The Numbers Before the Start Line
Most riders arrive at RideLondon having tapered their training, eaten well, and slept. I arrived having been hospitalised, malnourished, and having lost significant muscle mass in the three weeks prior.
My pre-ride metrics told the story clearly.
| Metric | Value | Context |
|---|---|---|
| Sleep | 1h 38m | Night before the event |
| HRV | 11ms | Below 15ms is a red flag |
| SpO2 | 92% | Below normal threshold of 95% |
| Pre-event | Hospitalised | Three weeks prior |
By any objective measure, I should not have started. The data said the same thing. I started anyway.
What RideLondon Actually Is
RideLondon is one of the UK's largest closed-road cycling events. For most participants it is a bucket-list sportive. A day out. A challenge completed in good health with months of preparation.
For me it was a proof of concept. The question was not whether I could ride 63.1 miles in good condition. The question was whether Prosthetic Physiology holds under conditions where every pre-ride indicator says it shouldn't.
The Ride
I rode at threshold for four consecutive hours. Not comfortably. At threshold, which for someone with coronary heart disease, square wave haemodynamics, and a pre-ride HRV of 11ms means operating at the precise boundary where the system is either holding or beginning to fail.
The Cognitive Prosthesis was running throughout. Every 10 miles, data summaries via bone conduction headphones. Heart rate cross-referenced against the 80% ceiling. Not how I felt. What the numbers said.
The gut shut down in the middle miles. Anticipated, not reacted to. Managed within the Nutritional Prosthesis protocol.
63.1 miles. Completed.
Why Become
I rode RideLondon 2024 raising funds for Become, the leading charity for children in care and young care leavers in the UK. I was adopted. I know something about navigating a system that wasn't designed with you in mind, and about the difference that consistent support makes when you're trying to build a life without the foundations most people take for granted.
What It Proved
RideLondon 2024 demonstrated that the system functions under genuinely adverse pre-ride conditions. 1 hour 38 minutes of sleep. HRV of 11ms. SpO2 at 92%. Hospitalised three weeks prior. Four hours at threshold. 63.1 miles completed. The system held. That is the result.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Distance | 63.1 miles |
| Duration | Four hours at threshold |
| Pre-ride HRV | 11ms |
| Pre-ride SpO2 | 92% |
| Pre-ride sleep | 1 hour 38 minutes |
| Pre-event status | Hospitalised 3 weeks prior |
| Result | Completed |