It’s the start of another epic with the Boltonians. This time we’re hauling up/speeding down a route from Venice, through Northern Italy, a snippet of Austria, then looping back through Slovenia, with an optional protrusion S into Croatia. Advance apologies for the jokes…(So I ordered at this restaurant, and the waiter came back with a Tiramisu and a blindfolded horse. “Your order sir.”
“No” I replied, “I ordered Mascarpone.” (Thank you Tim Vine xx)
Some Stats:
We have 24 riders and 2 awesome drivers (in many respects); Graham and Martin. A big shout out to John Myburgh for impeccable organising, and to make sure we don’t let him down, we’ve put some effort prepping for this week: Since 1st Jan this year, Strava tells me that we (data missing for 4 riders) have ridden > 84,000 practice miles, >800,000m of ascent, and spent over 3,290 hours in the saddle. Google tells me that’s equivalent to 7 ½ years of career training: one of us could be a qualified doctor or speaking fluent Chinese (but still 7000 h short of a golf pro).
Graham and Martin should be waiting at Venice airport (with our luggage, and precious cargo: nearly £180,000’s worth of bikes); or holed up somewhere making listings on eBay…
Each bike has been partially dismantled and lovingly cocooned in insulation padding and bubble wrap. Except for Si Patel’s(?)’s. His arrived late, unpacked and was thrown on the top. It’ll probably be ok…
We’re not just riding for fun and cakes. We want to support a charity that’s close to our hearts, the Bolton Lads and Girls club. I’m hoping that you’ll read this blog and maybe donate to charity because you want to: chuckle (Gen X’ers) or eye-roll (Gen Z’ers) at my foot-in-mouth cultural faux pas; drool over in-depth descriptions and photos from extensive patisserie research (gourmets); appreciate the sea-to-alps flora (botanists); revel in the suffering (sadists, masochists), support my efforts to show misogynists that two woman can match/beast twenty-two (middle-aged 😉) men across 625 miles and 53,266’ ascent over eight days (feminists); and/or help provide a safe space, trained support, and facilities for disadvantaged young people at the Bolton Lads and Girls club. Liz Rylott’s Just Giving page.
Liz’s trip wibbling#1 Physiology Woman v men
From ‘tinternet (I’m not citing peer reviewed literature, just generalising from unverified google fodder -chill!):
Women are ~10% fatter. We carry ~40-50% the upper body muscle of men, that weight-for-weight, is less powerful (men’s muscles have more Type II fibres, which contract faster giving more power and speed). We have an average 12% less haemoglobin in our blood, our hearts are ~30% smaller, and for the same exercise, will beat faster, incurring fatigue sooner. Our VO2max score (a measure of cardiorespiratory fitness and aerobic performance capacity) is ~15 – 30% less than men’s. How on earth are we going to keep up with the men?
Well, we do have a few tricks up our Lycra…
Our muscles contain more Type I fibres, which are more resistant to fatigue, so maybe better suited to endurance. The gap between the sexes narrows as the endurance event duration increases. Smaller people (so woman more than men) have more surface to volume ratios, so can dissipate heat faster; and might be better at not overheating (this one is no comfort as the weather forecast is looking a little chilly on the tops…). Studies suggest we are better at burning fat compared to our liver-based glycogen stores, again an advantage over longer (>2h) exercise. Strategic thinking is apparently also better developed in woman; we’re less impulsive and thus more likely to measure our exertion up the hills, and over the full 8 days.
And we might be mentally tougher? Mental toughness is a measure of confidence and resilience. We’re less confident (is this why I have caveated all our positive statements with hedge words?!), but we’re more mentally resilient, we are more likely to survive famines and epidemics, and live longer.
Cycling of course needs legs, and here our lower body strength is not so ‘bad’, only 60-70% that of men; female thighs are legendary! Remember Bambi thigh-throttling James Bond in Diamonds Are Forever? And I have a secret weapon: I am packing behemoth thighs. With a 24” circumference (that’s only 5” less than my waist!) these prize-winning marrows are something to fear menfolk.
Bottom line, Sarah and I will be working physiologically much harder than the boys: This will hurt…so give us some sponsorship wonga to spur us on.
Our Just Giving page 🙂