The London Ride of Champions

Saturday 1st September

Up at 5:30am and too early for a hotel breakfast, we instead made do with instant porridge. We both regretted going for the syrup version as neither of us felt like eating anything at that time of day and forcing down sweet slop was a bit of a struggle!

Porridge - good fuel!

From the hotel we had a 3 mile ride to the start. We found it easily and also found our old time cycling buddy Kate there waiting for us. Rather disappointingly only 4 of 80 riders were there at 7am, but we were keen to get out riding as early as possible, so after some brief introductions we set off on our way.

Kate & Ant at the Start Line

Just at the bottom of the hill we found ourselves entering Richmond Park. A beautiful start to the ride, if a little undulating! We passed a group of deer right by the side of the road who didn't seem at all troubled by us cycling by. We were soon out of the park again and followed our orange arrows which directed us to Hampton Court - a beautiful ride through the park and a section we instantly recognised from the Olympic Road Race on TV. As the roads weren't shut, we didn't have the option of splitting up at the roundabout by the lake to race our competitors!

The rest of the 25 miles to our first stop weren't quite so exciting, but they were pretty flat. Kate set a great pace out front and we all did our best to keep up with her as we headed out past Shepperton and Weybridge. I was desperate for a toilet stop for ages, so when we pulled in at a layby for everyone to take a quick breather and have drinks, I was delighted to see a sign for a car park and toilets. Everyone decided to join me and we all traipsed off following the signs, which eventually led to a car park. Sadly there was no sign of any toilets, just a locked up cricket club. The others politely looked the other way whilst I tried to find cover in the bushes! Getting back on track, we saw the first big group of cyclists go past us, the later starters were catching us! Despite that, we were really pleased with our progress and made it to the stop within 2 hours of setting off.

Water Stop and Snacks - yay!

Our little group preparing to set off again

A little pat on the back for section 1, but we knew the easy bit was over! There was another 10 miles of fairly easy riding, but after Guildford we knew we were heading for the hills! There was some confusion at one point where we thought we'd missed a direction arrow, but lots of others came speeding past and reassured us we were going the right way. As it turned out, we had missed an arrow, but luckily the long steep descent had taken us down to join the road we should have been on anyway, so all was well again.

There was some debate about whether or not the hill we had climbed counted as one of the three big climbs on the route. The next hill left us with no such doubt! It was a very long climb, starting fairly gently as we went up and up and up. Just towards the top was a very steep sharp bend. I called to Ant to go out around me in case I didn't make it and sadly stopped right before the bend. It was just so steep I couldn't quite make it round. I was so disappointed to have hopped off the saddle on the first big climb and momentarily felt quite miserable, thinking all hope of making it up Box Hill was over. That didn't last long though, as I'd seen several people get off and walk in front of me, including Kate who I knew was a strong hill climber and some very fit looking chaps on much posher bikes than mine! Impressively I think Ant was one of the few people to cycle it all the way (well done Ant!) At the top, a group of people had gathered to eat snacks and discuss the nasty nature of the last bend. A local chap coming in the other direction stopped to speak to us and said that the hill we'd just come up was the most challenging one around and wished us luck as he went on his way.

It wasn't long before we came across the next hill - also very challenging and pretty steep in places. I really wasn't sure I was going to make it up, but my little gang all kept pedalling and I kept following, determined just to get a little bit further, a little bit higher...until 'bingo' I had reached the top! Another little gathering for refreshments and grouching about the nasty hill. From here came a ridiculously long descent that never seemed to end! Luckily it wasn't too steep and helped us up our speed again on our way to lunch and the halfway point in the ride. Hoorah!

Arriving at lunch

Food!

Here comes Kate!

Despite being the perfect weather for cycling, it was pretty chilly when we stopped, so we quickly munched through our sarnies and muffins before setting off in the direction of Box Hill. Eek! There was another long descent first and I wished I'd put my jersey on, but we soon turned on to the main road and I recognised this from the CTC magazine description of the route, which meant we were only a couple of minutes from Box Hill. Sure enough, once we turned off this road we were at the foot of Box Hill, with a huge sign reassuring us that this was definitely it! No going back now!

