Thank You

The whole build up and taking part in the G2P ride has been a fantastic adventure which sits right up there with the best experiences in my life so far.  I have only been able to complete the G2P because of the support of others so I wanted to document my appreciation for all the help.

Richard & Val had to put tonnes of work to get the show on the road so obviously huge thanks to you both.

Gus, your instant response of how you felt I could make the ride helped me actually put my name down to join the trip and you continued to give reassurances for the months before hand so Dankie.

Stacey, you joined me for 50+ mile training rides in the worst of weathers and even threw in killer hills to help my training and never once complained.  Your knowledge, advice and support were invaluable and of course you are the reason I got started on two wheels in the first place, cheers bro.

Joy, you have had to put up with me and my obsessive compulsive disorder for 19 years and yet again you have not only stood by me through my latest obsession but done all you can to support me.  No wonder I love you.

Thanks to all the other riders from the G2P, the atmosphere was awesome for the whole weekend.  Extra thanks have to go to Paul, Ben, Matt and Carl who just seemed to be able to keep going at the fantastic pace without relent to the point that it felt like you dragged me along with you at times so thanks for not dropping me lads.

Goes without saying that we couldn’t have done it without the support vans so huge thanks to Val, Gerald, Ceri & Alan for giving up their time to run around after us and enable us all to just get on and ride our bikes.

Last but not least, huge thanks to all the sponsors.  Whilst I took the task on as a personal challenge the knowledge of how my sponsorship was building towards this great cause certainly helped through the months of training and the money raised places another dimension to the significance of completing the ride.  I have been amazed at the generosity out there and really appreciate everyone's support. 

Thank you everyone, it’s been amazing and would not have happened without you.  

This is my last post for this blog so wouldn’t be right if I didn’t include a last link to the sponsorship page.

 

G2P Day 3 Evreux to Paris

Slept really well and was surprised to be woken by the alarm at 07:30hrs (I never sleep this late).  Joined the others for breakfast and ate a couple of yogurts before washing lots of pastries down with a cup of coffee and two cups of hot chocolate.  Plan was to set the groups off in same order and timing again so I didn’t rush.

We waved the first two groups off whilst getting the bikes ready and ourselves stocked with bottles and energy bars (after running out of fluids the day before I had learned my lesson, so packed my jersey pockets with a Cliff bar and a 500ml bottle full of energy drink instead of the camera) . 

Both ours and Richards group where ready at the same time and in view of how it had been agreed for everyone to meet at a bridge just outside of central Paris there was little point in setting off at different times so we left together as a ten man peloton.

Pulling away was encouraging as my knees were a little stiff but not grumbling, however it was interesting how different the approach was from within Richards group as my group had pulled away slow and taken it easy for the initial ten or so miles each day which suits me very well as I find it takes my legs at least 10 miles to free up.

Richards group however seemed to instantly want to turn on full power.  This had the effect of spreading the group out initially, particularly as its mostly uphill leaving Evreux.

I hung back and chatted with Richard whilst reminiscing at the scenery from when Joy and I stayed in Evreux for a week last year.

We caught some members of the first two groups within 5 miles whilst going up a climb so had a brief chat and words of encouragement as passing by.

Not far out of town and we were on country lanes again on which we could go miles without seeing a car and when we did they would tend to pull over with a smile and a wave.  The landscape was flat again now and certain riders seemed intent on piling on the speed to the point of going for a break away.  The whole group kept together though and I took the opportunity to speak to a few of the other lads on the ride.

We actually had a patch of road which had been freshly “laid” the botch way (throw stones onto old tarmac and let the traffic press them in).  We have had a lot of roads treated to this awful process around Surrey over recent years and I absolutely hate it as whilst it’s fresh its really dangerous (you never know when you are going to lose traction and slide onto your side) and has a has a high risk of giving punctures as invariably is full of tiny flints and then once bedded in the surface is very rough and saps your energy when riding on it.  It’s also a false economy as has to be re done very frequently compared to proper tarmac.

This patch of loose road surface lasted a mile or so and included a section going downhill with some bends in it.  I proceeded down this very slowly as the bike was being twitched in between the ruts in the stones and I had no desire to take a fall so was holding on for dear life, I came up alongside the flying Scotsman and was astounded to find him unwrapping a ham beget and proceed to eat whilst descending along this treacherous section!!!!!

We had to take a small detour around the town of Breuilpont as they seemed to have a fate on.  it was cool seeing some of the old Citroën’s heading the other way towards the town as we came out the other side.  Nice hill (60metre climb over 3/4mile) just the other side of Breuilpont and having ridden 20miles my legs where now suitably warm so when I saw Ian about 50 metres ahead start sprinting the hill with Ben in tow I excused myself from the conversation I was having at the back of the peloton and stepped the pace up to join them before the top.  I kept in the saddle and accelerated up the hill and eased off once past them both.  Simon joined Ben, Ian and I shortly after the climb and we accumulated about a mile lead from the rest of the pack but had no desire to split off so held back for the rest of the group to catch up. 

