel grow! Well done for finishing bro. Looked like a slog.
Thanks kindly, just keeping knocking out content and we'll see but its fun and i enjoy it
Great to meet you at feed stop 3 Max. And thanks for mentioning 'Via Roma Cycling Events' (a number of rides that came through after you also mentioned how spicy the start was)
The very start was chilled but then somehow (I blame Dave) it got spicy! Alls well that ends well… good day out
I think you’re an excellent rider dude.. great vid well done for being honest during the vid.. your better than what you think you are buddy 😊 🚴🏻👍💪 Pete
Well done Max. Impressive. Good observation about the start. Also I guess nutrition strategy is important as putting in so much effort. Makes the Red Kite Ride you mentioned for later this year interesting as just as just as hilly.
I cannot wait for that ride- and will def be taking that one pretty seriously. Fuelling is so important
Great video. Love the honesty. Just hit subscribe! 👍
Thank you man- that was a rough day! More to come
Great video, enjoyed that. Familiar feelings...
Cheers man
Love the honesty. Forget about the stats and keeping up appearances - just ride your bike for the ultimate pleasure. After all it’s supposed to be a stress-reliever 😊
I was thinking exactly this- this is meant to be the thing i do to help stress, not the thing that creates it!!
Hi, Ride for yourself. There will always be someone faster. They may have more time to train, they might be younger and recover better. Enjoy your ridesas i enjoy watching them.
Hi Max, You seem to have the same problem that I had with the the nose of the saddle dropping. I got in touch with Winspace and they told me to torque the clamp to 14Nm rather than the 12 that it shows on the torque spec list that they supplied me with. That worked for me. Give it a go!
Thanks so much Kevin- it only happen when I hit a hole but yeah it’s been a bit of a problem. Will grab my torque wrentch now. Appreciate the message
few things to bring up:
firstly, a lot of these are my local training roads and it's so good to see them through a completely different light!
secondly, when you have those moments, although it might be difficult, compare yourself to you a few months/years ago- would they have been remotely close to doing what you can do now?
thirdly, look to the future too, it has been helpful for me at least to reframe these moments as targets for how strong you want to be, and although you might not be quite there yet, the journey of training can be enjoyable too.
i'm in a sort of similar position to you, started racing road this year, been a CX rider from when i was tiny but i am a junior currently albeit a shit one so i don't know if any of this is remotely helpful but i hope it is!
Cheers for the message- i have to say a few of your local roads are lovely, some however.... need a little care and attention, lol
Alwasy helpful to hear how other people feel. Thanks for dropping by
@@thewattlife care and attention is one way to put it!!
Great effort fair play sometimes you just need to enjoy the bike sod the pace great content as usual.
Defintiely changed from a day of suffering to an enjoyable day and i love it for that reason. Amazing how you can reframe your mindset on a ride
Awesome Effort Max (170k 😳 still awesome)..Keep on Keep’n… You are going to get better… You’ve got the Drive! 👍🚴♀️🚴♂️🚴♀️🚴♂️💪
Back to crit racing im hoping this week
I did a similar 200km ride a few weeks ago with a group on one of the PAS Midsummer rides, my takeaway was more along the lines of its crazy how strong you can get if you stick to it. Though I'm in 3rd year of riding now so perspective may change over time.
Yeah for sure- ride with strong riders and you get stronger. I think i just picked the wrong day to try this. Normally i love a faster group and happy to take my licks
I know how you feel, a few years ago I was the one on the front. Since becoming a dad I've been running and now back to cycling again I sometimes feel like if you can't hold the wheels then you aren't in the cool gang anymore. Prob just in my head though. Because when I was dishing out the punishment there was always a quicker group you couldn't quite reach.
There’s always a quicker damn group!!!!!!
Well done Max it's hard to gage how quick people are when you don't know them. I wouldn't choose to do a Sportive on my own. I cycle with my husband husband. Don't beat yourself up over it, take it at your own pace and enjoy it 😊
In my head for some reason i thought everyone would start at the same time so you would just naturally end up with a group you can hold and ride with. Considering after my breakdown & stop and then riding quite chilled till the split point i wasnt passed by anyone i guess we must have been motoring....
Come and cycle with me that will make you feel better. Had and still feel like you described. So I cycle on my own.
