‘Back in the Saddle v2.1’
As we prepare to take on a Tour challenge that up until 10 days looked like it would be scuppered for another year, thought I’d revisit and remaster a previous one to whet the readers appetite for what lays ahead.
I hadn’t planned to blog this year and in truth have not published one for almost three years, but I was prompted to by a Wasup message from the skipper – Geoff Thomas (guessing I should add the full title now) as GT’s a MBE, he was rightly recognised by HRH as coincidently was fellow rider Mike Hopkins in the recent honours.
I struggled at school, there I’ve said it, in truth I’m not embarrassed. It has probably defined me in my older years, given me a steely sense of determination.
With an unruly mop of Gandalf white hair I dreamt big as a youngster but didn’t quite have the tools or the belief at my disposal, I wish I could go back and tell him it would all be ok, well sort of.
It’s been pretty well documented that I dreamt of being a pro cyclist in my younger years, I look back often with regret that the opportunities that I had as an Espoir (u23) to race in Belgium which I didn’t explore further.
A life at the stove beckoned although I didn’t give up racing, it was certainly far harder racing at the weekends against household names, Boardman, Yates, Tanner and the like after 60hrs minimum on your feet.
I gave up road racing at the age of 29 which coincided with me taking a career defining role as Exec Chef at the historic Lloyd’s of London building. Each day felt like a ‘classic’ in its own right and on my day off there was only a gentle ride to refocus on a challenging week ahead.
I joked in an interview 14 years later that to succeed in looking after Lloyd’s 4 kitchens back at that time, took stubborn steely determination whilst working through a broken bone in my foot and a CHRONIC TEAR of my ACL in my right knee that I hadn’t discovered until 2015 some eight years later
It was that year that changed me. I had won the prize of National Chef of the year in 2013 a dream come true, to be in the ‘Hall of Fame’ including previous winners Gordon Ramsay was the pinnacle of my cooking career that began with washing up and flipping burgers at McDonalds.
I leveraged that to great effect, no I didn’t have a place with my name above the door, I rode the Tour de France one day ahead of the pros with Geoff Thomas, raising over £65k in the process. Another childhood dream ticked off. Albeit with no number pinned on my jersey, however I did race a certain 7 time winner for “Shits & Giggles…”
Fast forward to 2017 & Doug McKinnon (one of the crazy few from ’15) suggested that why not go again but 3 times as big, that’s right the Giro, Tour, Vuelta sandwich; something that less than 50 Pro’s have taken on in a year. A quartet was formed, Geoff, James Maltin, Doug & Myself.
My idea to supplement fundraising for this epic 6490 mile 63 day journey was to write a Book (click on link for details.
I’ve never written a book and I’m sure reading the start of this piece you can probably understand why!
But all chefs have a book in them and this was to be mine, a 288 page coffee table book with recipes, stories & images inspired by the journey. Generously supported by my then employers BaxterStorey and in particular long time supporter and Chairman Alastair Storey OBE, saw that 100% of the sale would go directly to Cure leukaemia- almost unheard of. To date alongside Justgiving donations my contribution to the charity pot is close to £200k something I’m prouder of than the cycling alone.
The success didn’t stop there, the elite team of Anthony Hodgson as publisher from Face publications, Adrian Franklin on food photography & ‘Digi’ Dave Hayward with his wonderful images on location, coupled with my narrative and ramblings, we had a unique book. The book has been well received, actually far more than we realised as it has been awarded two world gourmand awards in China.
With now less than 75 copies left you can secure one of the last few and in doing so, feel good about your purchase as the £30 sale goes towards potentially saving someone’s life. Buy Here – BACK IN THE SADDLE
As I repost this piece I am packing to get ready to take on the Tour de France one last time, an early morning flight on the 18th June and if all goes to plan I will be starting the next day at the grand depart with 17 other riders, all in the pursuit of riding a lap of France but more importantly raising funds for the charity that I am now a proud Patron of.
If you can & would like to support us in breaking our £1m target for Cure Leukaemia, you can donate on this link –
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Hayden-GT15
Hx
It's not about the grouse 