As we began climbing, I was struggling to keep pedalling in anything other than my lowest gears, so really doubted if I could manage the steeper section we'd been warned about at the top. Just as I was saying this to Ant, the ascent eased off a bit, so I was able to go up a couple of gears and pick up a bit more speed which we maintained as we climbed higher, over the speed bumps, past the 'Wiggins' and 'Cav' graffitti in the middle of the road and dithering over whether to stop and take pictures of the wonderful view, or whether to keep going so I could say I cycled the hill non-stop! I dismissed the photos and went for non-stop.

Every time we turned a corner I dreaded the 'steeper' section we'd been warned about on the last section. As the road turned another corner, we lost the view as we headed in through the trees and then as I rounded the next corner I saw a sign for the car park. I didn't dare think it was the top but as I got nearer, the cafe came into view and there were cyclists galore milling round - we had made it! To say I was delighted would be an understatment! What happened to the steep section?!? I couldn't help but grin as we rested our bikes against the fence and went to take the 'top of Box Hill photo'. This was what we'd been fearing for weeks and we had just conquered it - all in one without stopping! I felt on top of the world! I would have been happy to stop there and go home, but equally really wasn't worried about the rest of the ride now that we had done Box Hill. As we marvelling at our achievement, another cyclist pulled up along side us asking 'is this the top?' - he couldn't quite believe it either! Another cyclist offered to take our photo and it turned out he'd just come up for a bit of a ride before doing the full Olympic route the next day for charity! There are clearly people out there who are more mad than us!

That sign says Box Hill - honest!

 

The cafe (and a real toilet!)

From Box Hill back to Richmond Park is a bit of a blur! It was a bit hilly again around Oxshott, but was generally just gently undulating as we headed back towards London. Unfortunately Sarah who had been cycling with us all day took a tumble at some traffic lights. After a brief stop whilst she got over the shock, she bravely carried on again. We thought we had 15 miles to go until the next water stop back near the start line, but the stop had been moved forward a few miles, so we stumbled across it much sooner than expected. Time for a quick sun cream top up, a water refill and yet another cereal bar before going on to tackle the final stretch.

The traffic got heavier as we headed back through Kingston and it was a relief to get back into Richmond Park. Even the park was a lot busier than it had been in the morning - there were walkers, cyclists and cars everywhere! Surprisingly there were still some deer around. Sadly we lost Sarah here. We waited for a while for her to catch up, but knew she had planned to meet her family in the park, so could only hope she had found them whilst we'd been pedalling on ahead.

Now came the final decison time. We were back where we started and had the option to stop here after 70 miles, or to do the extra 20 mile loop into central London. Whilst we really didn't fancy battling with the traffic in central London, this was the ride we had come to do and the distance we had been training for, so we ignored the arrow pointing back to the start and followed the one simply marked 'London'. I had a strange mixture of nerves and excitement as I was dreading the traffic, but delighted that we were on the final stretch of the ride and was pretty confident now that we would finish.

In a way, the mad traffic was a blessing as we were so busy concentrating on it that we forgot about the distance, the miles, the time and how long we'd been on the bikes as we were so focused on staying alive! It did seem a long way into central London and I really didn't have a clue where we were or where we were heading. Luckily the arrows were still up and provided good directions - otherwise I don't think we would have found our way in or back out again! We did a sterling job right up until we got to a HUGE junction where we needed to get into the right hand lane to turn right. We sat at the junction for ages whilst buses and taxis streamed past us with no let up and decided it would be suicidal to try and cross the traffic. So we hopped off the bikes and made our way to the pedestrian crossing at the top of the hill. Seeing where we needed to get to, we couldn't walk across, so waited for the lights to change on the pedestrian crossing and made a dash to the right lane on our bikes. This was a bit of a mistake because we hadn't realised that the lights then allowed traffic from another direction to come into the lanes we were heading for! We had a bit of a tussle with a coach and a taxi, but managed to keep our position and come off the roundabout into the road we needed. As soon as we joined this road I shouted 'This is it - were are here!' - we were on the road to Buckingham Palace! We had made it!!

Another rather emotional point on the trip! Box Hill and now Buckingham Palace! What a day!

Again, I could have gladly stopped here and caught the train back, but this wasn't the end of the ride and we needed to make our way back out of London again - another 10 miles back to the finish line. Negotiating more heavy traffic, drivers who wouldn't give way to us trying to change lane, numerous zebra crossings where we had to keep stopping every few metres and London Buses constantly stopping in the cycle lane, we gradually made our way back out to Putney Bridge and the last few miles back to Roehampton University. Surprisingly we found ourselves climbing the final hill to the finish line at 15mph. Not a bad effort when we'd be cycling for 90 miles and in the saddle for 11 hours! Finally two very happy cyclists arrived at the finish line, where we were greeted by medals...and a proper toilet! What more could we want?!

