Smack my back up. Now lets smack MS.
On Sunday I rode my bike further than I have ever rode it before, and it hurt. 113.55km in 4 hours 5 minutes and 27 seconds. I’m quite proud I managed the distance in what was my first bike race since the dreadful attempt to ride BMX back in ’82. I’m not so proud of the rest of those numbers, but more about that in a moment.
The event was the inaugural TelstraClear Challenge, the first bike race to include Auckland’s Harbour Bridge and northern busway and riding on both was a bit of a treat, despite the gale.
Oh how easy it felt at that point
Sadly though the smooth, fast, and relatively flat busway morphed quickly into a series of rolling hills that never seemed to end. 1407m worth of the little buggers actually, but whose counting? The organisers certainly weren’t, their publicity claimed only 800m. The same publicity department that tried to claim a 3.4km section of rutted gravel country road was a “Paris-Roubaix style” section. Hmmmmm.
I’m not sure it’s the norm for this type of event but the course was lined with the most awesome volunteers and supporters all shouting and waving encouragingly. With one exception: At the bottom of a hill near the 104km point was an evil lady, in hindsight most probably a witch, who smiled sweetly and said:
“Go hard and don’t forget to smile ‘cos this is the last hill.”
But of course it wasn’t. There was a steeper climb literally around the corner. Why evil lady? Why?!
Fortunately ‘evil lady’ was the exception so a big thank you to all those volunteers, especially the kids who made me feel like I was riding ‘le tour’ and specially-especially to the little dude on the wooden bike that elicited a smile out of me at about 90kms, by which time I was seriously hurting so that was no mean feat young man. Thanks also to my riding buddy and cycling aficionado Mr Jon Bridges who, despite being able to ride like a machine, opted to keep me company and indulge my whinging the whole way.
The ride was, in part, a fundraising event for Bike MS and we’ve set up the BBT Racing Team to help raise some money for them. So far the event has generated more than $80,000 for MS. That’s more than some bigger events in other countries can manage, which is impressive. The BBT Racing team has so far raised about $250, which is not so impressive, but no doubt after reading this you are going to change that, aren’t you?
Now here’s the reason I decided to write this post: I have a bulging disk in my lower back, which sounds like an unsightly, frisbee-shaped growth, but is actually a fairly common problem that can be quite painful and very hard to fix. I’ve been rehabbing it now for more than a year and it’s driving me round the bend (little cycling pun there) because I haven’t been able to exercise as much as I like, which is a lot, and I’m a grumpy, boring moose when I don’t or can’t. As it turns out 4 hours on the bike was less than ideal therapy for my spine. Who would have thought?
I felt great for the first 45km but then my back started to ache. Over the next 65kms my back got progressively worse, I got slower, grumpier and my face pulling increasingly pathetic, until I finally coasted over the line, seriously close to tears. The near-tear scenario was a bit of pain but mostly frustration that my lame back was not up to the challenge. My legs, heart and head had more to give but my back just couldn’t hack it. So at this point the astute reader might be picking up a thematic link between my somewhat pathetic experience and the daily reality for an MS sufferer and indeed, therein lies my somewhat ironic point:
Whilst on the MS fundraising ride I quite unintentionally gave myself a little taste of what it’s like to live with the disease. I didn’t like it. I nearly cried. I felt sorry for myself. Today, however, while still capable of feeling sorry for myself, my back feels more or less ok and I’m mighty thankful I don’t have to live with MS. But I have a good friend that does and that makes me want to do something about it. So I smacked my back up for a few hours and donated some money. I can highly recommend not smacking your back up but if you’re in a position to make a donation please follow the link below. If not then please at least share this with as many people as you can and hopefully we can collectively help some of the 4000 New Zealanders, and their families, that live with the disease.
The BBT Racing fundraising page will be live until the end of January.
Thanks
Fb.
