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Sunday 22nd March- The Big Day

Well the day finally dawned and the team had grown to 4, myself, Alan Gould, Luke Grove and late addition Duncan Stewart.  Duncan added some cycling experience to the team having completed the Tour D'Etaps last year 120 miles and 5000 metres ascent and had warmed up for this ride with a 50 miler on Saturday.  Luke, fresh back from a 3 month Europe work trip also had the cycling legs having traversed a part of , 700km over Christmas 2008. Alan had bagged a 60 miler a couple of weeks ago and my biggest outing had been 2 hours, around 27 miles so I was a tad anxious before the start.

The weather at 730am when we set off was crisp and sunny and that was to be the pattern for the day, warming up around noon and coolish again in the evening, perfect conditions in a month traditional for extreme weather variations, so luck was on our side.

Before the off we had a quick cuppa and loaded up with as much water and grub that we could carry, Alan was the group camel with more saddle bags than the Magnificent 7 and an excellent selection of scoff!  I had a few chocolate bars, tubes of SIS carbo fruit gels and some electrolyte powered for my water bottle.

So 730 and we are off. The journey heads out from Earley via 3 Mile Cross and out into the beautiful countryside and quiet B roads towards, Aldermaston Baughurst and hey….why not just check out the approximate route here on Routes You?

http://www.routeyou.com/route/view/82855/cycling-route-100-mile-cycle.en   

I didn’t quite get the way points plotted to perfection after the event but it gives you a rough idea of our route for the day.  The 1^st 2 hours seemed to pass by very quickly with the quite roads giving us a good opportunity to chat and catch up, Alan, Luke and Duncan had not met before today.  Before we new it we had hit 3 and a half hours and were in Hartley Witney for a pit stop with 49 miles on the clock.  This was a very busy through town with lots of people around and not a single coffee bar to be seen!  Great place to start one up if you want to make a killing!  We had a stretch here and took on some bananas, drink, chocolate and Luke bought out half the local sweetshop.  Next target was Fleet and Farnborough, these proved to be the most boring bits with long busy A roads seeming the only option.  Once through Farnborough the goal was lunch in Chobham.  A few hills along the way resulted in us having a 3 miles downhill cruise into the village where we stopped after 4 and a half hours and with 62 miles under our belts.  4 Roast Lamb dinners, spotted dick and treacle puddings and some pints of Tea, ok it’s a local real ale (and we only had one each honest) and we were suitably recharged.

The long final 1/3 was ahead of us and we ploughed on through Sunningdale, along the side ofWindsorParkand up to Fifield.  Here we made a tactical decision to cut Marlow out of the loop and headed off towards Twyford.  From here into Wargrave,Henleyand back out towards home.  We added a dogleg via Binfield Heath then back through Dunsden Green Sonning and back to Earley.  My speedo having stopped for a half mile or so way back meant I had to add a small loop on so that I finally arrived back in my Close as 100 miles showed on the clock, we had done it!

We were all incredibly chuffed with how the day had gone, yes we had tired legs but we had suffered no injuries, no mechanical failures and most importantly for me my biggest fear of being incredibly uncomfortable in the saddle after a whole day, did not come to fruition.  Yes the Udder cream and padded shorts worked a treat, thanksDuncanfor the toptip!

I had a good old stretch a nice hot bath and popped out with some other mates for a few well earned ales in the evening.  Slept like a log!

Total riding time was 7hrs 52m 31sec, comfortably inside my prediction of 8hours. 

At the time of writing this report there is £965 on my site, I have at least £150 still to collect and Alan also has a chunk of cash to add in.  All that coupled with Barclays £ for £ support, and reclaimed tax via Gift Aid means that we will be somewhere near £2500 when we complete the collection. You can also cross reference to Luke’s web site, see article below, and see that we are all working hard to help ASPIRE gather the funds to be able to help out Dave Martin who, before his accident, would have jumped at the chance to do a challenge like this.  Hopefully within a few months we will have the necessary funds to get Dave his trike and get him back into an exercise regime which will really help him.

Finally, a great big thank you to all of you who have supported this event and for all your good wishes for the ride itself. Without your continued generosity Charities like ASPIRE could not carry on the great job they are doing and I know the team there will be delighted with this contribution.  Having done the 100 miles, I did not bat an eyelid when another mate suggested a 50 miler next Saturday. 50, a doddle!

Best wishes from all of us in the team and of course Dave Martin.

Mike Linehan

So please sponsor me now! Dave Martin a friend from Reading Rowing Club was injured in a road accident after completing an Ultramarathon in South Africa in October 2007.www.extrememarathons.com .  Two years before this he completed the Transatlantic Rowing Race, made famous by James Cracknell and Ben Fogle and shown on TV. www.atlantic4.co.uk   Tragically Dave's injuries have left him permanently paralysed from the chest down.  To aid Dave  with his rehabilitation, myself and fellow rowers from the club are working with the excellent Charity Aspire Charity Reg 1075317, http://www.aspire.org.uk to raise money, through various events, in order to help fund the purchase of a special tricycle http://www.berkelbike.com that will use electronics, FES, to stimulate Dave's legs. The benefits of this are immense to victims of quadraplegia as the muscle stimulation improves not only circulation but also slows down and reverses the side effects of immobility such as osteoporosis and artherosclerosis.

At around £12600 these Trikes are not cheap but the improvement to Dave's quality of life would be tremendous.

Luke Grove a fellow fundraiser on this event also did a major bike ride across Spain over Christmas.  Lukes story can be read on www.totterolletjie.com and contains further information re Dave and a photo of Dave in action on the trike when he tried it out.

So what's the event I am doing?

Well rather than the standard half or full marathon, which I didn't fancy, I am planning 2 events.  On 21st March I will be competing in the Men's Head of the River race for 8's.  The Boat Race course in reverse, 4.25 miles****STOP PRESS 25th Feb****.  Then on Sunday 22nd March I will attempt a 100 mile cycle aiming to travel through 5 counties, namely Berks, Bucks, Oxon, Hants and Surrey.  I hope that this amount of physical effort will encourage you to dig deep and sponsor me in this great cause for a great guy.  I know Dave will be thrilled to get the Trike.  When he tested it, a mere 15 minutes in the saddle had an immediate effect in reducing his lower leg oedema (swelling) and his leg flexibility.

**** due to an oversight, our 8 did not get entered in the Head, therefore I will complete the race distance on my Concept 2 Ergometer****

Thanks for reading this and supporting me.  If anyone wants to join me on the bike ride please let me know, the more the merrier.