Photos taken and thank yous and goodbyes said, we hit the final 3 miles back to the hotel, where we could finally put our bikes to rest for the night.

I can honestly say I genuinely enjoyed the majority of the ride. I never thought I'd say that about such a long ride! It was so exciting to follow in the footsteps of our amazing Olympians, to climb to the top of the Box Hill, to make it to Buckingham Palace and to finally complete the ride we've been preparing for all this time. An amazing day, an amazing ride and a day I'll remember forever!

Thank you so much to everyone who has sent us messages of support, kept encouraging us, sponsored us, put up with us not being around much whilst we've been training and then putting up with us complaining about training when you have seen us! We hope to be a bit more sociable again now...

Until the next adventure....Cheers!

A 5 mile jaunt

Tuesday 28th August

We really are in the last few days now! The training programme only required a 5 mile ride today. Ant's busy for the next couple of days, so rather than miss training at this stage, I headed out on my own.

It was a beautiful morning and such a contrast to yesterday! A quick ride down to Countess Wear via the Paper Mills and back past the Double Locks. It was so lovely out it seemed a shame not to go for a longer ride, but I don't want to wear myself out at this stage! So, 5.5 miles it was, leaving time for a trip to the beach, a paddle in the sea and an ice cream in the afternoon. Lovely!

Wow - what a wet and windy day!

Monday 27th August

It was very tempting to spend our Bank Holiday Monday tucked up in the warm and dry, but we have a training schedule to keep to and we only had to do 10 miles today, so we dragged ourselves away from the sofa, put on our waterproofs and pedalled on our way.

We opted for a flat 12 miles on the cycle path to Turf. I hadn't even made it to the bottom of our road before a huge gust of wind had knocked me sideways! The Quay was surprisingly busy given the weather and there were several cyclists and walkers out and about on the cycle path. Everyone we saw had a grin on their face, seemingly in defiance of the weather and coming out to enjoy their Bank Holiday weekend anyway. Good for them!

The wind was against us on the way to Turf and at times I felt like I was pedalling and going nowhere, but my cycle computer reassured me we were still doing 10mph. Not surprisingly we flew back home again - our speeds on average more than 5mph faster!

12 miles done and only 3 more training rides to go. Yikes!

A dark and blustery day at Turf

A couple of hardy walkers brave the rain

All the cows were standing up - they clearly hadn't realised it was raining!

Sponsoring Us

For those who have been meaning to sponsor us and haven't got round to it yet, here's the link again:

http://www.justgiving.com/ourolympicodyssey

You can now also donate by text - to donate £5: Text OLYM55 £5 to 70070

(You can change the £5 to £1 or £10 to donate £1 or £10 respectively)

Thanks to everyone for all your support so far! We are really excited to be heading into the final week of preparations and can't wait to be on our way.

Diddy Ducklings and a Baby Bunny!

Saturday 25th August

For our last 20 mile ride, we headed out to Killerton via Cowley, Thorverton and Silverton. Not long into our ride, we came across a group of tiny ducklings down on the river. We were very surprised to see such tiny babies this late in the year.

The first section of the ride seemed a real struggle. I was feeling very tired and almost a bit poorly, but seemed to settle down a bit as we got going. We had planned to stop at Killerton for tea and cake, but time was pushing on and we were expecting the weather to turn, so we decided to push on home taking the most direct route via the main road. We were right about the weather! Luckily we'd stopped to put on our waterproofs just before a light rain shower turned into a huge downpour!

Heading out through the lanes towards Stoke Canon we saw a tiny baby rabbit and its mother feeding together. Sadly the baby skitted away in the opposite direction to mum, so we hope they found each other later.

After a quick dash along the main road, we were soon pedalling back along the river, once more in the pouring rain. We took a little detour to see if we could find the ducklings. They had moved further down river, but were being well looked after by a chap who was feeding them. He had no coat on and didn't seem at all bothered by the rain. It was certainly perfect weather for the ducks!

A total of 23.87 miles and home by lunchtime. These shorter rides are much more sociable! Only one week to the day to the big ride...

