The BIG Cycle Challenge

Saturday, 17 August 2013

Day 7 - Saturday 17th - Runcorn to Condor Green

Day 7 - Saturday 17^th – Runcorn to Conder Green

Well both of us woke up feeling just great! It seems both our bodies have adjusted to what they are being asked to do day after day. Stefan arrived at the briefing, and then as usual flew off with his regular group who seem to sprint through the day, he was only to be seen briefly as I came into the gents (having just arrived, he just leaving after having had his lunch).

In the morning we rode through Warrington, Leigh and a glancing blow of Bolton. The start of northern England, lots of jokes about Wallace and Gomit, especially when a motorbike with side-car came towards us, but again great people and very friendly. At the first ‘brew’ stop, Graham described the next section as ‘a long flat bit of road that’s been lifted at one end’ – ‘a hill you mean?’ Our excellent guides, Graham, John and Andy will do anything to keep the motivation up and we are now understanding the language they use, ‘only another three hills before the stop’, means ‘there will be about 5’, ‘it’s just round the corner’, means ‘about two miles’ and ‘the weather’s going to brighten up’, means ‘slightly less rain’. So factoring in all of this we set off for the second stint of the day, the section before lunch. We went through Blackburn, not the best parts I am sure, but this is where the sat nav earned its keep, I had had words with it last night and it was behaving well. In fact I was so confident I led a small group through the entire Blackburn route, and you didn’t want to get lost there!

Lunch was good and tasty, still no rain, as forecast, obviously our guides had said there might be ‘a few showers in the afternoon’ – ‘it’s going to pour down’. I think I am getting into the northern thing, there are quite a few of the team from around here so we here the accent and dialect quite a bit. I found myself answering the waitress’s question (at The Black Dog at Belmont) of ‘How was lunch?’ with a locally attuned ‘it were great’.

In the afternoon, it poured down, we all got very, very wet. As Blackadder would say ‘wetter than a fish’s wet bits’. However we seem to move along the road faster when it’s wet, not sure why. After a long stint and a nice stop at a café at an old railway station, we eventually arrived at our pub for the night. Will do exactly what we did last night, because we feel just great today, red wine, steak and chips!

I think we’re there – what I mean is we can see ourselves at the end. The bodies have adjusted, they know what is expected of them, we are almost half way through the mileage, and are half way through the time, so feeling good. Tomorrow the Lakes, one of my favourite places in the world!

Graham at the briefing - a long flat bit of road that's been lifted up at one end...

The technology on my bike - did I mention a movie will be coming out about this little adventure, well at least a youtube video, another revenue raising opportunity me thinks!

Michaela in full flow...

Now at lunch - it were great...

Some of the other slow ones...

Your truly, taken by mistake!

The afternoon cafe stop

ditto

Well at least we're still talking...(no tandem you see)

500 miles of road grime...

a bit faster today and much more enjoyable!

Day 7 - Saturday 17th - Runcorn to Condor Green by Bike27 at Garmin Connect - Details

Day 6 - Friday 16th August - Clun to Runcorn

Day 6 – Clun to Runcorn (yes Runcorn the north of England!)

So I am pleased to report I had the first good night’s sleep of the advanture so far, we were lucky to be allocated the ‘Granary Suite’ at the White Hart in in Clun (Shropshire) and Bev the landlady made us feel very comfortable. We both woke up feeling good although a bit daunted by the 80 mile ride ahead, neither of us had done that distance before, especially after 5 days of similar mileage!

It was the usual full English breakfast, and get all the kit ready. There were a whole load of other cyclists in the pub also but not from our tour they were doing the same route but from Scotland to Land’s End. I was doing some minor adjustments to Michaela’s bike in the shed when I heard the following conversation outside between a couple who were pedalling a tandem.

‘Did you pack my red shorts’

‘No you didn’t put them on the pile’

‘What do you mean, you know I wanted them packed’

‘I just do the day bags you do the overnight packing!’

‘You knew I wanted those in’

‘You always blame me, you should have put them on the pile!’

etc etc for about 15 minutes, including tears and snot – moral of this story, however good an idea it might appear at any point in your life, if you want your relationship to continue, NEVER, NEVER BUY A TANDEM!

We pedalled down to the briefing (on our independent solo powered and controlled bikes) and set off at 8.30 am for a long but reasonably flat ride. I am pleased to report that all my bodily functions are under control, so feeling pretty good. Looks like a bit of rain ahead so jackets on!