Ceri and Alan passed us in the van and told us they would pull up at the next convenient point for us to get refreshments.

We all stocked up at the van and after about ten minutes Simon jumped on his bike and was off so we followed and soon reeled him in.  I thought we had the whole group but later discovered that we had left Richard and the Flying Scotsman at the van (bad Justyn). 

After some pretty flat sections we an awesome downhill for which I was at the front so managed to fully enjoy by descending without using the breaks, accelerated up to 41mph and then clocked a STOP sign three quarters of the way down so I alerted the others behind me before slamming on the breaks and giving the all clear once past the junction.

With every down there is an up and this particular up was very sly as just when we thought we were at the top we came round a corner to see the final 200 feet of climb appear to almost go straight up.  Having clocked the climb I checked what gear I was in (still had three cogs to go) and pushed ahead, I kept in the saddle and changed down a gear a quarter of the way up.  Half way up I could feel my legs start to complain so changed down again and even wondered if I could make it to the top.  I immediately realised I was still sitting so got out the saddle and put all my body to work and was soon topping the climb feeling a real sense of achievement.  Ben followed a couple of seconds behind and we both stopped at the top panting and Ian soon joined us but pointed out that mustn’t stop moving or the lactic acid will get us so we pulled away at snail’s pace so the others could catch up.

Half a mile on the peloton was formed again and we continued around a 19mph pace.  We passed a lovely chateau at Thoiry (38 mile mark) and was a little confused as we all had the same info coming from the Garmin’s but we seemed to leave the beaten track just to go past this chateau and then get back in the main road a quarter of a mile later.  

 Chateau at Thoiry

Around the 45 mile mark at the village of Beynes Ian called out to see who fancied a coffee, we stopped at Café De La Place and Ian very kindly got coffee for all whilst we made a call to Val to find out where the vans where.  Turned out that everyone else was 7 miles back the green in front of the Chateau eating lunch and we were meant to have stopped there.  Val and Gerry kindly agreed to come to meet us leaving Ceri and Alan with the other van with the other groups.

We basked in the sunshine in front of the café and Gerry and Val soon came to our rescue with a slap up lunch of ham and cheese baguettes washed down with lots of sugary drink.  

Felt magnificent after lunch as the day was now glorious sunshine, 23c, my legs where a bit achy but otherwise tip top and with less than 30 miles to go I finally felt that I could actually make the distance to Paris.

There were three more good climbs and I kept my routine of topping the climbs first all the way in to Paris.  Reaching Versailles was another boost for me as Joy and I have been here a twice before and it’s beauty cannot fail to lift anyone spirits.  We stopped to get photo’s at the entrance to the Palace before beginning the final stretch.  Having reached the rendezvous’ point at our first bridge across the Seine (69miles) we set ourselves out the front of a café.  Everyone else had beer except Ben who asked for a cider and having taken five minutes to ask the waiter for the cidre I opted for a coke (having not drunk any alcohol for 6 months I didn’t want to finish the ride tipsy from one beer).

The rest of the riders came in over the next 40 minutes or so and we completed the last 3 miles together.

The last 100 meters, spot me in my red top

 Not sure who I am blowing kisses at!

 We did it

 Me being silly

  

Felt absolutely fantastic at the base of the Eiffel Tower and was surrounded by 18 others who I had the pleasure of sharing the experience with.  Evening meal was superb and we all shared stories of the last three days.   

Someone will like this photo (you know who you are)

Val announced how we had raised over £10,000 for the charity and Richard awarded some Jersey’s to riders on their second and third tours.

Went to bed with a huge smile on my face which stayed there for over a week and returns every time I think of the ride.  http://connect.garmin.com/player/218550643

G2P Day 2 Caen to Evreux 1st September 2012

 

Despite setting the alarm for 07:00hrs my mind chose to wake up at 05:45hrs so I got up and switched the alarm off at 06.30hrs having come to the conclusion that I was not going back to sleep.  I was sharing a room with Ian so I got in and out of the bathroom as quietly as I could and headed down to breakfast.

I was the first of the group down so I sat on a table next to a couple who had a toddler and two young boys.   Whilst eating my multitude of mini pastries, fruit and copious amounts of hot chocolate I was entertained by the two young boys as the younger boy decided to announce to the whole breakfast area how the woman on the beach scene painting on the wall had a huge bum, how it was bigger than mums bum and that the “lady lumps” where not covered.  This went on for quite a while and the mum did her best to move him away from this line of conversation but he kept bringing it back.

