Ride London 100 done and delighted

Outside Buckingham Palace, after charging down The Mall to the finish

On Sunday 4th August we completed the 100 mile cycle route through London and Surrey on closed roads. What an achievement - both in completing it and in it actually happening.
The build-up was impressive, the organisation couldn't be faulted, and the conditions were ideal.

We arrived in London on Friday night, went to Excel to collect our race numbers and then joined in the London FreeCycle - 8 miles of closed roads in the centre of London. Ended up at Green Park cycling festival where there were lots of cycling activities taking place. Met up with some cycling friends - not planned - and saw colleagues from the world of cycling.

In preparation for the 100-mile ride we only had a carafe of wine (not a bottle) with our evening pasta! Bed by 9.30pm. Alarm set for 4am - yes 4am. On reading through the final instructions from Ride London realising that the start was at the Olympic park which is 7miles away from where we are staying. We must be on the road by 5am and the only way is to cycle.

It was still dark when the alarm went off. All our clothes were ready to quickly spring into action, eat porridge, drink fluids, final check and leave. Oops left sunglasses on a stool in the hallway. Realised about a mile into the journey but no turning back now.

We had studied our route the day before using the London cycling maps, asked advice about the best way to cycle, downloaded a route from the Barclays cycle app........ And didn't need any of it - just followed the mass of cyclists converging on the London streets at 5am - mixed in with the drunken revellers finishing off their Saturday night out. We passed a few poor cyclists with punctures - not a good start to the day for them.

The sun was rising as we arrived at the Olympic stadium. It was a warm morning and very exciting with thousands of cyclists. Once we knew where our starting gate was we relaxed and took in the atmosphere.

At the start we looked like this, 6am at the Olympic Park
















We set off in our wave exactly on time. A leisurely 2 miles to the official start and the convergence of the blue and black waves together. Pretty amazing that 20,000 cyclists can set off and were pretty spread out in the first few miles.



 

 

 

We had decided to stop off at the 3 hubs 25 miles, 45 miles and 75 miles. Drinks, bananas and bars on offer. We had our fill at each stop. At 45 miles and after the first hill we sat on the grass for 10 mins with a fantastic view of Surrey. Leith hill was a bit steep and then box hill was extremely mild. All that anxiousness for nothing. We are so unconfident of our ability. My goal was to complete 100miles and enjoy the experience - which I did. It was fantastic to be cycling through villages and towns on closed roads with crowds of clapping people encouraging us on. It felt very special. Once we got to 20 miles to go I felt that's it we have done it. All down hill from now - except Wimbledon hill - short, sharp, shock!

Cycling into the centre of London was special - 1. Knowing it would all be over soon, and

2. The honour of being able to cycling in central London and then down the Mall at 18 mph.

We were given a medal at the end and a goody bag.

It was so good to finish. Took some pictures outside Buckingham Palace and then went into Green Park to lie horizontally on the grass and drink some revolting recovery drink from our goody bag. We both fell asleep exhausted probably for 10 mins. We then staggered over to the food area and bought a veggie burger - delicious.



At the end we looked like this, 3pm at Green Park.

We then walked back towards Green Park tube where the roads were open and cycled back to our flat ( well Deborah's flat). Had a bath and then forced ourselves to go out and have some Thai food and a Chang beer. That was enough. Back to the flat and in bed by 8.30pm. What a day.

I loved every minute of it and am really pleased that I did it but I have no desire to do it again. It might spoil it! And someone else can have a go at it.

Freecycle weekend in London

The media build-up set the scene last weekend's festival of cycling in London as a mass experience not to be forgotten.
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/aug/02/cycling-boom-ridelondon

                                   It was warm, it was well-organised, it was wonderful.

As out-of-towners, we thoroughly enjoyed ambling round central London for 8 miles.  Best sights were the Tower of London and riding alongside the Thames with no traffic distractions.

The carnival atmosphere was uplifted by music and all the generations taking part -  small children pushing their parents on tagalongs, or weaving in and out of the crowds with their little legs pumping away. 

 

 

To cap it all, Liz got to sit in the golden throne previously occupied by Chris Froome and friends

 

 

 

Pride of BikeRight!

How could we resist these gorgeous guys cosying up to Ed Clancy at the Velodrome last night?  It almost deserves a caption competition.

