5.00 A.M!! I didn't even know there were two 5 o'clocks in the day!! What the hell was going on!!! Somehow, we dragged ourselves from our pits, grunted at each other, yawned & farted etc etc. Got dressed and went down to breakfast. Food at 5.30 in the morning!! What an awful thought. We had to eat something because we were cycling approx 95 miles that day, but food at 5.30 in the morning? That's just wrong! Dave (Bison) commented on the disco ball in the dining room, said he thought it was a nice touch to have it revolving at breakfast!! Just managed a cup of tea & to eat a bowl of cereal & a slice of toast, my stomach was objecting to being invaded at that time of day!
We sat with two girls, Sally a hairdresser from Ipswich & Jo, her client. Apparently Sally had done the Vietnam to Cambodia Cycle ride last year, and she was doing this one for an orphanage in Cambodia. She asked her client ‘Jo’ to come with her (I’ll tell you more about this later). And she said yes!! Fool!! Then we met the Legendary Stanley Saunders (we are not worthy). What a lovely man. The next hour was a bit of a blur. Labelling bags, getting suited and booted, or should I say greased and lycra’d, packed the bags, dumped them on the luggage van and went to retrieve our trusty steeds from the bike room. Everyone was in an excited mood on the Heath. Met a few more people we’d spoken to on the DA forum Tricia Dennison & the lovely Mark Wharton. We were briefed by Jim Young, who was our trip leader, to follow the ORANGE arrows which were placed at 1 mile intervals all the way to the Eiffel Tower!! If you went more than a mile without seeing one, you’d gone wrong! Simple enough! And then we were off! Only 95 miles to do………
It was a little bunched up to start off with then gradually we all started to spread out, the first hill we came too was a long slow climb and Jo, Sally’s client slowed up because she was having problems with her gears, and Sally slowed up to support her friend, whom she asked to accompany her on this trip, did she hell!!! She was off like a shot leaving her friend to sort herself out! By the way Sally was cycling in a pair of bright pink Crocs!! She said she’d hurt her foot and couldn’t wear shoes. 300 miles in Crocs? Sounds like Em’s little faux pas with the Fit Flops at Oxford!
Anyway, everything was going swimingly, or should that be cyclingly, our first big hill was just before the water stop at 26ish miles. What a bleeder that was! It was horrid, long slow climb, a real test. But we did it! At each water stop there were bananas, apples, cereal bars, fruit squash & of course, water. These were a welcome break from pedalling, didn't stop too long, just long enough to chat with Ox & Bison, & Stan the Man, then it was offski, lunch was at 45 miles.
We took in the beautiful countryside of the North Downs and were clipping along nicely when one of our fellow riders passed us and said two words that put fear and dread into our very souls..... DODDINGTON HILL!!!! Everyone on the ride knew about it. Some had even tried it before and failed, surely it couldn't be that bad!! Oh it wasn't, it was much worse!!!! We walked it and even that hurt! I think everyone walked it at some point. It went on for ever & ever amen! Then to add insult to injury, about 2 miles from lunch I had a puncture! Bugger! Still, one of us is trained in changing tubes, and it's not Em!! We arrived at lunch, which was in Doddington Village Hall, we had a very welcome cup of tea, then food, and lots of it!! Pasta, rice, bread, potatoes, cheese, ham. Yum yum. Then off again, next water stop at 70 miles (I think).
The Kent countryside is lovely, loads of orchards too, couldn't quite reach the apples though, or we'd have done a bit of scrumping. By now the bottom was getting a little numb and the legs a tad weary, but being the troopers we are, it was ever onwards. The water stop was on a lovely village green, but we were now aware that water & lunch stops meant hills!! Either before or after. The latter was correct in this case. A rather cheeky 'little' climb, but we managed it none the less and then it was 15 miles to Dover. Hoorah!
As we approached Dover a man was standing by his car in a lay by and as we went by he wished us good luck which we thought was lovely, we later found out it was Mark W's Dad. He'd come to get picture of him en-route.
Dover was a very welcome sight! The 'White' cliffs (a little grey if you ask me) heralding the start of the Channel. We were delayed by 90 minutes because Sea France were down by one boat, apparently one of them had backed into the dock the day before!! fills you with confidence!!! Anyway we eventually boarded and rushed to the restaurant where we devoured lasagne, chips and coke. Was it nice? I don't know, it didn't even touch the sides!