A blustery blast

Friday 23rd August

Last night we did our last big after work ride - hoorah! Down on the Quay we instantly noticed the chilly breeze, it was feeling distinctly autumnal. It will soon be time for long trousers and long fingered gloves!

We headed for Exmouth via Woodbury and Woodbury Salterton. I usually enjoy this route, but my legs were feeling tired and it seemed like a long slog. Seems silly when we did 84 miles at the weekend, but I guess that's why we need a 'rest' week before the big trip. Stopping to use the facilities in Woodbury we came across a delivery man who noticed our Jurassic Classic numbers which were still on our bikes. So, having filled him in on our adventures, we went on our way again.

Once in Exmouth, we went via the Marina and then had a quick blustery ride along the seafront before turning back for home, adding another 27.85 miles to the training log.

I can now count the rest of our training rides on one hand! This time next week we should be arriving in London ready for the big day. Yikes!!

Mobile Mission

Tuesday 21st August

A short ride tonight and one that was governed by Ant realising that he'd left his phone in the office. We had to get our skates on to rescue the phone before the office closed at 6pm. We seemed to fly up Pynes Hill and made it with 5 minutes to spare!

Mission Accomplished!

With the phone safely returned, we cut across the bridge to Old Rydon Lane and took the back road out to Topsham. It was a gorgeous evening, so we headed down to the Quayside and sat to enjoy the view for a few minutes, before making our way home for tea. Only just over 13 miles, but well within the training programme which is now winding down a bit so we can rest before the big day. Hoorah!

Jurassic Classic

Saturday 18th July

After another mis-set alarm, I woke up 20 minutes after we were meant to get up, so we had rather a frantic start to the day. It was a gorgeous morning for cycling as we set off for the Jurassic Classic start line in Exmouth. We stopped at the entrace to the cycle track in Topsham to do a survey for a Sustrans lady and a bunch of cyclists whizzed by on their way to Exmouth. Luckily our late start worked out perfectly and after watching one group of cyclists set off, we were able to join the next group straight away. A quick prep talk and a wave from a dinosaur and we were on our way!

The start line

Ready to go

Loved this guy's style...a bar of Galaxy taped to his bike!

 As we rounded the first corner we were greeted by Don who seemed somewhat surprised to see us. We shouted hearty cheers and our spirits were lifted as we set off. The first section was all very familiar heading up the climb to Budleigh. It was great to have other cyclists around - although admittedly they were all huge groups of cyclists who overtook us and disappeared off into the distance! From Budleigh we were soon in Otterton and heading for the dreaded Peak Hill that would take us into Sidmouth. As we approached Ant and I discussed the fact that it must have been over 5 years ago since we attempted the hill, on our mountain bikes on our first full day out with the CTC! Needless to say, we hadn't got all the way up that day, so there was a lot of pressure on to see if we could tackle it now! At first I wondered what all the fuss what about as we climbed up relatively easily, but then I realised that was just a warm up and Peak Hill was still up ahead! The top section was a real struggle, but I could see Ant had made it up and there were lots of other cyclists huffing and puffing as they passed me offering encouragement, so I dug in and kept the pedals turning. At the top, all red faced and out of breath, we were greeted by a photographer. Very mean!

With the climb done, I knew we had a steep descent into Sidmouth, so I took a deep breath, grabbed on to my drops and went for it. I had a bit of a panic attack speeding down the hill feeling out of control, so pulled over to one side, getting in the way of several cyclists all speeding down past me. Ant stopped just ahead and I was torn between the frustration of walking down the hill and the fear of cycling down it! Eventually I got back on and went for it. It was terrifying and I was worried I wouldn't be able to stop at the bottom, but thankfully made it to the seafront and our first water stop. My hands were really sore, but I was glad I hadn't walked it. We were told it was only 12 miles to the food station, so set off merrily, not realising what a horrendous climb we would face up to Sidbury.