Man , I’m just up the road , if I had known I would have come and says hi
Hadn't quite realised that you almost rode past my house! Hope the Cotswolds roads weren't too brutal for you.
Side note, I live in a nice bungalow with a double garage and a full Zwift setup on the one side ;o)
It’s a great route- could do with a little pothole maintenance though 🕳️ especially on the first half!
@@thewattlife oh...the pot holes around here are diabolical. Will regularly plot routes specifically to avoid certain roads that are known to be especially bad.
You did great Max it was a mega early start . Did you drive from London ? You were up mega early !!! That’s partly the reason you were struggling . You were tired , you didn’t fail , you just need to align you expectations
Yeah 4am wake up and drive to the Cotswolds, after doing the Brompton World Champs and the Via Crit the day before. I think i was just struggling in general
180km is still a huge achievement, well done 🎉
Ps what saddle bag is that?
They are hand made by a guy who lives near me- they’re called Jango Rolls www.jangorolls.com
You mentioned two folks going off into the verge, absolutely not worth it. It was a great decision to pull back and do the shorter route.
I think trying to hold the group just made it stressful and less enjoyable. Once i decided to drop off it was a lot more fun
Don’t be down on yourself. Cycling is about enjoying the ride not killing yourself trying to keep up with people who won’t help you.
Don’t beat yourself up mate, me and thousands of others would love to be as fast as you
Cheers man
Honest video. It's very easy to get into a rut of ever increasing challenges, of punishing yourself to do more, going on group rides and not enjoying it. I hit the same wall recently. The routes my club took were on poorly surfaced narrow lanes. Some of the riding made me feel unsafe, this was caused by the conditions and the riding of others, trying to keep up when I wasn't in the mood. I stopped for a while and rode alone. I needed to reset. Ending your ride by taking the shorter route worked for you. And was therefore the right decision. Admitting it was also right.
I think always trying to push further and faster can definitely take its toll. Taking some pressure off made all the difference and it turned into a lot more enjoyable day
Bring back riding with the girls. Lot more fun actually. 🤣
Haha Yes. Girl gang rides are actually the best
How fast was the group? Your ftp is just under 4w/kg from the looks of it. Monsters showing to a non race event 😅
I havent had a chance to check as blocked this out of my mind. LOL. But yeah the front groups were shifting and given no one over took me while i was by the side of the road or cycling slowly just goes to show how quick we were shifting
.Best cure? Do a 50 mile riad bike TT .You are racing yourself..Great for your self esteem! Try it!!
Oufff- I think a 50 mile TT would be quite daunting. Thats a long time out there on your own just focusing. I might be up for a 10 mile
There are always better riders. That's life! Stop giving yourself such a hard time and just enjoy riding your bike for you.
This is true. Think it just caught me off guard a bit
the thing is mate, if you're doing just enough training to survive a 40 minute criterium, then giving a 250km sportif a go might be a bit ambitious. You sort of have to prep your body and state of mind to spend 7-8+ hours on a bike saddle by doing 4-6 hour rides 4-6 days a week for about a month+. We all know the large amount of hours and miles UCI pro riders spend on the bike and I'm sure even they would be somewhat knackered after 250kms whether its at race speed or just a training ride.
I feel you- but the week before I did a 110km 6500m vert ultra marathon run across the island and up a volcano in Tenerife. Just a rough day out for me
Sometimes the mindset needs to be "enjoy it, not endure it".
Once i switched mindset it became a lot more enjoyable so i have to agree with you
i ride most of the time by myself, and feel pretty solid, until I ride with a mate and his wife who are ex pros. nothing to make you feel awful like watching someone ride away from you
I need to get out for some solo rides on my own- havent had the chance recently!!!
Been watching your channel for a while and you seem to be a pretty good rider, but on this occasion, you seem to have misunderstood what a sportive is about. It's about personal goals. You kept going on about being unable to keep up with the group. You weren't riding with your mates, you were riding with a group of strangers randomly thrown together by starting at the same time. Like many riders, you set off far too fast (because you thought you should ride with this group of strangers) and paid the price.
comparison is the thief of joy......find your tribe and stop putting so much pressure on yourself. cycling should bring you enjoyment not misery
I like to try and combine the two- the odd event or race where you know its going to be a pain cave and some nice rides! I think you can have both