Prudential Ride London-Surrey 100

My first 100 mile ride was to be the 3rd Prudential Ride London event on 2 August. This was a closed road event with around 25,000 cyclists of all abilities heading off from east London to Surrey and back.

The weekend started with collecting the ride numbers & timing chips from London's Excel centre in Docklands. I drove down to Bethnal Green with a fellow cyclist (Richard) where we checked into our cheap & basic hotel. We cycled to Excel along some busy east end roads, but probably covered the distance quicker than by car. After a look around we headed back to Bethnal Green along a more convoluted, but less busy route generated by the Garmin Edge 810. The route took us under the railway, however as Richard passed through a small gap i had the misfortune to check the route and went straight into a bollard!

The result was two bashed & tender knees and a seriously buckled front wheel. Slackening off the brakes enabled me to sort of cycle back to Bethnal Green where we found an open bike shop who with a bit of persuasion, managed to adjust the spoke tensions sufficiently to produce a more circular motion in the wheel. This was an ominous start to the ride.

Sunday morning came very early, as the hotel backed onto the tube line & was really hot and stuffy. My start time was just before 6am and Richard's just after 7am. Instant porridge & a smoothie for breakfast, while Richard finished his pasta salad. We cycled to the Olympic Stadium together and soon joined the steady flow of cyclists, before turning off to our respective wave starts.

The start was well organised and was more of a rolling one, so that you passed the start line without actually thinking this is it. I stopped at the first bend just before the A11 to await Richard. Chatting to a Scottish rider who had been waiting half an hour for a friend and had another half hour to wait for the third, I was glad I only had 11 minutes to hang around.

Once he came through I had to sprint after Richard as he had not seen me, but we were soon cycling together through the streets of London. It was a great experience to pass through traffic free roads of central London and to do so at a really good speed. Despite my wheel problem & sore knees we kept going until the second hub at Newlands Corner. This was roughly the halfway point and with the sun was out it was a really warm day, with good views. Richard pointed out how bad it had been the previous year when it was pouring with rain.

The two infamous hills - Leith Hill and Box Hill came in the second half of the ride and were more challenging due to the sheer numbers of riders. Those going slower tended to block most of the lanes and the superfit were itching to get past you as you overtook those struggling more than you. Richard was ahead of me on both hills, but I made my way to the top at a reasonable pace. Our last well-earned stop was the top of Box Hill.

The remaining hills felt worse than they really were due to increasing tiredness and the effort expended getting up Leith & Box Hills. As we neared London the pace quickened and I tucked in with some faster passing groups to help me achieve my fastest pace all day according to the official stats. Throughout the day there had been a number of falls and as we approached the finish line we were being slowed down as someone had come off just over the line. The accidents throughout had been well marshalled and the casualties looked after. Sadly, we heard later that someone had collapsed & later died on Leith Hill.

After meeting up again on The Mall, Richard & I went off to Green Park for some food & met up with sarah from our running club who was supporting her friend Heidi. A great day with the satisfaction of achieving my first century and  tackling both Leith Hill and Box Hill. Official time 6 hours 32 minutes, but moving time was 5 hours 36 minutes. Nearly an hour taken with the two rest stops and waiting for Richard at the start. A good effort.

It was a great experience, but it was extremely busy and this did detract from the enjoyment a bit. It did encourage me to achieve the century though and take on the two infamous hills. Not for me next year as I should be in deepest Tanzania when the next Ride London sets off. With a few easy rides early in the week I did nearly 200 miles this week as part of my Tanzania Challenge

Exmoor Exploits

After a weekend in the Forest of Dean it was time to head straight to Exmoor. I had a week of walk leading with HF Holidays from their house near Selworthy in Somerset. The house is owned by the National Trust and its extensive estate is managed by the Trust from the Estate Office in the grounds.

Holnicote House, Selworthy, Somerset

A bit of running & cycling

Arriving the Sunday night provided me with the opportunity to go for an early run up to Selworthy village on Monday before breakfast. Afterwards I went for a ride on the bike around the winding lanes and came out just beyond the 'honey-pot' village of Dunster. A quite tour of Minehead brought back memories of childhood holidays and then the long drag back to the house along the A39. Over the week I managed a couple of runs and on Friday before driving home I took the bike out to Porlock. There was no way I was going to tackle the infamous Porlock Hill on the A39, but I did take the toll road up. This winds on and on at a progressive steady incline. Halfway up is the toll booth and a compulsory stop to pay the £1 fee, before continuing ever upwards! This is mostly through woods, so near the top the winds hit you as you leave the relative shelter of the trees. A quick ride through the Exmoor lanes was interesting, although lots of downs, most roads were rather winding and impossible to safely assess what could be coming the other way. Hopefully the Porlock toll road hill will go some way to prepare me for the Prudential Ride London 100 miler on 2 August. Although I'm not sure whether this will help with Sunday's 10K race at Luton.

