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
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