The Big CW Fitness Project 2021

Three new riders, three fresh sets of cycling goals – we’ll be following their progress every step of the way

ANDY LEWIS

THE WEEKEND WARRIOR

In 2013 I became a dad for the first time when our son Jasper was born. He arrived 11 weeks premature and spent five weeks in the neonatal unit, cared for round the clock by amazing nurses and doctors. Once he had grown into a healthy toddler, I wanted to give something back. So in 2017 I bought a Trek Emonda on the Cycle-to-Work Scheme and signed up for RideLondon as a fundraiser.

After getting off the bike at the end of that first 100-mile ride, I said to my wife Jenny: “If you ever see me try to do that again, shoot me.” Three days later I’d entered the ballot for the following year’s event. In a nutshell, that’s how I got started in cycling.

Last March I fell ill with suspected Covid-19 and, being an asthmatic, my chest got really rattly. One night it got so bad that Jenny said, “I didn’t think you were going to wake up the following morning”. I wasn’t hospitalised but it was the illest I had felt in my life. Once I’d recovered, I thought, “Right, I can’t have that happen again, I’m going to get myself as fit as I can”.

I’d played rugby at county level as a teenager, but surgery on my knee led to many years of relative inactivity. When I first started cycling in 2017, my weight had ballooned to 113kg, a lifetime high. Getting down to 105kg was easy just through regular riding, and over the past year working from home has allowed me to be more disciplined in my eating, and I’m now down to 91kg. Ideally I’d like to drop another six kilos and get down to 85kg by the end of this Fitness Project.