Guided walks around Exmoor

Taking in the view

As this was a midweek break I only had three walks to lead this week. As usual we divided up the walks fairly between us and explained the walks the night before to the guest for them to make a choice. The first days walk was out from the house to Dunster, by late morning we had reached Wooton Courtney and the steep hills become excessively so. This caused problems for some and required careful management of the group. Once we reached the ridge it was more or less downhill gradually to Dunster and the cream teas many were busy planning. As the threatened rain hit us in the woods, somewhere dry to wait our transport back was necessary.

Landacre Bridge

A harder walk on the Wednesday took us across a more remote part of Exmoor. Our route started east of Exford, which we reached in time for a quick coffee stop and a chance to remove layers. The day started wet, but was rapidly becoming warm & muggy. the route took us onto Withypool and finished at Simonsbath. A very varied route with a wide range of habitats to see, but a tight schedule to meet our transport at the end of the walk.

Heading to Lymouth

The final walk of the week was a coastal one from east of Countisbury and then following mostly the South West Coast Path to Lynmouth. A gentle paced walk with plenty of time to enjoy the scenery and see some of the birds, including Stonechat's. Another hot and sunny day with plenty of sea breeze.

Although I've walked a lot around this part of North Devon & Somerset, it was my first visit to the house. A very welcoming stay & excellent facilities (food & accommodation). definitely a house to revisit.

Forest of Dean wanderings

Dorm accommodation
in one of the round towers

Before heading off to spend a week walking, running & cycling on the North Exmoor (Somerset) coast, we spent a fantastic weekend in the Forest of Dean celebrating friends joint 50th birthday. They had hired the hostel St Briavels Castle, which was once a hunting lodge for King John. Although a youth hostel it is also managed by English Heritage so the grounds can be visited, but you need to stay at the hostel to see its interior.

St Briavels Castle

A very hilly area for running, but I managed an easy pace run on Saturday before we all headed off for a group 8 mile wander through the countryside. With such a large group this was always going to be a challenge and there were several interesting points en-route where no one seemed to know where the route was. Or rather there were differences of opinion, nevertheless we all completed the route and found a communal space to have our lunch. An enjoyable walk in the warm sunshine.  

A quick afternoon visit to meet our niece who is visiting from Vietnam, where she is working, saw us enjoy the afternoon sun at the Old Ferry Inn. Lots of people on the river, where a large part of our group would be heading on Sunday. The evening was spent drinking, chatting and listening to the Jazz band.

Sunday a group of 10 hardy cyclists prepared to set off for a 50 mile ride. However, by the time we actually got into the saddle this was whittled down to just four of us! Nevertheless, we set off with high hopes until the rain had completely soaked us. Time for an early coffee stop in Tintern, where despite the return of the sun the consensus was to return. A hilly return left me waiting for the others where I ended up chatting to a lady sitting on her garden wall. It turned out she was a previous youth hostel warden at Knighton (now closed it seems). She had lots of interesting stories about the old days. After awhile I cycled back to find the others finishing repairs to one of the bikes.

The weekend finished with a relaxing time at The George Inn, with a drink and a pint while the sun shone down on us. Next stop Selworthy & Exmoor National Park.

First 1000 miles in Tanzania Challenge

Well it's taken nearly 11 weeks, but I have achieved my first 1000 miles for the Tanzania Challenge. Only 5,614 still to go! The distance represents the land mileage to travel between London and Dar es salaam in Tanzania. In June 2016 I will be flying there for real, but in the meantime I aim to run, cycle & walk the equivalent distance. With the summer coming I will hopefully be able to clock up a few more miles than usual.

This is part of my fundraising ideas for Raleigh International, although sponsorship is slow. As we get closer I will organise some fundraising events, but it seems a bit too early to do so at the moment. Anyway off on the bike tomorrow to get a few more precious miles under the belt.

Sunny morning ride

Contrary to the weather forecast, this morning turned out to be a great day to get out on the bike. Recent 'rides' have been confined to the turbo, so it was a pleasant change to be outside. The sun was shining, the wind whistled through the air so the temperature wasn't that great, but it was still pleasurable.

Getting out of town was a problem, as art the top of the hill my back wheel seized and became dislodged, due to poorly adjusting it after the turbo. A quick fix and return home to double check everything, and I was off again for my first ride outdoors this year! Sadly, the weather was against me on previous possible trips. I had hoped to do the Wiggle No Excuses ride back in February, but the invite to the Raleigh weekend clashed. As a result I missed out on this opportunity.

It was good to be out on the roads again, mostly minor roads which took me out towards Bedford, before heading back. The return was actualy longer, as I headed east through Houghton Conquest. Leaving the village took longer than anticipated as I took several wrong turns before finding London Road. This took me out towards the A6, then a sharp right to Malden. On this windy road I was stick behind a tractor with tailor for several miles.

As time was on my side, I took a short loop around the outlying lanes before heading back into town. In total just under one hour and a half in the saddle and 20.6 miles on the clock. After a few months on the turbo I found the long hills a real chore, I need to get out more obviously.

So another 20+ miles done towards my Tanzania challenge to add to the runs, walks and turbo rides :)