D is for Determination (Definition: The quality of being determined; firmness of purpose). Determination is perhaps the single most defining character of an event like this. While there is a huge amount of physical effort involved and as we have already seen, a good crew is also essential – these atributes are worthless without the determination and resolve to get through the race regardless of the difficulties that greet you along the way.
And these difficulties can come in many forms. As anybody who has cycled in rain wind for any length of time will know, it can be a steady wearing down of your will power. To fight through bad weather for hour after hour takes a special kind of determination. To cycle through the night while you know that the people in every house you pass are tucked up in their beds takes a resilience which is not common. To force yourself and your bike up yet another hill takes physical effort and to conquer the pain and fatigue your body endures, requires an ability to push the mind through places most people don’t even know exist.
“You can have anything you want if you want it badly enough. You can be anything you want to be, do anything you set out to accomplish if you hold to that desire with singleness of purpose.”
― Abraham Lincoln