Venturing Beyond Comfort: Ride London Experience. I recently took part in a long distance bike ride event (Ride London). This would be the furthest I had ever cycled in a day so my legs and, more importantly, my back side would need some significant training to get used to being in the saddle for so long.

 Training. Being a scientist, it struck me how similar many aspects of my planning were to managing my clients in my day job as an account director at a busy life science marketing agency.

Defining the end goal. Pretty easy; to get round the course in one piece and hopefully enjoy doing it!

Planning the schedule. Training became a priority as somehow I needed to carve out extra time in an already busy family calendar. Cue the Excel spreadsheet, with slots booked for short rides, long rides and other fitness training.

Setting KPIs. I defined speed and overall mileage on my training rides as the key indicators of my performance, and quickly became addicted to tracking all my stats on Strava both during a ride and straight after.

Sourcing the right assets. Number one, a bike! Tick. A new pair of cycling shorts with extra cushioning (!), better socks so that my feet didn’t get so numb and a lighter coloured cycling top so that I didn’t get quite so hot.

Flexibility to make adjustments. Even with all the preparation I had done, that’s not to say everything went according to plan on the day of course! The most significant was the weather; after having approx. 40 days of stinking hot and dry weather, it rained heavily all day on the ride. This changed the conditions dramatically, but I had planned my gear well enough to cope with most eventualities.

Return on investment. Definitely! Great sense of achievement, boosted self-confidence and improved fitness.

Campaign review. Very satisfied with my time and the whole experience, so all in all a successful campaign. The results say it’s worth me doing it again next year!