Talking of taking cycling seriously, the hours are ticking away towards the Ride London - Surrey 100 following last year's Olympic road race route, which Liz and I have a coveted place on.  Only 11 days to go, and wondering if our confidence is due to utter naivete or the cockiness that's the preserve of the experienced cyclist? Only time will tell. It will be a change from the Manchester 100 which we've done for the last few years; a welcome change?

Rob at BikeRight! did the Liverpool - Chester - Liverpool (through the Mersey tunnel) on 7th July, and now intends to sign up for the Manchester to Blackpool night ride in September. Personally a night ride seems a bit pointless to me, as you can't see anything.  I'd rather be tucked up in bed, apart from the sunset - which I 'm prepared to admit has the chance of providing a substantial Wow! factor.

Another Rob from Newcastle described his 24-hour charity cycle ride last year.  "We started off watched by office workers eating lunch. At 5pm I imagined them going home while we continued cycling. As it got dark I thought why can't I go to bed like they are? During the next morning, having stayed awake ALL NIGHT while those lucky people were sleeping peacefully, my thoughts drifted to them again: they were looking forward to another lunch and we were STILL CYCLING!"

This Rob heads up The Grand Scheme, a bike share/bike hire company.  We spent two delightful days together on the pavement in front of Liverpool's Catholic Cathedral (known as Paddy's Wigwam locally) demonstrating how the Grand Scheme system works.  Liverpool City Council's publicity campaign has obviously worked, since most passers-by had heard of the planned hire scheme, dubiously dubbed Scou-cycles by the Press.

So, taking cycling seriously can take many forms, from loving the sport, to leisure rides with a purpose, to providing facilities for many more people to adopt the cycling habit - involving individuals, organisations and public authorities.  All have a stake in cycling, and all need to invest in it too to saturate our culture with cycling.

The last word goes to Mark, one of our new instructors.  "I was cycling to a school in Crosby, and I passed a little girl I recognised out cycling behind her Dad, so I introduced myself to him.  'Since you taught her to ride on the road last month, she's had me on my bike constantly' he said. That's why I love this job" said Mark.

Women wow the track coach

It was my birthday.  What better way to celebrate than to watch 30 women whizzing round the Velodrome track, many for the first time.  Our coach, a British Cycling old-timer was superb in explaining, instructing, persuading, directing and generally being a fantastic advocate for cycling for all the Team Glow riders.

            "I've never had so many women on the track at once!"

Well done women of Team Glow, and a big thanks to Sarah Griffiths for organising my birthday entertainment!

Two ways of looking at teenagers cycling

My latest article on maintaining the cycling habit amongst teenagers is on totalwomenscycling. It came out on Wordle like this. Teenagers no doubt would think this is a much better way of expressing my thoughts than a boring 1,000 word article. However, to translate this jumble into cogent thoughts, you might want to read the article.

Jo Somerset provides some top tips on how to maintain the habit of cycling with teenagers.

My 16-year old turned up at our house last night on her bike unannounced. It’s 5 years since she rode a bike. She’d cycled 4 miles along the busy dual carriageway, got frightened, and at one point rode facing the traffic but was soon put right by a stream of time triallists out for their evening spin.

        She hadn’t told anyone what she was doing and secretly she was really pleased with herself for having sorted this all out and done it herself. I sent her back to her Mum’s with a jacket (why do teenagers always go out without a coat?) via the back road?.......read more

 

Luscious Lake District and lovely Lancashire

Holiday is over. What a treat, a whole week in blistering heat in our beloved Lake District.

It was a week of leisure, combination of getting out and doing stuff, and reading Sandi Toksvig's novel on my birthday present Kindle. The doing stuff consisted of:

• Half-marathon run with Lakeland Trails.  Hot but I did it.

• Ascent of Helvellyn - descent including a refreshing dip in the beck on the way back to Gillside campsite

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• Guided walk across Morecambe Bay

 

 

We did dust the bikes off one day for a ride through dappled sunlit lanes of Silverdale, fuelled by bread and cake from Arnside bakery (highly recommended).

Coventry crops up

It's such a delight to see an article that's clear and explanatory about learning to ride with skill and confidence in ordinary traffic conditions. Reporter Mary Griffin has her first experience of cycle training and finds it an empowering experience.  Well done to instructor Tom, and good for Mary in slowing down a speeding BMW driver with her gimlet gaze.



http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/free-course-turned-savvy-cyclist-4864668