Monday 14 September 2009
DONE IT
So, here I am, sat at home in the UK, after an incredibly emotional couple of days. Saturday started well and we flew the first 28 or so miles through to lunch, past a water stop en route. Lunch was taken by a river and a coupl eof scamps thought it would be funny to go for a swim - oooooh the chaffing I thought! After lunch it was to be a 'leisurely ride' into Pairs, leisurely if the Parisien drivers weren't all nutters...at least three or four times our group of five was nearly hit by people over taking or coming in from a side street. Still, we made it through all Paris had to offer to the park where we all met up at about 3pm. The over-riding feeling was one of real achievement and the emotion really took me. I sat on a grass bank, spent, and wept, really wept. The pain of the last few days and the scale of what I had achieved was sinking in, and at that moment I felt my Dad would be so proud and I couldn't stop the tears...
After a few mins of quiet relection someone snapped me out of it by suggesting we had an ice-cream (!) and from the park we waited for a couple of stragglers to arrive (one had a pedal fall off!!) and we went en masse to the Eiffel Tower. It was am amaing feeling to head to the Arc de Triomphe roundabout, and head down the Champs Elysees, traffic blocked, horns tooting, people cheering. What a terrific feeling, my melancholy refelctive mood had been replaced by one of great elation. We rode past the Eiffel Tower and there I saw Jen, Pat, Lizzie, Richard, Lynn, and of course, B; she saw me and waved excitedly - the look on her face made the whole trip worth while (more tears!)....a short trip on and we arrived at the base of the Eiffel Tower, where a chilled bottle of Veuve Cliquot awaited...! Never has a glass of champagne tasted so good. A few photos later and the short ride to the hotel to begin the celebrations...since then we've been up the Eiffel Tower (or Big Pylon as B refers to it) and headed home on Eurostar....
I have to say without a few people the last few days would have been impossible. Sunil, my biking buddy, waiting for me when I was slow and paced me when I had energy in my legs. He is a great bloke and his patience was a God-send. Martin, my room-mate was a top bloke, considered, thoughtful and wanted to go to sleep early...fantastic - just what I wanted in a room-mate. The food was great (I have put on 3 pounds - must be muscle :) ) and the organisation was nearly faultless by Discover Adventure. Finally without the support of my family, Jen in particular, nagging me to go out training I would never of done this and to them I am truely grateful.
What next? I am thinking trek, and I quite fancy Everest base camp or Kilimanjiro....never say never!
After a few mins of quiet relection someone snapped me out of it by suggesting we had an ice-cream (!) and from the park we waited for a couple of stragglers to arrive (one had a pedal fall off!!) and we went en masse to the Eiffel Tower. It was am amaing feeling to head to the Arc de Triomphe roundabout, and head down the Champs Elysees, traffic blocked, horns tooting, people cheering. What a terrific feeling, my melancholy refelctive mood had been replaced by one of great elation. We rode past the Eiffel Tower and there I saw Jen, Pat, Lizzie, Richard, Lynn, and of course, B; she saw me and waved excitedly - the look on her face made the whole trip worth while (more tears!)....a short trip on and we arrived at the base of the Eiffel Tower, where a chilled bottle of Veuve Cliquot awaited...! Never has a glass of champagne tasted so good. A few photos later and the short ride to the hotel to begin the celebrations...since then we've been up the Eiffel Tower (or Big Pylon as B refers to it) and headed home on Eurostar....
I have to say without a few people the last few days would have been impossible. Sunil, my biking buddy, waiting for me when I was slow and paced me when I had energy in my legs. He is a great bloke and his patience was a God-send. Martin, my room-mate was a top bloke, considered, thoughtful and wanted to go to sleep early...fantastic - just what I wanted in a room-mate. The food was great (I have put on 3 pounds - must be muscle :) ) and the organisation was nearly faultless by Discover Adventure. Finally without the support of my family, Jen in particular, nagging me to go out training I would never of done this and to them I am truely grateful.
What next? I am thinking trek, and I quite fancy Everest base camp or Kilimanjiro....never say never!
Friday 11 September 2009
Day 3
Today was meant to be the easy day. MEANT TO. EASY. It wasn't. The first 23 miles were all up hill, apart from a few downhill bits that meant you then had to go back up hill. We climbed around 2,000 feet which was more than enough for me to be frank! The wind then decided to pick up and at times we were cycling directly into the wind, UP HILL. Nice. Lunch was at 43 miles, and the final water stop at around 60, with just under 10 miles, pretty much all downhill into Beauvais. We had a fatality on the trip today - a farmer's dog ran into the road chasing a cyclist and got hit by a car...not a pretty sight!
Pictures won't upload for now so will put them up tomorrow....
Pictures won't upload for now so will put them up tomorrow....
