(Although this bunch of lightweights are doing it as a relay rather than the whole distance - and with a luxury coach to sleep in..)
Might be worth keeping an eye on their challenge however, and interestingly like us they're also doing it north-to-south which is not the most common direction due to the prevailing winds.
Decided it was about time I should add some comments and join the Bloggle!
Thanks Paul for keeping the overall news up to speed.
Unlike my mate, opportunities for me to train on the roads are a little more limited due to family commitments – however when my lovely wife gives me the green light to go out I have to grab it with gusto.
That happened this weekend, and Sunday morning was my green light. Given that I’m doing an hour or so most evenings on my turbo-trainer I relished the idea of some “proper” cycling.
My alarm went off at 06:30 and I peeped out of the window to see the rain and sleet, and to be honest I just wanted to get back into my warm bed. However the reality of just 17 weeks left of training got me up and into my cycling gear, and I was off by 07:30 with 6 weetabixand a banana inside me.
Within 5 minutes I was already drenched and my wet leggings were making my legs feel heavy, but that wasn’t going to stop me; I was on a green light after all!
I headed off towards Petworth, with a distance of 70 miles in my head – only reason being that we did 60 last time and I wanted to prove to myself I could do more.
Petworth came and went, and Chichester seemed to be the next logical place to aim for. I passed through Chichester and decided to continue coast bound to Chichester Marina. From previous camping experiences I’d remembered that there was a decent cafe there.
Chichester Marina arrived just over 30 miles by which point I was so drenched (and cold) that I took off my gloves upon arrival and wrung them out making streams of dirty water! I then took off my outer layers and spread them over the radiators much to the bemusement of the already settled full-English-breakfast diners.
3 cups of tea, a flapjack and 10 minutes under the hand-dryer in the gents later, I was thawing out nicely and ready to get back into my still wet, but warm gear for the return leg.
Still raining steadily it was a case of head down, and my journey back was pretty much the same other than my new favourite hill at Duncton produced a PB top-speed: 42.6mph! given that I’d been up and down the same hill a few weeks back I’d taken a run at it this time and barrelled over the crest.
As I arrived home, my trip computer was showing 61 miles – and I still had an hour left before I was due in for my roast lunch. Despite the call of a hot bath, I still had my 70 mile target in my head so I carried on past home and cycled to Haslemere to add the extra miles.
By now my legs were really feeling it. The rest was a blur of discomfort – but nevertheless I added the miles and got home with 70.03 miles on the clock, total riding time of 4hrs 56mins.
If that doesn’t prepare me for the worst the Scottish Highlands have to throw at us I don’t know what will!
Looking forward to the next Big Ride, this time with Paul for company – hopefully.
Yet another constructive week, mainly down to getting the majority of accommodation side, but a breakthrough with my charity has put the fundraising back on track.
We have been blown away by people’s generosity in supporting us in many ways. We referred to Beyond Mountainbikes and Howdo Research last week, and this week it is the B&Bs that have come up trumps . The ones that have helped will all be sending logos to identify themselves elsewhere on the website. If you ever need to stay in any of our destination towns, give them call first. We have added the list of towns to the ‘Our Route’ page.
Last Sunday I braved the Valentine’s Day weather (cold and rainy) for a 45 mile round trip with mountain bike diehards Darren and Pete. Destination was Olney, to visit another charity cyclist, Brian, who is raising money for an eye cancer charity by riding from London to Paris in May. His challenge is that he is 63, by his own admission too keen on whisky, and apart from that he has most of one arm missing. His new £1500 recumbent bike is a work of art – he is still mastering the new recumbent style. After ogling the bike, we enjoyed a mean cuppa (thanks Brenda) and turned for home.
I was generally chuffed with my Ebay bike. It is light and a perfect fit. Saddle soreness is not such a problem thanks to my new gel saddle but the lower gears need a slight tweak as the previous owner had obviously had a go unsuccessfully. By the way Darren, thanks for the donated SPD pedals.
Had a call from Mark Lambert (see the ‘Donate Now’ page of the site) on Monday with some good news. In order to set up the justgiving.com page I needed a registered charity name and number for Frenchay. But they don’t have one. Mark has requested that Frenchay works with Headway Worcester Trust which is a registered charity and deals with the same issues. So now the justgiving page is up and running www.justgiving.com/matandpauldojogle for you to donate and help me reach my target.
Alison Woods of Frenchay Brain Injury Rehabilitation Centre also called, which was good timing. We made plans for a scheduled stop at Frenchay on Monday June 28th and agreed the justgiving.com arrangement with Headway Worcester Trust.
Yesterday I managed another ride - 50 miles this time – on a bright and icy Saturday morning. Joined by Darren and Pete again, I headed for north Bedfordshire via Wootton and Stagsden and covered the first 23 miles in about 1hr 45mins which won’t break any records but felt comfortable. The Evans seniors in Oakley laid on the coffee and treacle tart refreshments and then we headed back via Bedford and Darren’s special Willington diversion. At the 40 mile stage and with a slow puncture, we were all starting to struggle a bit so sight of Westoning 2hrs after leaving Oakley was welcome relief.
A very productive week . Mat’s been busy a busy boy with printing, sponsorship and tweaking this website while we’ve had a lengthy but productive get together to review the route and confirm the overnight stops.