Sidmouth water stop

At what I thought was most of the way up the hill, we pulled into a grass verge so I could take my jersey off and re-fuel. I was really struggling and feeling tired and knew I needed to keep my energy levels up if I was going to make it through the day. I am so glad we did stop then, because the hill kept on going and going and every time we thought we could see the top, we turned another corner and up it went again! Once we did get to the top, there was a good fast section along the main road. The road was really busy, but it was just good to feel like I was moving again! As we headed for Gittisham I was dreading 'Gittisham Hill', but as we passed a couple of cyclists who said the food station was a couple of miles away, we rounded the corner to be greeted by the food stop at the bottom of the hill! Phew! There was bunting and music, bikes everywhere and a fabulous atmosphere at the village hall. We were greeted by M&S sandwiches, bananas, energy bars and energy drinks, such a fantastic spread. However, I was feeling a bit rough at this stage and only managed to eat half a sandwich and half an energy bar. I was worried I wasn't ready for such a long and challenging ride. The only thing we could do was push on and keep going.

Gittisham Food Station...yay!

Trying to smile, but feeling a bit rough

Thankfully Gittisham Hill didn't seem too bad! We made our way through Ottery to Talaton and although I'd been expecting a big climb to Talaton, we went a different route, which didn't seem as long or steep. From there we headed to Clyst Hydon and I was starting to tire again. A sign which said 2 miles to Plymtree and 4 miles to Cullompton lifted our spirits - Cullompton was the turning point for home! However, once we got to Plymtree, the sign said it was still 4 miles to Cullompton! Aaargggh! We stopped in Plymtree for a quick drink and I finished the other half of my energy bar. After climbing the hill, there was a junction with a turning to the right and a steep descent. I tried to attempt this, but seeing how steep the route got and not being able to see how far it went on round the corner, I got off and walked down. Ant had disappeared and when I found him at the bottom, he'd taken a low speed tumble. I wasn't too sympathetic as I was feeling so annoyed with myself for getting off and walking. Both feeling a bit cross, we got back on and kept going.

I was expecting a quick easy ride along the main road back into Broadclyst, but the road was so bumpy it was horrible! It seemed to go on forever and then it started raining, so I had to pull into a bus stop to put the covers on my bags. I had been hoping for ages to come across the bus stop by the Killerton turning...and after we set off again we found it was just around the corner! Phew...into Broadclyst and much more familiar territory out to Clyst Honiton and up to Aylesbeare for the next food station. I knew there was a long climb up to Aylesbeare and with tired legs, it seemed longer than ever! The speedy cyclists overtaking us were complaining of jelly legs and using their lowest gears for the slightest incline, so that made me feel a bit better! At the food station, we were greeted by Kirby photographing us! After some lovely coffee cake and a quick chat, we set off on our way again, keen to get to the end, only 10 miles away. We knew there was a big climb up on to Woodbury Common before descending into Exmouth. The climb did go on and on, but the views up on the Common were gorgeous and I was so worried about haivng to face another steep descent that the climbing didn't bother me much!

Luckily, the route followed the main road into Exmouth, so didn't get too steep. I did have a bit of a panic heading down the road by Kings Garden Centre as my hands were just too sore to keep braking, but Ant reassured me it flattened out around the corner. Then the sea was in sight and we just had to keep going until we found ourselves on the main road, past the train station and into the Recreation Ground. I was slightly taken aback to hear there was a loud speaker and someone congratulating us as we crossed the line, a group of people clapping and then someone rushing to give us our medals. A lovely finish to a ride! We cheered a few more people over the line - most of them had done the full 100 mile route, so deserved a bigger cheer and bigger medal than us! Then we headed off to collect our goodie bags and free pasties, which we'd been looking forward to all afternoon!

We decided we might as well finish the job properly and cycle back home again. We set off along the cycle path at a very gentle pace, enjoying the beautiful evening along the estuary. It wasn't long before we picked up our pace again though, keen to get home and get off our saddles! I had forgotten we were still wearing our medals, which attracted a bit of interest! One kid looked on in amazement as they went past and said 'wow, they've won medals' and another chap called out 'well done' as he went by! I'm glad to see there's still some Olympic Spirit lingering.

Back at Topsham, the amazing Sustrans lady was still doing surveys! I couldn't believe she was still there over 10 hours later. From Topsham onwards, my shoulder was extremely painful and although stopping for drinks on the Quay was tempting, I wanted to get home, up one last hill...

At the bottom of the hill there was a group of guys all wearing the same t-shirts and presumably on a stag-do. They joked at Ant as he went by first, in his 'treacle gear' and then commented 'I don't know how they do it. Mind you, I don't know how cyclists do it all. They are all in a world of their own'. It made me smile as we headed up the hill and gave me the extra determination not to give up and embarrass myself in front of an entire stag party! 