The younger boy also mooned his brother to which the mother jumped out of her chair and pulled his trousers up and told him not to do such things in a restaurant.  I managed to avoid eye contact throughout the time and somehow managed to stop myself from laughing out loud whilst constantly laughing inside.

It was a chilly morning again with some low lying cloud but I figured this because of being on the coast and believed the sun would burn through so I stuck to plan and wore my coolest of tops in preparation for the promised 25c the forecasters where telling us and just wore my thermal arms to take off the chill.

Me looking bleary eyed just before we set off with Carl, Paul and Matt in the backgroud

 

We set off in the same formation as the day before with my group setting off last almost half an hour after the first.  Ian had decided to stick with Richards group and Matt stayed with us.

Instant impression of France was the road surface, its smoooooooth.  It’s a little complicated getting out of the port area but after a couple of initial wrong turns we were on our way.  We took it quite leisurely for the first 8 to 10 miles keeping the speed around 18 mph and then picked it up to 21 mph having agreed to start drifting and share the brunt of the wind for a mile each at a time.

First major climb of the day was tackled around the 12 mile point and second impression of France became apparent of how the drivers are friendlier and considerate of cyclists.  We had had cars holding back from passing us and where now getting friendly beebs of horns and waves too which was really nice.

Eleven miles of almost pancake flat followed this and we really got into the swing of drafting and passed a couple of the groups that had set off before us.  Seemed a little strange to be riding along without any hills and to just see flat land as far as the eye could see at times.  I ran out of water around the 32 mile mark so we stopped to find out how the support vans where doing as we had expected to see them around the 25 mile point.  Val explained that they had been delayed, are on their way now but we were covering more ground than had been expected.  One of the other groups caught back up to us whilst we were on the phone so we shared the information and decided we better get moving again before get cold as the day was not warming up.  Carl mentioned how he was finding the pace a bit of a challenge and said he would hang back with the other group so Ben, Paul, Matt and I headed on. 

We pulled onto a main road around 40 mile point and saw a little convenience store so I popped in and purchased a big bottle of water.  I filled my bottle and was sharing the rest of the bottle with the others when Val and Gerald pulled up in the support van.  We initially thought we would just grab some fluids and energy bars but Val got a call from Richard who turned out to be a couple hundred yards up the road in a café so it was decided to grab lunch there and then.  Gerald and Val whipped up some lovely ham, cheese and lettuce baguettes and we soon had everyone joining us for the lunch.

I swapped my cool lightweight jersey for a warm thermal long sleeve one (it was still cold and now trying to rain) and once we had had our fill Paul, Ben, Matt and I set off again but with additional supplies of energy bars and drinks in our back pockets.

From here on it was pretty much flat and we enjoyed wizzing along smooth quiet roads at 21mph.  We passed through a beautiful town called Beaumont le Roger, which had some magnificent ruins of le prieuré de la Sainte Trinité within them.  

 Think I might use this place as a stop point next time I am there as looks like an interesting place to walk round for a while and was an immaculately clean town. 

My left knee (which is normally the good one) had been twinging since around the 30 mile mark and around the 60 mile point I started to think about the 70 miles we had to look forward to the next day so I mentioned this to the lads when we stopped to water the plants at 66 miles and we agreed to bring the speed down to 18mph for the last 14 miles and use it as a warm down into the town.  As we got back on the bikes we could see another group heading towards us at speed, we stuck to plan and took it easy at 18mph and within seconds we had the Ian, Simon & David express pass us at a fantastic pace.  Ben was not having anyone pass us so he called for us to catch them and instantly sprinted across to join them, I could feel the urge to sprint across with him but my desire to protect my knee prevailed so I hung back and was surprised not to see Paul and Matt sprint across with him (I know you could have done it lads so thanks for hanging back with me).

Paul, Matt and I continued to take it easy the rest of the way in completing the 81 miles in just under 4 hours 30 minutes. 

That evening we all enjoyed a great three course meal which had been organised for us at a local sports club.  A few of the lads went in search of night life on the way back from the meal but I was already sleep walking by this stage so I went straight up to bed really pleased to have managed my new longest ride and averaged 18 mph over such a big distance.  http://connect.garmin.com/player/218550668

G2P Day 1 Friday 31st August 2012

Apologies to all those expecting posts while I was away, packing the laptop was too much of a pain so I took pen and paper instead.  Further apologies for not posting sooner, no excuses, I have just been lazy but will put up a day at a time as I manage to translate the squiggles I have left myself on the pad.

