Riding with The Hitters
A prologue to Further.
Ive done some long rides across foreign countries before, on my own, for fun and for the personal challenge. These trips are my holidays, my freedom and the time when I am most happy..
I stop to admire the views, I take photographs, I blog about it...
I love to see new places, explore new cultures, spend time without work, social and time pressures of ‘real life’.
I feel happy, relaxed and carefree, despite not normally knowing what challenges await me or where I will sleep that night…. However. These are not races.
Further is a multi-day, multi-terrain, 3/4 day self supported race through the Pyrenees. The event takes 10 men, 10 women and sets them off on a loop around the borders of France, Andorra and Spain. Id seen photos he’d been posting on Instagram and had shown an interest in the event, it looked stunning…
I had just posted some photos of me bikepacking in Wales onto Instagram when I got a message from the organiser Camille McMillan…
“So… Hello… Hi…Do big mountains scare you?”…
“A little”…
“Good, they scare my silly… So, would you like to race?…”
Still on that rugged hilltop above Rhayader I was feeling strong and brave and adventurous. I felt like I should do it, I told him I’ve not done this kind of thing before, but sure it interests me, who else is doing it? He starts to reel off names, Josh Ibbett, Lee Craigie being just the start. These are the people I’ve been following in awe of on social media, watching their films, reading their blogs and dot watching over the last couple of years. People who inspire me, but not people I could even come close to comparing to myself, yet, here I was, invited to race against them.
In the next few weeks more information about Further stated to drip through, Camille feeding us snippets of the route through photos and blog posts, he answered my questions tentatively, each time obviously thinking I was having doubts and wouldn’t want to race.
The race is 5-600km of multi terrain, self supported riding through the Pyrenees in August. It will be tough, it will be hot, There will be times where the roads turn to tracks, the tracks turn to paths and then the paths turn to rocky mountain trails. There will be no bike that is perfect for this ride, we will be carrying them, along with our kit, food and water up some of those rocky passes. There are 12 set Sectors we must ride, between those we are left to route ourselves. He is expecting the winner to complete the route on the third day, the rest of us have until the end of the 4th day to finish to record a time.
In the time between agreeing to race and now (6 days until the start) I’ve felt all the emotions, excitement, happiness, nerves, anxiety and fear. Im not sure its even the riding itself that’s scaring me. Even though I’ve never ridden in an area as mountainous as the Pyrenees, on terrain so unknown, or covered that distance in so few days.
It’s actually the human element that scares me the most, comparing yourself to others is a scary thing. The fact this is a race, although it’s a race I know I can’t win, puts more pressure on it. At times I’ve looked at some of the other riders on the list and wonder why I’m there, why would I be invited. Ive felt like they’re all “somebodies” when I am just some girl from Worthing who makes teeth for a living. I messaged Camille when I felt this way, he admits there are some “Hitters” there, but he wants to show it’s not just about the race, Further is about pushing boundaries and making discoveries on an individual basis too.
Ive had wobbles where I felt like I shouldn’t race, but I know I should face my fears, Im sure everyone felt this way once, at times we all have our doubts about what we’re capable of and think we’re not good enough, but you never know if you don’t try.
The race is just a week away now, my aim is to focus on my ride and try not to worry about the race element, as my friend would say “its just riding bikes”….. (but much further and higher than I’ve ever ridden them before!).
All Photographs by Camille McMillan.