L2P - Day 1

The day started at 5am with a wakeup shower and then a very ropey, warm egg sandwich I bought from Sainsburys the day before. The additional banana and OJ, I also bought, fully set me up for the day ahead though. My hotel was lacking in a lot of quality and this was only exemplified by not receiving any wakeup call from them as previously requested at 5am on the dot.

I checked out the hell hole and struggled with my luggage whilst on my bike a mile up the road to the Crystal Palace Sports Centre and the start point! As i arrived all riders were registering, handing in their luggage and gathering on a set of steps for an impending briefing. There were a few noticeable faces from our FB group that made things such a reality.

Once everyone was together, all 158 of us, we had our briefing. All the rules and regs of the ride were explained along with key stop points and what to do in an emergency. After the briefing had finished we mounted up and then all headed towards the exit and then we were away…all by ourselves on the open road. The route had been marked in advance with bright orange arrows at crucial junctions or 2 mile intervals to help guide us to our end point in France.

In the first few miles it was a bit stop start with the London traffic, numerous lights and road works etc. After about 5 miles I found my pace but wasn’t prepared to start racing ahead, overtaking or leading the pack. Around 10 miles in I found my confidence of navigating with or without group. I also started to make conversation with fellow cyclists and began to enjoy the ride and really start absorbing it. I decided then to cycle in a small pack with two guys - Mick and David. Both very different and both very interesting. We cycled together for a good number of miles and until the first water stop at around 30 miles. The first 30 miles had been fairly undulating and I was actually surprised by the amount of hills on the route. The scenery though was starting to become more and more picturesque as we got deeper in to Kent. There were also many houses and cars showing their patriotism with flags and bunting on them to celebrate St Georges day.

After the water stop Mick and David were very keen to try and find a café to stop for a minute and get a caffeine fix but there were very few opportunities that presented themselves in the small villages that we sped through. At around 40 miles we picked up a new member for our group and this came in the form of Michael from Cardiff. A very nice lad and fitted in well with our group. I got some good advice from him to about bikes and travel.

One of the most interesting things I enjoyed about the day was cycling together as group, as this was my first time doing so. I was learning a new language fo cycling clubs up and down the country and i was really embracing it with hand gestures and signs. Shouts of pothole, clear, car, man with two dogs and lots of gesturing to these things endeared me more the spirit of helping fellow cyclists.

Wanting to push on and get to the lunch stop I stepped up the pace a little and was eventually told by David to “slow down” and take my foot off the gas and reduce down to 17mph but this led to my funniest moment of the day when less than 5 minutes later David then proceed to step up to 20mph for next 20 minutes and I was struggling to catch up. Mr "take it off a wee bit".

Our lunch stop for the day was in local village hall at about 60 miles in to the ride. The organisers Skyline did a great job to in preparing everything for the 150 starving calorie burners and the spread was pretty decent. At lunch we also added to our group to make a 6 man wolf pack when Lucy, Ryan and Simon sat with us as we all stuffed our faces.

After fully loading up with carbs for 30 minutes we then jumped back in the saddle and set off for the last 35 miles to Dover. It was a good job we did stock up on all that energy as we were presented with many many steep and winding hills immediately. They were enjoyable but tough.

About 10 miles in came my first accident. The standard “cleat issue” as always. Our riding group and formation had disbanded a little as the hills challenged us all at different levels, meaning that individuals would take the hills at their own pace. After completing some big hills I joined up with two new guys in another small group. The three of us were heading down the other side of a very large hill that was enclosed with overhanging tress on a very tight single track. Half way down the hill we were stopped in tracks by an old lady riding a horse and walking 4 dogs at the same time!!! They basically covered the whole road and made it hard to round them. when the three of us tried to overtake the guy in front of me hit his breaks very hard as one of the dogs chucked himself in front of his bike. This left me no room for negotiation. I slowed down as much as could and then took the fall like a great oak whilst obviously still stuck in the cleats. No real damage done though and the guy in front couldn’t stop apologising.

The last part of the ride was not so tough, which was nice. It also had very enjoyable views of the countryside. The roads were narrow, single track, bendy and fast to follow.

I arrived at the final “meet area” in Dover at 3pm. With everyone due to meet here at 5pm and ever the opportunist I decided to capitalize on the weather half a mile down the road with a larger shandy in a local public house. After my Vitamin D top up and a good chin wag amongst friends I headed back to meet point where we gathered up the majority of people, but not all 158, and then headed to Dover as a mass convoy.

As we entered the port there were some breath taking view of the castle on the hill in the distance. More hanging around at the dock ensued before it was our turn to ride on to the ferry. Not only did we ride up and on but we also rode inside the ferry itself to our designated holding point. Not many people can say they have ridden on a ferry. My crossing consisted of soup, pasta and two San Miguels in the Brasserie before it was time to disembark and ride on the “wrong side" of the road for a few miles to our hotel. For the first time that day we felt a light drizzle on our heads but I was grateful that my hotel was the first drop off for the 100 or so people looking to get their heads down. Our group was split between three hotels.

I later found out that 23 cyclists didn’t make to Dover for numerous reasons and had to be rescued by the organisers and driven to Dover for a very late ferry to France.

After completing nearly 100 tough miles with a decent amount of hills throughout I only wanted to get some sleep at this stage and recover for the morning and the next challenge. Unfortunately for me I was paired with a snoring machine in a tight box room with two single beds. Simon was a really nice guy but when he presented me with ear plugs when we both got to our room after check in my heart sunk. After a few probing questions I found out he was being 100 per cent serious and this wasn’t a practical joke (that would be a good gag to do in the future). The story deepened after this and he told me that his wife is deaf and that is how there is harmony in that relationship...

Lets see how much sleep will be had…

In summing up I had an incredible day cycling hard up some extreme hills in some glorious weather for April. I had seen picturesque countryside and meet a great bunch of people whilst raising money for a charity close to my heart. Life is good!