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!
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| 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.
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| Kate & Ant at the Start Line |
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.
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| Water Stop and Snacks - yay! |
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| 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!
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| Arriving at lunch |
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| Food! |
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| Here comes Kate! |
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!
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| That sign says Box Hill - honest! |
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| 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!