Congratulations to Alistair and everyone else involved in organising the ride. It all ran really smoothly, the route was really clearly signed and the food stops and finish arena were excellent. There was a great atmosphere all day and although most cyclists were clearly far more professional and faster cyclists than us, they were all very friendly and supportive out on the route. Our medals are now proudly hanging on the wall!

That's our last big ride now until the Olympic route...less than 2 weeks to go!

Troublesome Trains, Brushes with buses, a wiggly worm and bothersome bug!

Thursday 16th August

Tonight we headed out to Killerton, back through Broadclyst, Clyst Honiton, Clyst St Mary and home. It was generally a nice enjoyable ride. It was a bit wet and windy, but there weren't too many hills and because we followed main roads, we were quite quick, covered 22.5miles and were home by 8:30pm. Magic!

There were, however, a few 'moments' on route. The first was crossing the train tracks at St. Davids when the alarms started sounding just as we were crossing. I'm not keen on level crossings at the best of times, but fortunately rather than freezing or attempting to stop and turn back, I pedalled for dear life and got through before the barriers came down. Ant was behind me and had a closer encounter with the barriers, but luckily made it through. I can't believe they don't give a bit more time for people who are already on the crossing!

The main road out to Stoke Canon was hideous but we'd deliberately put this at the start of the ride to get us out to Killerton quickly and avoid having to cycle back that way in the dark. The road was generally busy and unpleasant, but at the worst point a bus shot past far too close by and was the subject of some very cross words!

At Killerton we stopped for a Tracker Bar - these were a staple food on our London to Paris trip and I promised Duff we'd have more for the Olympic Ride...so here's a pic to prove it!

We soon found ourselves on the road out to Clyst St Mary and I found myself hurtling towards a wiggly worm which I only spotted at the last moment. I think I just managed to miss it, but couldn't bring myself to look back and check. I hope it was unharmed. Ant then had a close call with a cat that ran across Old Rydon Lane and then just after Countess Wear Bridge I got a bug in my eye. I decided to blink a bit and hope for the best, but when I got home my eye was still uncomfortable and was discovered the bug well and truly lodged in the corner of my eye. Several attempts to wash my eye later, I think it must have gone as we can't find it now. Eeeewww!

Next ride...the Jurassic Classic! That will be a real test of where we're at! Roll on Saturday... :)

Short Expedition to Ebford

Wednesday 14th July

We only had to do a 15 mile ride today, so Ant concocted a route that took us out to Clyst St Mary, through Postlake, through Ebford to Topsham and home. Mostly a smooth ride, with just a couple of stops. The first to check our tyres for glass after speeding through a cycle path covered in glass, the second while I coughed and tried to dislodge a bug from the back of my throat! We also took a slight detour down a farm track, which Ant finally believed wasn't the right road after I pointed out a sign that said 'no unauthorised vehicles'. Not sure whethere bicycles were considered authorised vehicles, we made our way back to the main road and found the turning we were meant to take!

Meanwhile, the beady eyed amongst you may have spotted that our fundraising link has changed. Thanks to a very generous donation through Ant's company, Ant has now far surpassed his fundraising target for Project South Africa. We have therefore decided to support another charity with sponsorship from our Olympic Cycle Ride. What better cause to support than the setting up of a bicycle maintenance workshop? You can find out more and donate here:

http://www.justgiving.com/ourolympicodyssey

A teeny bit further....

Sunday 12th August

After a lovely dinner and a bit much wine at our neighbour's house last night, followed by a thunderstorm and a very restless night, we struggled to get up this morning and set off over an hour later than planned! It was drizzly and damp as we headed up Dunsford Hill and into Longdown. A very steep climb, more climbing and then a horribly steep descent which even with the drops proved a real challenge. I was so relieved to turn off into the Teign Valley, a much more manageable flat-ish section of road following the river. We had a quick drink stop and stretched our arms at Ashton and then carried on our way. My highlight of the day was seeing a group of cows standing in the middle of the river having a drink. Very cute - but on a main road so didn't stop and take pics. Here's a pic of The Old Toll House instead: Coaches & Horses 1/-, Horse & Carts 5d, Bullocks 2d, Pedestrians 1d. No mention of bicycles, so we figured we didn't have to pay and went merrily on our way before anyone could tell us any different!

