Thomas Woolf: Cycling from London to Dubai for charity

13:06 04/12/2013
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  • If ever there was someone in the UAE you’d back to be brave enough to take on an epic 9,000km cross-continental cycle challenge over 40 days from London to Dubai, it would be Nike ambassador and running coach Thomas Woolf.

    That’s despite the fact he humbly admits to not having much of a biking background which, frankly, is scarcely believable given the ex-Harlequin seems to be good at everything.

    Ever the picture of grit and gusto, it’s also easy to see why he is one of the most consistently sought-after personal trainers in the region – his energy transfers to clients and results happen.

    What’s different this time though is that he isn’t the one cajoling from the sidelines, and for the ‘One Ride’ challenge he’ll be in the saddle for up to eight hours a day to raise $1 million by October. No pressure.

    With three weeks to go until he starts on September 1, here’s how he’s coping.

    It’s admirable you are doing something to give back to charity, but why this?

    The inspiration came at the London 2012 Olympics – I was there and got chatting with some of the Nike guys about doing some sort of challenge, something a bit different to take me out of the comfort zone; a monumental challenge that could not only test me physically but also hopefully raise awareness and some much-needed funding for a charity.

    And suddenly I said I want to cycle from London to Dubai, without having thought up any of the logistics or a plan – and when you make these things public you kind of have to follow through on them.

    What’s the route looking like then?

    My support crew, consisting of ex-military guys, and I came up with logistically the easiest way through: UK, France, Belgium, Germany, and then we sort of follow the Danube all the way down, which is relatively flat.

    Then we hit Bulgaria and come all the way through Turkey, one of the toughest countries we’ll traverse – it’s damn hot and hilly. Following that we hit Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and then the UAE. Training started in January.

    Did you devise your own programme?

    I did, but I’ve also done a good bit of research on how the elite cyclists train, and luckily, cycling is one of the few really booming sports in the UAE and there’s an incredible cycling community, so I’ve picked up lots from them.

    The last week, for instance, consisted of four back-to-back days of 220km rides per day where I’ve simulated the same pattern that I’d be doing on the actual challenge, followed by a day’s rest, then two days of strength-based training. And I’ve been building up to that. In all honesty, it’s been incredibly challenging!

    Not only do we have tricky conditions here, it’s also just not being a cyclist, finding the time to train, I have a business to run… all of these things add up. But I have the benefit of owning my own business and having been an athlete before, so I have that flexibility, it’s a real luxury to be able to do this. It’s an investment you make in yourself.

    You can either look at the negatives – for example, waking up at 4am is a real pain; or you can look at the positives – I wouldn’t get to see all of the incredible deserts and wildlife like oryxes and foxes on these training rides if I wasn’t up and out there for sunrise.

    What changes have you noticed in your body?

    [laughs] My body shape has changed massively – it’s very difficult to keep weight on when you’re doing that volume of work. Everybody’s saying I should’ve lost a lot more weight by now because obviously the lighter you are on the bike the better.

    To give you an idea, someone like Bradley Wiggins said that he had to lose 11kg to win the Tour de France. That’s not to say that I’m anywhere near that realm of athletes but you can see the extremes they go to to compete.

    I know you as very competitive; is there a secret goal in mind to achieve this?

    With this type of challenge I think it’s about being intelligent. I think about the old fable The Tortoise and the Hare, and I very much view myself as the tortoise. We’ll average around 30-32kph on the bike, and that’s a fairly consistent pace. It’s not about racing.

    Why did you choose Prince Harry’s Sentebale charity?

    I help the guys from Just Giving, support their Middle Eastern/African charities, and Sentebale is one based out in Lesotho. They’re a very small team, they punch above their weight, and I actually got a chance to see firsthand the incredible projects they were doing.

    A classic example is helping the herd boys there. There are half a million orphans in Lesotho and the boys are often put to work as herd boys for shepherds from as young as five in order to support their families. As a result they can’t go to school.

    Sentebale have therefore developed this programme for them where they go and build schools at the cattle ranches and then they follow the herds around to enable the boys to study each day.

    Any advice for readers who might now be inspired to get out there for a cause?

    I would encourage anybody to get behind a cause, register a page on Just Giving and get out there and commit to something. There are some great challenges such as the Spinneys Dubai 92 Cycle Challenge in December or the ADNIC Yas Run in Abu Dhabi in November.

    If I do a challenge and five or six people read about it and then go out and do something, they might inspire some of their friends, and suddenly there’s this tidal wave of positivity.

    Donate: www.justgiving.com/TeamOneRide

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