BY ANDREW HIRST
Portugal Peddlers
Hear how Andrew Hirst and two of his fellow planners fared as they faced a charity cycle challenge. Our mission: Cycle Portugal Mileage: 465 miles Duration: 6 days Fitness level: Reasonable
last and aim to raise more money than ever before. We decided on Cycle Portugal which required us to cycle the entire length of the country.
Saddle up
The peloton for this Portuguese challenge comprised of myself, Jason Lowe (early 50s) and David McKendrick (late 40s). We are colleagues, financial planners and friends but this challenge would put our usual easy-going natures to the test. Our approach to training differed as we were all at varying levels of speed and ability. David hadn’t even been on a bike since he was a kid, so he upped his game and arrived with full confidence in his cycling ability, whilst Jason and I knew what really lay ahead!
As I’m now in my early 50s, I am at the stage where if I don’t stay fit, I end up fat and whilst there is only one letter difference, the difference to my happiness, confidence levels and even concentration is immense. I have never been a gym lover; I really don’t like running, so cycling was the obvious choice for me. I’d already done a series of cycle challenges, the UK coast to coast ride and even Venice to Rome with my colleague Jason Lowe (in 2020). I’d learned two things from those. Firstly, that like anything in life, having a goal motivates me to train and secondly, that raising money for charity makes all the hard work worthwhile. We knew the pandemic had taken a huge toll on charities up and down the country, especially those who rely on public fundraising and we wanted to help in some way. Plus, our efforts would be doubled by the Equilibrium Foundation. So, we sat down at work one morning and decided we would find another cycling challenge, tougher and longer than the
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Peloton preparation
The uphills Whilst we had all trained for the trip, it’s fair to say, we could have done more, although I’m not sure anything could have prepared us for the unseasonable heat – a whopping 32�C! We even acquired another couple of fellow riders, forming our very own mini group. We knew from the start we weren’t going to break any records; this was all about staying strong mentally and physically. We each hit ‘the wall’ at different points in the journey at which point, we would slow down and