Thursday 10 September 2009
2 days in, sore bum but doing ok!
So here we are in Abbeville, some 157 miles from London as the fat boy cycles....weird to think we left London less that 36 hours ago......[wavey lines].......
After arriving at the Clarendon hotel, a lofty 794 out of 1,150 hotels in London on Tripadvisor, I was not to be disappointed, tiny ariless rooms, service with a grimace and a shower that barely trickled. My room mate was to be Sunil (more of him later) who seemed a nice guy if an inveterant snorer...I got two hours sleep, he was up at 4am...
After breakfast and last minute checks on the bike we made it across the road to Blackheath green (?) where we had a bit of a briefing, dropped our kit off and started out on our (sort of) epic journey.
Just before leaving the hotel
Waiting for it all to start
Within a mile we had a beast of a hill and this set the tone for the day - hills, hills and more hills...the weather though was great - no wind and glorious sunshine for long distances. The day was punctuated with a couple of water stops, lunch and a couple of toilet breaks (unscheduled). For the whole day we were against the clock as our ferry was due to go at 5.50...however I managed to get to Dover for 3.57, about 40th of the group of 130 - quite pleased with that! A lot of the day I was cycling on my own but every now and then someone would come past and stop for a chat - it really is amazing how many different reasons people are doing this ride for, we have loads of people from Christians Against Poverty (they're all really *nice*), and other charities, Ataxia, Loros etc etc....the nicest thing is that everyone looks out for each other and has a nice word to say if passing or at a stop.
We finally made it into Calais after 40 mins or so delay and were then taken, in convoy, to our hotel, except it wasn't our hotel - they got the wrong one. Another 3 miles and we finally got to our hotel, my new room was Martin, another GP (Sunil is one too) from Scotland.
A good night's sleep was had by all, and we headed off at 7.45ish on our second day - the first 23 miles (to first water break were really tough (and I mean really tough), but once we got there it was relatively easy - long flat buit with the wind behind us 'til lunch followed by a few nasty hills but nothing major. I cycled all day with Sunil and it makes a huge difference having someone egg you on and pace you.
These pictures are (in order) - the hill profiles for each day, Martin having a well earned rest, Sunil at lunch, day 2, beautiful water wheel and me....ruining another picture!
Routes and hill profiles - just to keep my bro happy :)
After arriving at the Clarendon hotel, a lofty 794 out of 1,150 hotels in London on Tripadvisor, I was not to be disappointed, tiny ariless rooms, service with a grimace and a shower that barely trickled. My room mate was to be Sunil (more of him later) who seemed a nice guy if an inveterant snorer...I got two hours sleep, he was up at 4am...
After breakfast and last minute checks on the bike we made it across the road to Blackheath green (?) where we had a bit of a briefing, dropped our kit off and started out on our (sort of) epic journey.
Just before leaving the hotel
Waiting for it all to start
Within a mile we had a beast of a hill and this set the tone for the day - hills, hills and more hills...the weather though was great - no wind and glorious sunshine for long distances. The day was punctuated with a couple of water stops, lunch and a couple of toilet breaks (unscheduled). For the whole day we were against the clock as our ferry was due to go at 5.50...however I managed to get to Dover for 3.57, about 40th of the group of 130 - quite pleased with that! A lot of the day I was cycling on my own but every now and then someone would come past and stop for a chat - it really is amazing how many different reasons people are doing this ride for, we have loads of people from Christians Against Poverty (they're all really *nice*), and other charities, Ataxia, Loros etc etc....the nicest thing is that everyone looks out for each other and has a nice word to say if passing or at a stop.
We finally made it into Calais after 40 mins or so delay and were then taken, in convoy, to our hotel, except it wasn't our hotel - they got the wrong one. Another 3 miles and we finally got to our hotel, my new room was Martin, another GP (Sunil is one too) from Scotland.
A good night's sleep was had by all, and we headed off at 7.45ish on our second day - the first 23 miles (to first water break were really tough (and I mean really tough), but once we got there it was relatively easy - long flat buit with the wind behind us 'til lunch followed by a few nasty hills but nothing major. I cycled all day with Sunil and it makes a huge difference having someone egg you on and pace you.
These pictures are (in order) - the hill profiles for each day, Martin having a well earned rest, Sunil at lunch, day 2, beautiful water wheel and me....ruining another picture!
Routes and hill profiles - just to keep my bro happy :)
Tuesday 8 September 2009
Docs Report
Not a kidney infection as far as they can tell.....should be good to go! Fingers crossed!
A glimmer of hope
Just spoke to the organisers, they have said that if needs be they will take me to Dover on the back of the truck if I need an extra day to recover which is good news in that I can then to that leg at my leisure another time...still feeling a little better and am waiting for the docs to call me back with news on how serious the infection is.