We tend to meet up with Stefan at the start of the day and the end of the day. He heads of like a scolded cat, or as Monty Python would say, like a ‘rat out of an aqueduct’. He is running with the fast riders at the front of the group, we are running, or should I say struggling at the very back. Usually last in for the ‘brew’ stops and at the finish.

I was confident that the ‘sh*t nav’ was going to preform well today, but alas, within 10 mile it had shut itself down and denied all knowledge of where we were but usefully, although not but not very convincingly announced ‘continue on road’ - I guess there might be a few more stories about my favourite device later.

The countryside was wonderful, we did get some rain, flat terrain, the corn ready to be harvested, cows, horses and other cattle in the fields, weddings happening in rural churches, locals cutting their hedges and postmen and women delivering mail. A truely British scene. All the locals we said hello to wished us well, they know what we are doing because so many other riders of our tour have pasted and that this is a the main route for LEJOG. Everyone is pleasant and helpful when we ask for directions or start up a conversation.

The weather towards the end of the day is very hot again and we started to get burnt, there are many insects around, several of which bite us or we swallow, Michaela got a nasty bee sting on her neck.

At around 6pm, yes 8.30 am to 6 pm in the saddle, we eventually arrived at the hotel. We met up with Stefan (who arrived at 3.30pm and had already had a massage) – beat him up and chastised him, no sorry congratulated him on his athletic prowess, a quick shower, fixed the GoPro camera whose mount had snapped, bouncing it down the road a few days ago (sorry Ben) dinner and bed.

Tomorrow is a ‘hard’ day again, need the sleep!

The divorce machine...

Puncture repair at the first stop

Where did the sh*t nav say we should go?

The device itself...

Turning the blue into purple...

Useful instruction, I think what it means is go back to Land's End and start again, then I won't be confused...

A truly British scene - not

Me at the Grand Union canal

If we were to stop at all the pubs we have pasted, I reckon this trip would take a year!

Calves developing well

Dinner with Stefan and Michaela

Stefan's tan lines...

Please see our route today, first 9 miles not recorded by my favourite device....

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/360069793

Friday, 16 August 2013

Day 5 - Thursday 15th August - Monmouth to Clun - 'easy' :)

Day 5 – Thursday 15^th Monmouth to Clun

This day was described as easy…easy, relative to what? Sitting on a sofa? No easy relative to the days plugging up hills in Devon, which means it’s still pretty hard in my book.

Anyway I woke up headache free, I have found out what is causing the headaches – red wine deficiency…I had a nice few glasses of Pinotage last night, and the body had obviously been wondering what had happened to the wine intake because I felt fine first thing. No headache – a bliss. Other reasons could be that I have stopped taking the rehydration powders which have significantly upset the whole digestive system (no more details will be forthcoming but I am sure you know what I am talking about!)

Today was largely flat although the legs felt a bit heavy this morning, Michaela was moving well, I struggled in the morning. We took our time and did a very slow day, however we got there. Started off at 9am and got in around 5.30 pm – a fair day’s work.

We went through lovely countryside, got wet in several rain showers, saw a crazy hedge, a great lunch where we met my Mum, Dave and Holly the collie – the only camera shy collie in the world. Bring out a phone or a camera and she’s off!

We arrived in Clun a pretty village in Shropshire with a medieval castle after a 58 mile pedal. Had a lovely pub dinner with the gang and an early bed. Big day in terms of mileage tomorrow.

The group we are with (23 of us) are all fantastic. There are many moving and different reasons for people doing this big challenge, and they fall largely into these groups. Firstly cyclist who fancy what most people consider to be the greatest cycle challenge in the UK, just for the challenge, secondly those who are doing it for charity and have been moved by something important for them and thirdly people who are doing it for loved ones, who have suffered illness or worse as a way of honouring them. As I said all just fantastic people with very different and often very moving reasons for doing this.

Whilst pedalling along I have been think about how cycling is a metaphor for life, so here are some of my thoughts. I am sure in the coming days I will have time to generate more!

· You can only ever see the next hill.
· …and when you get to the top of the hill, you can often find it isn’t the top
· You only see the hills in front of you rather than all the ones you have already conquered
· A mile travelled is better travelled with companions
· Any seemingly impossible task can be broken down into the next steps, then the next steps and then..
· One pedal at a time
· Life is all about turning the blue line into a purple line until there is no line left and then you can stop...