Just a bikers blog…

4:30 AM and the alarm is going off, really didn’t want to get up that day. Once we were all up we headed up to Brighton train station to meet Matt and Charlie’s parents who were driving our bikes up to Croydon.

Once at Croydon and had our bikes we followed Matt’s brilliant directions though the tram roads, towards Clapham, this turned out to be easy as we met many many people heading out of Clapham, so we just followed them in the opposite direction.  Stood on the field waiting to start, more and more people started poring in,  literately hundreds at a time. Once off we all stuck together for a few minutes then we decided that we’d dice with the traffic and get past as many people as possible to get out of London. This all seamed good to me, until about 5 miles in when I started thinking “Where are the others”. So I stopped at the top of a short hill, and waited for 15 minutes, still no sign so I tried ringing, no luck. But then Ed called me and explained that they were just looking for a Halfords because he needed a new tyre. Apparently they were only about 10 minutes into the ride when this happened.

I decided it would be best for me to carry on and take an easy pace in anticipation that they would catch up eventually. So I poodled on, but turns out my pace was a bit quicker than I thought. Around the half way mark I stopped, got an ice cream and had a quick snack; this was because there were so many burger/bacon stops I was going past, it took a lot for me not to buy one.

Back off again and the miles seamed to be flying by as I headed down some brilliant hills. At one point I was going 44 mph, that was a bit sketchy, but fun. So Ditchling Beacon approached, decided id stop and grab a bit of water and a banana before heading off. Just as I started coming down into ditchling the rain started, not good. But it stopped for the hill. This hill, what a hill, it was tough but I think it only felt tough because so many people were walking and I couldn’t get any speed down. I think the fasted I managed to get up to was about 6mph, which was short lived.

The top, brilliant views. And a great looking down hill stint into Brighton, that was a very fast and long decent. Worth the climb. As I came down to the finish I saw Matts parents on the side so I pulled over and had a quick chat, let them know that the others could be a while. Back on the bike and down the final straight, on my own. Everyone watching, haha this was brilliant.

Finished up, and went to meet Matt’s parents again, who bought me a finishing beer. About 2 hours later the others rolled over the finish line. The looked pretty happy, but knackered.

This ride was brilliant, the atmosphere of everyone riding, the crowds in the villages, the cars being swamped by people on bikes in London. I would defiantly do this again, but next time i’d like to ride with the others, and probably make a few pub stops on the way through.

So this month seams to be a charity event month for me, well 2 charity rides, but every little helps.

On Sunday I took part in the St Edmunds Wheel Trust ride. They put out 4 different routes that people can take part in, the routes are different lengths to suit different peoples capabilities, they lay on a 15, 25, 50 and 100 mile routes. Info can be found here.

I decided that I would do the 50 mile route as I have never ridden much more than 50 miles, in one go.

A couple of my work colleges, were also taking part in the event; one was taking part in the 100 mile route, and the the other the 50 mile; I met up with the guy doing the 50 miles before the ride, and we rode most of the route together.

8:30 work car park; bikes out of our cars, shoes on then we rode the mile or so down to Abbey Gardens, once there we signed in and respectfully declined the free t-shirts.

9:00 and we are off, nice steady start to the first hill, the steady easier road, or take the steeper path. We decided the road whereas a lot of people took the path. This turned out to be a good choice as this bought us out nearer the front of the group, and managed to split people up quite well. Once we reached the top and we managed to start off with a fairly quick pace, probably a little too quick, but it seamed good at the time. Wish I was better with keeping the pace.

Anyway, the ride went on and the sun was still shining. Every now and then I would get a bust of energy for a few miles and I would pick up the pace and get quite a way ahead. Around the 30 mileish mark I slowed right down to Marcus could catch up and im glad I did, as the clouds started coming over and the wind picked up; straight at us. At this time we were on a steady up hill stretch that seamed to go on and on, this drained us and we had to stop at some cross roads to have a quick snack. After this, we quickened a little, but the wind was still there and every now and then you’d feel a speck of rain. We knew we were getting closer and Marcus said to me that we had a good stretch of nice road to do, and just round the corner was a welcomed Drink Stop, the only one I had seen manned all morning. We stopped and had a bottle of water, and this made us fly along.

As soon as I knew we were a mile away, and on a downhill stretch I was off, and Marcus wasn’t far behind.

We both finished after 3 hours and a few minutes.

Here is a map of the route:

I’ve been busy again since my last post and haven’t had time to keep on top of my own website. Some of the things i’ve been up to:

I raced the last two winter series races, many rides around Thetford & Brandon.
Bust my ankle (not sure whats happened to it) which is still playing up, when I ride clipped in.
Building websites for the my local Scout District.
A group of us went over to south Wales; that was a brilliant weekend, many fast trails, we all left with smiles on our faces.
The Scout Network have been up to the Peak District again on a Trig Point challenge, we have also been biking down on the South Downs.

That’s just some of the things; hopefully I am going to keep on top of what I’ve been up to now as things are settling down and the Scout District site is nearly finished. This Sunday I am taking part in the St Edmunds Wheel, the 50 mile course, then the following weekend I am back down south completing the BHF London to Brighton run. Should be a good laugh.