In the balance.....
....I am starting to think that the antibiotics are kicking in, I feel a little better and don't feel like I need the loo every 5 mins...! Hopefully this isn't a false dawn and I will be ok to start at 7am prompt tomorrow. The way I look at it that's 2 more pills and a load of cranberries.....!
Monday 7 September 2009
Not feeling any better.....
.....hoping the antibiotics are going to kick in overnight as I feel lousy at the moment. Have drunk enough Cranberry juice to turn red and enough water to last a lifetime...fingers crossed.
Cambridge United have very kindly run a story on my bike trip - which is exceptionally exciting...and I have even had some sponsorship already - thanks to Tom in the Habbin!
Right - well you could say the next 24 hours are crucial, fingers well and truly crossed that this time tomorrow night I will be holed up in a shit hotel in South London - you won't hear me say that often!
Cambridge United have very kindly run a story on my bike trip - which is exceptionally exciting...and I have even had some sponsorship already - thanks to Tom in the Habbin!
Right - well you could say the next 24 hours are crucial, fingers well and truly crossed that this time tomorrow night I will be holed up in a shit hotel in South London - you won't hear me say that often!
Unbelievable
So, 2 days before ths big off I get diagnosed with a UTI, nightmare. Feeling like I need to pee every 2 mins and feeling knackered etc...not good. Am on strong dose of antibiotics, hoping they will sort me out in 24 hours. I have not been ill for months - why now?
Sunday 6 September 2009
Last training trip...
...Well here we go then I guess. Went out and did around 28 miles (missed 2 off satnav again - d'oh)....cycled to Grafham, met J, B & D, had a picnic, went round Grafham water with B (just over 8 miles - she fell asleep after 3!) and then cycled back...for some reason my left knee is killing me tonight though and I have taken Ibuprofen and iced it...fingers crossed it'll be ok in the morning.
Can I do 3 of those in a day - I think I can if the hills aren't too severe. Working it out it's got to take a max of around 3 hours per 30 miles (including stops) and an hour for lunch = 10 hours (day one) - this means leaving at 6.30am and getting to Dover for 4.30 (ferry at 5.30 apparently). It is my biggest fear in the whole trip - not making the ferry...
Wish me luck!
Saturday 5 September 2009
Last practice ride tomorrow...
...think I will be heading up to Grafham water, do a lap and come back - about 26 miles. Want to do it in under 2 hours which would be a good run out. Jen is out with the girls tonight and I am sat at home so I won't be hungover tomorrow. I will get B up and giv eher a lie in and head out mid-morning I think. I can buy the bits I need (some deep heat and other cycle bits) from Grafham cycling at the same time. In other news my leg warmers arrived and my Mum posted my lightweight jacket which I left in Cornwall.
Not long to go now - I can't believe there will be anyone who's done as little training as me - or is as unfit as me....the fact the trip starts 9/9/9 worries me a little.....!!!
Not long to go now - I can't believe there will be anyone who's done as little training as me - or is as unfit as me....the fact the trip starts 9/9/9 worries me a little.....!!!
Tuesday 1 September 2009
Cornwall - Hills, hills and more hills (apart from the Camel Trail)
OK, now let's get this straight. Cornwall has hills - and then some...I decided to cycle to Newquay (about 30 miles) but didn't expect the massive hills in and out of Redruth, Perranporth and the final climb into Newquay - all absolute killers...
I switched the GPS off with about 6 miles to go by accident so it looks like I stopped short of Newquay - I didn't! One of the beautiful things about t'internet is you get to communicate with people you'd never normally meet so I 'met' a guy via Twitter called Sean Maher who is cycling from Cornwall to Capetown!!! Check out his website here. We decided we would do the Camel Trail together and we did so today - a fairly brisk pace - details in picture below. The pic of both of us is in Padstow where we met up with Jen, B and Ken and had a decent lunch before setting off. Sean is trying to raise as much money as he can for various charities and is a thoroughly nice chap - I am going to help him out a little and hopefully some of my contacts could be of use to him.
I switched the GPS off with about 6 miles to go by accident so it looks like I stopped short of Newquay - I didn't! One of the beautiful things about t'internet is you get to communicate with people you'd never normally meet so I 'met' a guy via Twitter called Sean Maher who is cycling from Cornwall to Capetown!!! Check out his website here. We decided we would do the Camel Trail together and we did so today - a fairly brisk pace - details in picture below. The pic of both of us is in Padstow where we met up with Jen, B and Ken and had a decent lunch before setting off. Sean is trying to raise as much money as he can for various charities and is a thoroughly nice chap - I am going to help him out a little and hopefully some of my contacts could be of use to him.
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