Whilst at the port we were given Hi-Vis vests as they said the light 'would be fading' when we got to Calais. Ha Ha Ha!! It was pitch black! We had to cycle, in convoy, behind a land rover, on the wrong side of the road, to our hotel. Not funny. It was about 5 miles and not enjoyable at all. The saving grace was it was a lovely hotel, Holiday Inn, very comfy beds, and a hot bath to soak in. We had a hot chocolate, fell into bed, chatted for a little while about the days activities and the prospect of another day in the saddle and fell into a very welcome sleep. Day One - London to Calais - Done....
We sat with two girls, Sally a hairdresser from Ipswich & Jo, her client. Apparently Sally had done the Vietnam to Cambodia Cycle ride last year, and she was doing this one for an orphanage in Cambodia. She asked her client ‘Jo’ to come with her (I’ll tell you more about this later). And she said yes!! Fool!! Then we met the Legendary Stanley Saunders (we are not worthy). What a lovely man. The next hour was a bit of a blur. Labelling bags, getting suited and booted, or should I say greased and lycra’d, packed the bags, dumped them on the luggage van and went to retrieve our trusty steeds from the bike room. Everyone was in an excited mood on the Heath. Met a few more people we’d spoken to on the DA forum Tricia Dennison & the lovely Mark Wharton. We were briefed by Jim Young, who was our trip leader, to follow the ORANGE arrows which were placed at 1 mile intervals all the way to the Eiffel Tower!! If you went more than a mile without seeing one, you’d gone wrong! Simple enough! And then we were off! Only 95 miles to do………
It was a little bunched up to start off with then gradually we all started to spread out, the first hill we came too was a long slow climb and Jo, Sally’s client slowed up because she was having problems with her gears, and Sally slowed up to support her friend, whom she asked to accompany her on this trip, did she hell!!! She was off like a shot leaving her friend to sort herself out! By the way Sally was cycling in a pair of bright pink Crocs!! She said she’d hurt her foot and couldn’t wear shoes. 300 miles in Crocs? Sounds like Em’s little faux pas with the Fit Flops at Oxford!
Anyway, everything was going swimingly, or should that be cyclingly, our first big hill was just before the water stop at 26ish miles. What a bleeder that was! It was horrid, long slow climb, a real test. But we did it! At each water stop there were bananas, apples, cereal bars, fruit squash & of course, water. These were a welcome break from pedalling, didn't stop too long, just long enough to chat with Ox & Bison, & Stan the Man, then it was offski, lunch was at 45 miles.
We took in the beautiful countryside of the North Downs and were clipping along nicely when one of our fellow riders passed us and said two words that put fear and dread into our very souls..... DODDINGTON HILL!!!! Everyone on the ride knew about it. Some had even tried it before and failed, surely it couldn't be that bad!! Oh it wasn't, it was much worse!!!! We walked it and even that hurt! I think everyone walked it at some point. It went on for ever & ever amen! Then to add insult to injury, about 2 miles from lunch I had a puncture! Bugger! Still, one of us is trained in changing tubes, and it's not Em!! We arrived at lunch, which was in Doddington Village Hall, we had a very welcome cup of tea, then food, and lots of it!! Pasta, rice, bread, potatoes, cheese, ham. Yum yum. Then off again, next water stop at 70 miles (I think).
The Kent countryside is lovely, loads of orchards too, couldn't quite reach the apples though, or we'd have done a bit of scrumping. By now the bottom was getting a little numb and the legs a tad weary, but being the troopers we are, it was ever onwards. The water stop was on a lovely village green, but we were now aware that water & lunch stops meant hills!! Either before or after. The latter was correct in this case. A rather cheeky 'little' climb, but we managed it none the less and then it was 15 miles to Dover. Hoorah!
As we approached Dover a man was standing by his car in a lay by and as we went by he wished us good luck which we thought was lovely, we later found out it was Mark W's Dad. He'd come to get picture of him en-route.
Dover was a very welcome sight! The 'White' cliffs (a little grey if you ask me) heralding the start of the Channel. We were delayed by 90 minutes because Sea France were down by one boat, apparently one of them had backed into the dock the day before!! fills you with confidence!!! Anyway we eventually boarded and rushed to the restaurant where we devoured lasagne, chips and coke. Was it nice? I don't know, it didn't even touch the sides!
Whilst at the port we were given Hi-Vis vests as they said the light 'would be fading' when we got to Calais. Ha Ha Ha!! It was pitch black! We had to cycle, in convoy, behind a land rover, on the wrong side of the road, to our hotel. Not funny. It was about 5 miles and not enjoyable at all. The saving grace was it was a lovely hotel, Holiday Inn, very comfy beds, and a hot bath to soak in. We had a hot chocolate, fell into bed, chatted for a little while about the days activities and the prospect of another day in the saddle and fell into a very welcome sleep. Day One - London to Calais - Done....
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