there once was a day...
...when a group of workmates all decided to go for a charity bike ride...
It was a fantastic day. It took a long time, but that was mainly because there were big queues to get water and we passed four serious accidents - which obviously either slow you down or bring the entire ride to a halt. People were smeared all over the tarmac - some of them looked really bad. I hope everyone's okay.
The generosity of everyone living on the route was great - people with water out for us and loads of kids with supersoaker waterpistols saturating us. And quite a few hosepipes too...I got a soaked to the skin a few times! It was so lovely just chatting to people you found yourself riding with or queuing near. When we got to the finish line and queued to be stamped out of the ride a guy came up to me and said "Scuse me, do you know Brighton at all?" So obviously I answered yes...and he had this big sort of sigh of relief and asked "Where's the nearest place I can buy chips?" Hee, the number of knackered cyclists with pints and burgers and chips and ice creams was fab! Ride for the BHF...then stuff the worst sort of food in your face. And have a fag, too. Tricky was smoking cigars all the way down >_<
I'll be doing it again next year, and thoroughly recommend it to anyone!
So we got up bright and omyfuckingGodfouro'clockinthemorning early and got to the train station...then we got the train to Wandsworth Common and met the lorry with our bikes on it.
The TEAM:
It's a blurry pic, but there we are...a fine body of people...NOT. Left to right as you look at it is: Tricky, MattyMoo, Ph, Me, LilMatt, Smiley, Gobby and Ant.
We cycled the mile from the station - against the flow of the main ride! - and reached the start gates (we were way early...there were burger vans....the lads started consuming their own weight in bananasthe phallic fruit of the devil! I hate them SO MUCH! and lusting after burgers):
Yayes! Our journey was about to begin! (The boys got this far and then decided they needed the toilet...::sigh::) And LilMatt was hungry already and MattyMoo was interviewed for some online newspaper deal! Hee. I doubt they'll use it with the amount of heckling going on though...
Then we began pedalling. It was fantastic, just the hum of cycles all around you. The traffic getting out of London was appalling - they don't shut the roads for this, y'know! We were fighting with busses and all sorts. But for today, pedal power won out over the gas-guzzling tin boxes on the roads. And it was like that all the way down. Cars just swamped in cycles.
That's the view from the top of the steepest hill. We had cycled all that way you can see - and then some. And that's a bastard of a hill.
And just over the top of it...
Our first view of Brighton! Home sweet home...and it suddenly didn't feel like we'd been riding very long at all, when you suddenly realised it was nearly over :( (I took this because Smiley got a puncture here - what a nice spot to choose!)
Making our way slowly to the Brighton Seafront...(Pavilion's just on the right, not that you can see it, if anyone's interested!)
Fighting with traffic again! But suddenly...
Yayes! We were over the finish line! (this is taken after I'd crossed it, natch!)
And here is me, proudly showing my stamped ride card and commemorative medal thingy....fresh from the shower, because you wouldn't have wanted to see me before I went in...I was caked in salt from the sweat! EEEWW!!
Looking very cheesy and slightly knackered on the old webcam there!
The TEAM:
It's a blurry pic, but there we are...a fine body of people...NOT. Left to right as you look at it is: Tricky, MattyMoo, Ph, Me, LilMatt, Smiley, Gobby and Ant.
We cycled the mile from the station - against the flow of the main ride! - and reached the start gates (we were way early...there were burger vans....the lads started consuming their own weight in bananas
Yayes! Our journey was about to begin! (The boys got this far and then decided they needed the toilet...::sigh::) And LilMatt was hungry already and MattyMoo was interviewed for some online newspaper deal! Hee. I doubt they'll use it with the amount of heckling going on though...
Then we began pedalling. It was fantastic, just the hum of cycles all around you. The traffic getting out of London was appalling - they don't shut the roads for this, y'know! We were fighting with busses and all sorts. But for today, pedal power won out over the gas-guzzling tin boxes on the roads. And it was like that all the way down. Cars just swamped in cycles.
That's the view from the top of the steepest hill. We had cycled all that way you can see - and then some. And that's a bastard of a hill.
And just over the top of it...
Our first view of Brighton! Home sweet home...and it suddenly didn't feel like we'd been riding very long at all, when you suddenly realised it was nearly over :( (I took this because Smiley got a puncture here - what a nice spot to choose!)
Making our way slowly to the Brighton Seafront...(Pavilion's just on the right, not that you can see it, if anyone's interested!)
Fighting with traffic again! But suddenly...
Yayes! We were over the finish line! (this is taken after I'd crossed it, natch!)
And here is me, proudly showing my stamped ride card and commemorative medal thingy....fresh from the shower, because you wouldn't have wanted to see me before I went in...I was caked in salt from the sweat! EEEWW!!
Looking very cheesy and slightly knackered on the old webcam there!
It was a fantastic day. It took a long time, but that was mainly because there were big queues to get water and we passed four serious accidents - which obviously either slow you down or bring the entire ride to a halt. People were smeared all over the tarmac - some of them looked really bad. I hope everyone's okay.
The generosity of everyone living on the route was great - people with water out for us and loads of kids with supersoaker waterpistols saturating us. And quite a few hosepipes too...I got a soaked to the skin a few times! It was so lovely just chatting to people you found yourself riding with or queuing near. When we got to the finish line and queued to be stamped out of the ride a guy came up to me and said "Scuse me, do you know Brighton at all?" So obviously I answered yes...and he had this big sort of sigh of relief and asked "Where's the nearest place I can buy chips?" Hee, the number of knackered cyclists with pints and burgers and chips and ice creams was fab! Ride for the BHF...then stuff the worst sort of food in your face. And have a fag, too. Tricky was smoking cigars all the way down >_<
I'll be doing it again next year, and thoroughly recommend it to anyone!