The gym I do my weekly spin at altitude class at, Sportesse PT, was holding a 24 hour altitude spin session for Children in Need today. There were eleven spin bikes in the altitude chamber and the goal was to get the distance between Lands End to John O'Groats and back again as a team effort (3,800km).
I had originally booked myself on for a three hour time slot but, deciding that I needed a bigger challenge, and my work having kindly given me the day off as a paid charity day, I decided to be a bit more ambitious and booked myself in for a 12 hour slot from 7am to 7pm!
I arrived at Sportesse at about 6.50 and the first group of the day were spinning away (the day started at 6am). 7am arrived and I clipped myself into the spin bike and away I went. On my first stint, I was joined by a few other people so we chatted away and the hour went really quickly, especially because Dave (the owner of Sportesse) had put some Pearl Jam on for me, who nobody else had even heard of.
Same with the next hour as again, I was joined by three others, one of whom was dressed as a giant banana and looked pretty hot spinning away in that costume.
At 9am, Dave was holding an actual spin class with a group of rugby lads so I decided that before they came in I would take a break to fill my water bottle and use the facilities so that I didn’t have to leave in the middle of the class and disturb the altitude. From then onwards, I decided that it would probably be a good idea to have a break every 50k as that way I could keep track of the distance I was covering because the computer on the bike goes off very shortly after you stop pedalling.
Again, the third hour, with the rugby lot in, went really quickly because I was just watching them being put through hell by Dave who is pretty brutal in his spin classes. That and I was watching thee physique model having a photo shoot downstairs in the gym. No idea what his face looked like though!
After they left, in the fourth hour, the arse pain started. Aside from one very quiet bloke, for the next couple of hours, I was on my own. I read some of my book but I was so tired due to a poor night’s sleep that I was finding it hard to focus.
Setting the 50k rest limit was a good thing because it gave me little steps to focus on, rather than thinking about the overall finish time.
Did I mention that all this took place at an altitude of around 12,000ft?
Another group came it after lunch and were in for two hours, the second hour of which, Dave did another full spin class and the poor girls in there had no idea what they were in for. I think he was trying to kill them.
After that, I was on my own again. On my fourth break at 200k, which was my longest break, the others having only been for two minutes each, Dave told me to go and get a banana out of the cupboard downstairs. I didn’t really want a banana but he said it would do me good so I ate it. I knew bananas were good because of the potassium but I didn’t realise their healing power was that good as half an hour later, the pain in my quads had all but disappeared.
Back on the bike, I was really starting to struggle and had gone from averaging 25k per hour to 20k per hour but this was because I was pretty much standing up the entire time now as the pain in my arse had got so intense.
I was struggling so much that, even though it saddened me, I decided to start having my breaks at 25k instead of 50k. When I got to the 25k, I just walked out of the altitude chamber and lay on the ground for a couple of minutes, whilst eating a pork pie and an energy gel. I then got back into the saddle and carried on waiting for the next 25k. However, a group came in at 5pm and most of them stayed with me then until the end at 7pm and I found that I didn’t need another break because they helped the time fly by and helped me to stop thinking about how much pain I was in. So, in the end, I didn’t have any more breaks than I intended to have.
Getting into the last hour was such a relief and I kept looking at my watch all the way through it, praying for it to move faster. By now, everything hurt – my bum, my back, my quads and my head. Finally, the last half hour arrived and it dawned on me that I hadn’t had any piccies taken so I asked Barry (who runs the gym with Dave) to take a piccie. I think I look pretty damn fresh, considering this was 11.5 hours into the spin
7pm finally arrived and I hopped off that bike so fast it was as if it was on fire. I went straight out of the chamber and lay back down on the floor. I managed to prop myself up for this photo though and as I lay there, another group were going into the chamber and one of the girls commented that I didn't look like I had just cycled 12 hours and looked like I'd only done 12 minutes - or something like that, I was in a bit of a trance like state by this point.
I couldn’t believe I had done it. It is probably the most mentally difficult thing I have ever done. Three things kept me going in there – one was the bloke at work who was really negative about the whole thing and kept saying I wouldn’t be able to do it. I wanted to wipe that smug look off his face so was determined to get through. Secondly, and obviously, the fact that I had collected sponsor money and I didn’t want to let people down. Thirdly was the quote in the corner of the altitude chamber – 'Don’t stop when you’re tired, stop when you’re DONE! '
The physical side of it wasn’t too bad as my average heart rate for the 12 hours was only 110bpm. It was the pain which was intense and I’m really pleased with myself for not giving up.
When I got home, Duncan had run me a hot bath and bought me flowers, chocolates, wine and a take away. Unfortunately, when I got home, I started to feel really sick and dizzy so I didn’t want to eat/drink anything even though I knew I should probably get some food down me. For the 12 hours, I had lived off three dinky pork pies, a whole bag of jelly babies, a banana and an energy gel so I probably needed to get some decent food down me but the through of it made me sick. I ended up going to bed just after 9pm and when I woke up, twelve hours later, I felt like I had a hangover. I felt drained and empty and light headed. It was probably a combination of dehydration and altitude sickness! I had some hydration drink and plenty of water and, as the day wore on, I started to feel much better. I even felt like going for a run but told myself I’d be better off resting.
I just want to end by saying a big thanks to everyone for their support – Dave and Barry for organising the whole thing and for chatting to me throughout the day and providing a much needed banana, all the other guys who came in out of the chamber for their own stints and chatted to me to keep me going, everyone who sponsored me for Children in Need and to Duncan for being so lovely when I got home in a complete state on Friday night.
Thanks all, and well done to all the other spinners who took part in the event. Unfortunately, we ended up 700k short of our goal but nevermind, we still managed to raise a decent amount of money for Children in Need. Still time to sponsor me at https://www.justgiving.com/Christa-Whatmough-Sportesse-PT/
Total distance – 262.5km (163.11 miles)