Top sponsor so far (run by top bloke Simon Cheshire) is Howdo Research, who have single-handedly helped us cover 50% of the food and accommodation budget with a perfectly timed cheque. Go to www.howdoresearch.com to see what a charmed list of clients Howdo Research works for.
In the meantime we have set up a bank account with the very helpful and slightly bemused Maxine at Lloyds TSB in Godalming. She’s great. If you want to set up a free account with internet access and a £250 overdraft, then choose Maxine’s Lloyds Classic. But be quick, she moves back to the Odiham branch soon.
We also met up with the boss at Beyond Mountain Bikes and got a head full of excellent advice on training, navigation and equipment. She really came up trumps on some Beyond Mountain Bikes cycling tops which we will wear with pride at every photo opportunity. See www.beyondmountainbikes.comor join up and take part in the Bike club’s rides, even in the current freezing weather.
So, the route. Looking back over the original schedule, we had somehow crammed 962 miles into 9 days. Even we realised this was overly optimistic. So we painstakingly went through the route and daily mileages and changed everything to a 10 day schedule – it took till 1 am in the morning. The list of places is now on the Our Route page of website. If you live along the route or nearby, let us know if you’ll be waving us on or cycling with us – the more the merrier!
I’ve collected my Ebay bike! Not sure whether it will be a training bike or whether it is THE bike. Whatever the choice it’s a fabulously light Specialized Sirrus needing a bit of TLC and a new tyres before it hits the road. With a 45 mile ride planned for Sunday morning, I hope it’s a runner. Good old Ebay.
Training ride no 1 Sunday Jan 24, 2010. Working on the principle of 'in at the deep end' we planned a 60 mile ride to see how much chafing a grown man could stand without stopping and pushing. Being the one without a turbo trainer and currently borrowing a hybrid bike rather than drag a heavy mountain bike round, I was expecting to be the weaker of the two. Mat duly arrived from Godalming at 9 am on a dry cloudy, and cold morning, right on time for bacon butties and a large mug of coffee. After pumping a few more psi into the tyres to allow for the bacon, we pedalled away from Westoning. For me it took a while to get used to riding a very upright but beautifully light hybrid bike again. The saddle was mercifully plush. My route was mostly in my head, with a map for the complicated bits that I forgot and as a nod to our mutual fetish for motorsport, the first destination was the Red Bull Racing factory in the Tilbrook area of Milton Keynes. The traffic was light and we could chat away as we pedalled through Ridgmont, Woburn and into the wooded roads to Aspley Heath. We hit maximum speed dropping down into Little Brickhill but 27 mph was more down to the 1:5 gradient rather than powerful legs. Apart from the paintjob, the F1 team's building was all quiet this dull Sunday morning, but we were not disappointed. Chatting about the prospects for F1 and rallying in 2010 we were both agreed it has the makings of a great year. That distracted me from the navigation briefly but the rest stop at the Daytona kart track convinced Mat we were back on the right track. Was there a headwind regardless of our direction? The sky was brightning so it didn't matter. Next town on the route was Stony Stratford where I celebrated my stag night nearly 12 years ago. That was a Cock and Bull story. Passenham looked peaceful as we crossed the River Ouse and headed for the backroads out to Deanshanger and on to Whittlebury. The sign posts in Deanshanger could be bad for morale; we cycled half a mile through the village and saw 'Whittlebury 4 miles' more than once. Still we'd reached the 30 mile halfway point without much discomfort, the sun was coming through and we ticked off another petrolhead venue when we could just see the Silverstone grandstands through the trees. The A5 is a busy road, but it is straight and quick, even on a bike. Cars have plenty of road to pass wide and for me it was head down and keep thinking of the imminent lunch stop I had planned. Trouble was, I couldn't build up the Super Sausage Cafe too much because it could have been closed. It's legendary. We couldn't help a daft smile as we lent the bikes up and went inside to sit in the sunlight and drink huge mugs of tea. Mat's steak kept him smiling and my modest sausage beans and chips were perfect. Restarting is always difficult, but we soon got back into a 15mph rhythm down to the major roundabout at Stoney Stratford and back through the town centre. Were my boxer shorts still stuffed above the speakers in the Cock Inn after 12 years. We didn't stop to find out. 40 miles. At this point the tops of my legs were burning on the inclines. I decided to revert to the route plan B and leave the Aston Martin factory in Newport Pagnell for another day. I had to stop to stretch off the cramps in Bletchley, but that, and a tailwind through a set of fast roundabouts helped for a while. At 50 miles there was a long incline out of Woburn Sands past the mountain bike tracks in Aspley Heath and Woburn woods. Mat did the decent thing and held back as I was struggling to keep up until the downhill. I wasn't looking forward to the last steep slope through the park at Woburn as my legs were on the verge of cramping and the saddle had lost its plush setting in the last 10 miles. In the end I crested the hill and from there it was a cruise back to the house along very familiar roads to Westoning. The attached photo was not enhanced - the true mileage was 60.24, in 5 hours, and the endorphines were kicking in before the kettle had boiled. The end of a successful first outing in the winter sunshine. Oh for the same still sunny weather for 10 days in June. Porks
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