Rapha Manchester to London for Ambitious about Autism

Cycling from Manchester to London in a day, a 220 mile journey, is a feat of endurance that even with the training I had done the past 12 months was always going to be a very hard day in the saddle!

I heard about this event at the end of last year and knew straight away I would be signing up. Cycling had become such a big part of my life, helped me in understanding my Autism diagnosis and with my mental health, and I was excited to have the opportunity to be part of something bigger than me.

Ambitious about Autism is an amazing charity that is really helping support children and young people with Autism. As a late diagnosed Autistic woman I immediately knew it was a cause that I wanted to support. If I had been given the support of such a charity as a child and young person I can see how it would have saved me decades of pain, confusion, mental health problems and given me a better start in my adult life. Awareness is so key to helping give children and young people with Autism the start in lives that they deserve and to be able to use cycling to do this means so much to me.

Pre-Event

The support and sense of community from the team at Ambitious about Autism and fellow riders was amazing and went a long way to make the day so special. This started long before the actual ride, with a Strava group, WhatsApp group and training rides giving an opportunity to feel supported and in it together.

I had worked hard training and 220 miles will always be a really hard challenge but was confident my consistent riding would pay off and get me to London in one piece. I was, however, quite anxious about the social side of the day. I am used to riding alone and can really struggle in groups of people, especially new people. Although I find it much easier to socialise with cyclists, who I have an interest in common with, and on the bike, where eye contact etc. is not expected, I knew a long day would be hard for me surrounded by people. To help alleviate some of these anxieties I decided to attend one of the training rides to meet a smaller group of people and have some familiar faces on the day. These training rides were a great way to not only get the physical training in but to meet riders and share stories and experiences. I attended a 200km ride out of North London at the beginning of June where I met 6 other M2L riders, including Simon Mottram, who were all very supportive and I soon managed to relax into the ride. Sharing stories and experiences of Autism it also reinforced my reasons for doing this ride and was a lovely day out.

Registration

I arrived late afternoon the day before the ride to register and collect our kit and tracker. We all registered at the Manchester Rapha store in groups. The team were so helpful in letting me change groups, both for registration and my starting group, to make things easier for me. It was great to be able to meet some of the Ambitious about Autism team and see where we would be starting from the following morning. I decided to head off for a quiet evening in preparation for the next day, and get in some last minute carb loading!

Manchester to London

Arriving half an hour before my start time of 5:50am I was filled with anxiety about the day. I get overwhelmed easily and have difficulties regulating my emotions. I was also quite stressed about the fact I had difficulties getting the route onto my Garmin and was going to have to just follow other riders, which meant my back-up plan of being able to ride alone was now gone. Getting more and more emotional I started to feel the familiar sense I was going to have a meltdown. I tried to force back the tears but wasn’t successful and was comforted by a lovely member of the Ambitious abut Autism team, who had supported me before the event and would continue to check on me throughout the day.

I managed to join my starting group just in time and tried to focus on my pedaling as we headed off out of Manchester. I was grateful to be in a lovely group who were very supportive and soon managed to feel less anxious and enjoy the cycling.

Riding out of Manchester we were soon in the Peak District, the roads quiet, the scenery stunning and luckily the weather ideal. The route was quite front loaded in terms of climbing which I was grateful for! But none of the climbs were overly steep and manageable and we soon hit the Monsal Trail. This was a slightly gravel section but was completely ridable on road wheels and also provided a welcome break to the climbing as well as being a beautiful section of the route. Riding along the old railway line we rode in and out of tunnels, the path relatively quiet of other pedestrians and cyclists as it was still so early in the day.

There were 4 feed stops, where there was water, food and support. These were spaced out perfectly with about 40-50 miles between them, a good distance but not unachievable. Well stocked and thoughtfully placed nutrition was provided. The 3rd stop at Sywell was particularly appreciated, arriving to be greeted by an air display from a local air show, and with a fish and chip van providing a much needed break from sweet food that had been the bulk of my intake until that point.

Continuing our way after a longer stop for lunch my little support friend Minicorn, who was hitching a lift on my bike, decided the day had got too much and took a leap off my bike. Initial panic was replaced by gratitude as a fellow M2L rider shouted up they were going back for him. This support and comradery was shown throughout the day, a real team event where we were all riding towards the same goals.

Towards the last stop I was getting quite mentally drained, I could feel my ability to hold down conversations diminish and at the last feed stop I took the opportunity to have some time out to myself to recharge. Some delicious food provided by The Hub & Spoke Cafe and we were fueled and ready to head out on the last section.

Approaching London and the finish and it really started to sink in the feat that we had all achieved. Rolling into the London Rapha headquarters we were greeted by cheers, support, food and drink. It was a lovely end to an awesome day.

Summary

The day was something I am so glad I did, an achievement on many fronts but also an experience I won’t forget. It gave me such joy to be part of the event and to be surrounded by people who were willing to do something so challenging to help support and raise awareness. The conversations I had with fellow M2L riders will stay with me and the event only gave me more drive to do what I can to continue to raise awareness.

It is great to see how much awareness and support is growing from when I was a child with charities like Ambitious about Autism. I’m sure with events like this it will only continue and that gives me so much hope for the future and the next generation of Autistic children.