Sorry this post is a bit rough, I’ll try and make the future ones better.

On Friday 11th Feb we traveled up to Yorkshire, we being 4 members of the Sudbury Scout Network, Steve and Gemma . We traveled up to a YHA camping barn just outside pickering. This YHA camping barn was no ordinary camping barn, it had a fridge, a proper oven, toaster, sofa’s and a decent shower and mattresses; we were “Livin’ the dream”, if you like camping barns.

Anyway, purpose of the trip was to get to know each other a little more, and to do some biking. Steve, Gemma, Alex, Mitch, Glenn and myself  were the guys who went up. Unfortunately Matt and the others couldn’t make it due to  commitments.

Saturday morning: I  woke up stupidly early but managed to drift in and out of sleep. Soon enough we were greeted by Steve asking “would anyone like some bacon, sausages and mushrooms”.. Silly question with me and Alex about, this offer was clearly taken up.

After breakfast the biking gear went on and we were on our way to Dalby forest. The weather was cloudy, looked like it was going to rain, thankfully it didn’t and it got sunny around 1ish.

Steve and Gemma went off to the coffee shop whilst myself and the others tackled the red route. The trails were muddy and gritty, but fun.  Unfortunately Alex and myself were riding quite quickly and our pads didn’t last very long in these conditions. But none the less we all had great fun. I was thinking to myself quite a bit whilst biking around, mainly about how Mitchell was coping, I didn’t think he’d ever done anything like this before; Red at Dalby doesn’t even compare to Black at Thetford. Black at thetford is tame compared to what we were doing. Mitchell seemed happy enough on his new bike though.

just over half way ee all had a little chat and decided it was best to get to the road and follow this down brake back to the car, due to Alex and myself not having any brake pads, and the Glenn and Mitch looked shattered.

Here is a map of the first ride (provided by Mitchell as mine decided not to record):

After this we returned to the camping barn, got showered with our 50p’s then ventured into Scarborough to get some dinner. Steve had mentioned getting fish and chips from Winking Willies which sounded like a good idea, and we all really fancied fish and chips(I think), but it was closed, so we found this little café which sold fish and chips. We all sat down, looked at the menu’s and none of us got fish and chips. After having our meals we walked back to the car and waited for the infamous scarborough waves that we meant to ‘crash’ over the beach walls, turns out the waves weren’t big enough, shame as we waited a fair while for them.

Sunday: We all woke around 8ish and got packed up, had a little breakfast then packed the cars up and headed back to Dalby, at this point the rain had started. As Alex and myself didn’t have any brake pads left we had decided to hire a tandem bike.. (Pictures below) Haha.. this was great fun, especially as the GB MTB team cycled past us. About 1/4 of the way round the red route Alex and myself decided that the red route wasn’t the best choice for a tandem bike, so we took an escape route and headed for the road up to Dixons Hollow. Mitch and Glenn battled on and met us at Dixons.

When Alex and I turned up at Dixons Hollow the GB team were there, as I had main control of the bike I thought sod it, and went straight down, we got a few cheers and laughs and despite the chain coming off we made it round and loved it. Alex then decided to take the tandem down on his own, leaning right across the huge bike.

After having a bit of fun and getting absolutely freezing we decided to head back, all 4 of us down the road, back to the centre. We returned the bike claiming we’d only taken it on the road as we stood there caped in mud, the guy laughed.

We all changed and had a bite to eat in the Café with Steve and Gemma, then headed home. What a great weekend, hopefully many more to come.

The first Sudbury District Network Scout trip. Matt, Alex, Steve, Gemma and myself all drove up to the Peaks early one morning for a weekend full of walking. The weather was showing cloudy but windy for the whole weekend, and this was exactly how it was all weekend, apart from Sunday where we had rain too.

Once we got u p there we parked up at Hathersage station and headed out for a walk on Shatton Moor. The walk was around 11Miles long, and it was a really nice walk, nothing to strenuous and not too easy. About half way round we decided to stop in a pub and have quick drink before heading off again. Once back at the car we drove to the YHA camping barn, changed and got warm with Matt’s fantastic pasta cooking skills. The evening passed pretty quickly with all the chatting and reminiscing that was going on. Soon enough we were all in our sleeping bags and asleep.

Sunday; we traveled the few miles back down into Hathersage, put our boots on and were off walking again, this time heading towards Stanage Edge, this walk was about 8Miles long. Once again the walk was nice walk, not to difficult and not to hard. Once on Stanage, Alex, Matt and myself turned 5 again and decided that we could only walk on the rocks and couldn’t go on the grass/peat, this went on for a while. But we soon got bored, maybe because the rain started coming down a bit and were all starting to get a bit wet. After another few hours we were back at the car.

We changed and then clambered into the car to head to the swimming pool, mainly to get clean. Soon enough we were back on the road again heading home. First Network trip over, had a laugh and was a good trip, hopefully many more to come.. One a month hey??

Here are the routes from the weekend. (Sorry this post isn’t too detailed)