The Old Toll House

We followed the Devon Delight route up to Gappah. The initial climb wasn't so bad as I thought, but I'd forgotten just how much climbing there was along the top and completely forgotten the long climb after the junction before turning off for Ashcombe, with a little bit more climbing for good measure! The descent into Ashcombe is very steep and I've never attempted to cycle it before. Armed with our drops, we gave it a jolly good go, but halfway down even Ant had given up. Our arms were very tired and we walked down into the village. A little disappointed not to cycle the whole way, but still much better than we've done before.

Ashcombe

From there, a relatively quick flat section to Dawlish, although we were stopped in our tracks by a very muddy section of road. I attempted to cycle through, but had to jump off after slipping, just managing to miss putting my foot in a huge muddy puddle! Grateful to get to Dawlish and the first toilet stop on our route, we stopped for lunch. We tried to find a quietish spot, which was tricky given that the fair was in town! I had to look away from a huge ride swinging people round in the air as it made me feel ill just looking at it!

From there we headed back to Countess Wear. Originally we'd planned to go out to Killerton for an afternoon coffee stop, but it was getting late and we didn't think we'd make it to Killerton before the tearoom closed. We were also both feeling shattered, so decided we needed a coffee stop sooner rather than later. We headed to Topsham via Old Rydon Lane and stopped at the Lighter for coffee and a much needed chocolate brownie! We both felt the benefits of a break and a brownie when we set off for Exmouth. Not quite the challenging route or as long a distance as we had planned, but sometimes you just have to go with the flow!

A much needed coffee and chocolate brownie!

62.77 miles today...a teeny bit further than the 61.85 we did last weekend! Just one more week of high level training to go, then a 'rest' week before the big day. Bring it on!

Puncture = Epic Fail!

Friday 10th August

After Wednesday I was hoping for a good positive ride. The sun was shining as we headed for Dawlish Warren on a route with a few hills to start with and then a nice flat run from Powderham.

As we joined the cycle path after Cockwood I started complaining to Ant that it was very bumpy and didn't remember it being that bad. Ant assured me it was always a bit bumpy but once we were back out on the Tarmac road I knew I had a problem. Ant thought it was just my mudguard rubbing my tyre. I wasn't convinced but as we were nearly at Dawlish Warren I carried on. When we stopped it soon became obvious I had a puncture - my first one out on a ride! We wheeled our bikes over to a nice patch of grass in the sunshine and set to work.

Setting to work

Mistake number 1 was not having a spare inner tube with me. Particularly annoying as I've been carrying one in my bar bag for the last 3 years and only took it out on Sunday after my bag got soaked through. It hadn't been put back in because, as I discovered when I got home, it had been hidden under a bag of energy drinks. Hey ho!

So, we set about finding the puncture and fixing it. There was a large shard of glass in my tyre, so we removed that and patched up the inner tube. Then it became apparent there was another hole in the tube. By the time I'd finished checking, I had pulled 4 bits of glass out of my tyre!

Patched up - thought we were nearly sorted

Getting the inner tube back on the tyre proved rather challenging and as both of us were starting to get cold and the light was beginning to fade, we decided to jump ship and catch the train home. Not especially an easy option given that it was a half hour walk back from the station and gone 10pm once we got home, but a lot safer than cycling back in the dark without proper lights.

Waiting for the train

I got up early on Saturday morning to sort out the puncture, determined not to let it ruin our plans for the day. Annoyingly I decided to opt for a new inner tube, as we'd had to put two patches side by side and they weren't sticking to each other very well. In my haste to get it sorted, I clearly hadn't done a good job, as when I went to pump up the tyre, there was a loud 'bang' and a great big hole in my nice new inner tube!

Pinched it - blew a hole in my brand new inner tube :(

o - it was back to square one again! Luckily Ant had surfaced by this time, so gave me a hand. A little test ride later and I was back on track! I also pulled a chunk of glass in Ant's front tyre, so think we managed to avoid another repeat of that experience. Phew!

Wednesday 8th August

I'm ashamed to say that today could be summed up in one word: 'Grumpy'. It's a bit of an understatement to say I didn't feel like going for a ride. I'd been tired all day, it started raining as I walked home from work and there were lots of other things I needed to do.

