The 16th June was Fathers Day in the UK.
And not only that, but it was the annual British Heart Foundation London to Brighton Bike Ride. This year Holly and I took part to use as some training for our big adventure. And to show we did actually do it here is the video...
We started the day with a quick trip to Haywards Heath station to catch the transport up to Clapham Common for the start of the ride. Transport is made up of coaches for people and TNT trucks for the bikes. So, already you know something is going to go wrong with the setup! We had a start time of 7am, not the first group to go out mind, no they get out at 6am. More on this later. The transport leaves Haywards Heath between 5:30-6:30am with 3 coaches making the journey.
Our bus? The good news is we left just before 6am! Excellent timing. Off we go, and in an hour we are at Clapham. Without the truck. And no bikes. Standing in me lycra shorts on a cold June morning. Just waiting about for over half an hour before the truck decides to make an appearance. Everyone else arriving turned up with their truck in tow. What happened to our driver then?
By the time we made an appearance at the start line and got the signal to go it was nearly 8am, that's a whole 2 hours after the first group went out. We could hear people getting phone calls that their friends were past half way, and some near Brighton already.
And us?
We were now in the biggest group of people leaving London, many were out for the leisurely day trip. Dressed in super hero outfits, band tributes, Royal Marine Band teams, people on BMXs, others with radios strapped to their backs playing disco music. Yep, we had no choice by this stage but to join the slow river of bikes leaving the capital. It took over 2 hours just to get to the outskirts of the city :-( A journey that should have been done in around 20 minutes. On one of the first downhill sections the inevitable happened, we hit the biggest bike traffic jam I've ever seen. Over a mile of stand-still bikes crammed into a country lane, so the next hour we stood and shuffled along the lane until eventually we popped out the far side to find the lovely marshals had put out some temporary traffic lights to help control the traffic. ?!?!?! It was lost on me by this stage.
Eventually, we get out into clear roads heading away from under the M23 and off to Crawley Down. Our mileage was adding up fantastically well. All hills were tackled without the need to push/walk, this really was the time to be testing ourselves.
Turners Hill was the next step, many people resorting to pushing their bikes up the hill. And Holly? She kept riding. She was spurred on by the marshals taunting those walking, "Get back on yer bikes! LOOK! that girl is riding past you lot! Bunch of whimps"
Riding towards Ardingly we were stopped by the police, there was an accident requiring an ambulance. So we waited. Cycling down through Ardingly was great fun. Very much a general downhill and roads mostly free of traffic we made up great time. It's always good to get to Lindfield, lots of people out cheering you through the village. I got stopped by the police again! while Holly continued just ahead to ride into the village on her own. There was another accident. What were these people doing?
A quick pit stop to re-fuel and see some family and friends who had come out to meet us and we were off again. Onwards to the mighty Ditchling Beacon. This is a killer of a hill and one I've never been able to complete. Especially not after cycling nearly 50 miles before going up it. Through Ditchling without a hitch and another stop to see the Father in Law! Sitting drinking a very nice looking beer while watching the bikes. Anyways, focus. There is that hill.
We dropped to low gears and settled in for a very long steep climb. Half way up Holly suggested she might stop. Until a nice lady overhearing said "You can't stop now! You'll never get on your bike again.". And so, Holly pushed on. It was great to see many of the posh cyclists, you know the ones, all the gear and no idea. All of those folk, and the people who know better than to try, were walking. :-) Last year, I was amongst them pushing my bike. I got off at the bottom knowing I wasn't fit enough to even consider riding up it.
What a difference a year makes, I can't describe the feeling, I actually made it to the top. And I didn't feel too bad either. A quick recovery time and I was ready to continue. Amazing. Holly didn't quite make it, just 400M from the top and someone caught her back wheel brining her to a halt. She was so close and had done the worst of it. I was so impressed with her stamina. Excellent work.
And so, just the last 7 miles to the sea. And with a downhill all the way we should be there in around 15 minutes.
1 hour later, and we were still on the road leaving the beacon. There has been a rather nasty accident (I hope the rider was ok) which closed the road. By the time we got to the sea front we had been on our bikes for 8 hours. It should have taken us no more than 4 hours to complete the journey including breaks with many of the first group out at 6am doing it in 3.5 hours.
But still, it was a fun day out. Would I do it again? Probably. We shall see.
Holly after the ride
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