Didn’t sleep to well the night before day one as was a little excited!  Joy and I pulled up in the car park at 07:35hrs to a throng of smiling people and bikes, lots of people I have never met before but everyone greeted each other with a smile and a prompt introduction.

I had eaten a bowl of porridge before leaving home so just grabbed a few bits of the cooked breakfast in the canteen and chatted with Paul, Jason and Richard. 

Richard announced the four groups and gave everyone an opportunity to identify themselves. 

I had offered to take care of navigation for a group as have been successfully using the Garmin since March.  Richard had grouped us together with people doing the same speeds over a 50 mile ride and I had the pleasure of discovering that I had been assigned to the “Silly Fast” group.  Knowing the speed of a couple of the riders who are in my group from our training rides had me instantly worried that I might not be able to keep up but I just kept quiet.

Joining me in Silly Fast was Paul, Ian, Carl & Ben.  I have ridden with Paul several times and had the pleasure of his company for the masterclass so know he is a great guy and have ridden with Ian on a couple of the organised training rides but have not ridden with Carl or Ben before. 

Group shot before we go

The groups where to set off ten minutes apart with the slowest going first and the “Silly Fast” group last.  The first group set of just after 08:30hrs and we waited in the car park till our time to go. Sheena, Lisa, Shaun and Kevin all came down to see me off which was really nice of them especially as it felt very chilly (only 9c).  I was freezing in my Lycra and wanted to get off to start building body heat but we held back till 09:00 as instructed.

Ians Group

Gus's Group

Richards Group

"Silly Fast" Group

Setting off I was still apprehensive about my knee after it gave out the week before so I made sure to take it easy for the first few miles.  All five of us seemed pretty relaxed once we got off the main roads and happily rode two abreast chatting and getting to know each other.  Much of the first half of the route had been used in our training rides so it was nice to know some of the terrain but the road surfaces where lousy.  The sun started to peep through the clouds and the morning became glorious and we pointed interesting scenery out to one another.  We had passed a scatted group after around 10 miles and caught up with the group released just before us (Richards Group) soon after that.  We rode with the other group for a couple of miles and I was hanging around chatting at the back of the pack when Richard and Ian pulled in to a side road.  Richard waved the rest of us on and I was told that Ian had a puncture.  I then realised that Paul had gone a good 100meters in front of the pack with someone so I thought best to join him as guess we are moving forward now.

Got a few more miles up the road to realise that we had lost Carl and gained Matt when we accelerated from the other group.

First proper climb of the morning was at 16 mile mark and there was an awesome downhill mountain bike course off to our right as we went up the climb and a great rock formation on the left at the top.  I took the climb at my own pace and went ahead with the others catching me soon after the top as I had no desire to leave anyone behind.  We all knew the real climb of the day was at 30 miles and I was very pleased to have done the killer mile long hill at Holybourne several times during training as having already conquered that 21% climb I was able to tackle the climb at South Harting in my stride.  Val & Gerry passed me as I was going up the hill and pulled over at the top.  Gerry jumped out and told me they had just stopped to check we where OK and that they where going to go ahead and pass the leaders and then set up a stop point to replenish fluids etc.  With this in mind we decided to speed up to try and catch the leaders in order to join them for the break.  We got to the break van a swift 5 miles later and the leaders Gus, Dave & Brian (the Flying Scotsman) did a runner as soon as we pulled up!

We had a nice breather for ten minutes to eat some sugary treats, drink some sugary fluids and top up water bottles before giving chase. 

Keeping the break short was beneficial as couple miles up the road was another steep climb so was glad not to have cooled down.  We all really enjoyed the scenery now as the sky was pretty clear and the countryside was a patchwork of greens and yellows.

We passed Gus, Dave & Brian with about 8 miles to go, just outside Portsmouth, and arrived at the port at 12:20 hrs having covered the 50 miles in 3hours 1minute. 

We were the first to arrive as transpired that the support vans had gone on a hunt to trace a couple of riders that had gone astray and got lost.

 Paul myself and Ben at Portsmouth harbor

We basked in the sunshine as the other riders came in over the next half hour or so and the last two came in as we were getting ready for passport control.

Five hour ferry to Laharve was a good opportunity for everyone to wind down and chat whilst choosing the most calorific meals we could from the menu.  I had a pizza for lunch as we were setting off and then had beef stroganoff with five large spoons of Grattan potatoes (I asked the chap serving me for more three times and he looked me up and down as if to asses where I planned to put this as it piled up on the plate) and some veg for dinner just before we docked.

Hotel was just the other side of the port so checked in, had a shower and went to bed just after midnight very happy to have made it to the end of day one without any pain but still apprehensive about the 150 miles to go!!!!!.  http://connect.garmin.com/activity/218550695