I grumbled all the way to Exmouth - I am fed up of cycling, I am tired, I am hungry, I am bored of cycling the same routes over and over. I want my social life  back, I am stressed as I have so many other things I need to do, why are we doing this? It's not like there's even a qualification at the end of this, hundreds of other Brits have been flocking to do the route, so we aren't unique and unlike them, we're even paying to do it...oh and did I mention I'm hungry and we really should eat more than a piece of toast and a chocolate biscuit before cycling 30 miles...and why are we cycling this route again? You can do a lot of grumbling over the course of 15 miles!

I cheered up a little on the way back. Mostly because I was on my way home, but it was also a beautiful evening. The rain had actually stopped before we started cycling, but had already contributed to my glum mood earlier in the evening. We took the coast path back, mainly because it was quicker rather than because it's easier. It would still be gone 9pm when we arrived home, had to cook and eat dinner and shower. I do remember struggling at this stage in our training for London to Paris, so I'm trying to hang in there and see it through, but tonight I really felt like I'd had enough.

26 miles later......

Now I'm back home, fed and showered I don't quite know what all the fuss was about! There is at least the hope of some sunshine for our next ride on Friday, but the forecast for Sunday is heavy rain again...so I can't say I'm looking forward to that much. For now, I'll go and rest my Grumpy head and hope I bear more resemblance to Happy in the morning.

Wet, very wet, almost dry and wet again!

Sunday 5th August

Well, today I really had to live up to my promise to be out on my bike come rain or shine! I don't think it would have taken much to persuade either of us not to do a training ride today. It was pouring with rain when we got up. The forecast confirmed there were weather warnings in place for heavy rain all morning so after much proscrastinating we just had to get on with it and go. We did however change our route as the route we'd originally planned involved a picnic lunch stop and no cafes on route to stop at. I was quite certain I wanted to go somewhere dry for lunch and get a warm cup of tea!

There was no let up in the rain as we headed out through Cowley to Thorverton. It proper bucketed down all the way. As we made our way up through Silverton and into Killerton the rain stopped and the sun came out briefly whilst we took a quick snack stop - it was to early for the tea room to be open :(

From Killerton we missed the road we'd planned to take, aiming to go for lunch at Escot. Instead, we found ourselves in Poltimore and decided that rather than going back, we would aim for Broadclyst and Whimple, up to Talaton and out to Ottery. It seemed to take forever to get to Whimple. We counted down every mile, getting wetter and wetter as we went and wondering what on earth we were doing out in such horrid conditions! As Escot was now out of the picture, we decided to head to Otter Nurseries for lunch. We were both feeling tired, cold and hungry, but almost halfway into our target for a 60 mile ride, we deserved a break! Here I discovered our panniers aren't very waterproof if they've been put on the ground in a puddle of water, so the warm dry jersey I'd been looking forward to changing into was very damp! My bar bag proved to be very damp inside too, so Ant took my phone and camera as his bar bag is far better (and way more expensive!) than mine. We enjoyed some lovely warm jacket potatoes, tea and coffee, but still felt very cold and knew we needed to get moving again.

Tea!

Coffee!

Back outside it was still raining and putting on wet gloves and helmets was horrid! Fortunately once we set off again, the rain stopped and we finally had chance to dry out a bit. From Ottery we seemed to make faster progress, out through Tipton and retracing our steps from last week in the other direction out to Otterton. Too full from lunch to stop for coffee, we carried on to Budleigh and then to Exmouth.

Exmouth is in sight

The gentle downhill ride through the lanes back to Exmouth seafront gave us just the break we needed. A quick comfort break and snack break in Exmouth and a check of the mileage. We knew we'd have to take the longer hillier route back to make it to 60 miles. So, determined to dig in and get on home, we sped off along the seafront.


Heading up out of Lympstone, the rain set in again, spurring us on. The hill out of Woodbury was rather challenging that late in the day, but we knew we'd have a good downhill ride once out the other side of Woodbury Salterton. Here we flew along and into Clyst St Mary. Only 2 more hills between here and home! We had to play 'snail slalom' across the bridge and up to the traffic lights - they were everywhere!

Then one last push for home. Just past the Double Locks we hit our 60 mile target and I punched the air with joy! I couldn't help but smile and feel incredibly proud that we'd gone out in the pouring rain and done our longest training ride yet. 61.85 miles at the back gate. Well done us! Do we deserve a gold medal yet?

Very muddy legs!