Edinburgh to London: Complete!
Check the Charity's sites for the general story: (you can even see a photo of British 10 time Tour de France stage winner Mark Cavendish signing my top :D)
http://www.righttoplay.org.uk/
Thank you to all that have sponsored!! You can still sponsor and donate for the cause!
Heres something from my own experience & Journey:
545 miles, 37 hrs on the bike, a sore battered body, cycling up a ton of hills, topping 48mph down one, all over 6 days.
The Cycle was longer than expected. The Mountains in Scotland were bad but the worse part was cycling through london with 10s of other cyclists in busy traffic..
Edin-Berwick: 59miles, 4hr10 on the bike, about 5hrs total, top speed 35.26mph
British Cyclist Mark Cavendish set us off from Queens Park Drive, Edinburgh. We were led out for the first 20 miles then we were let off to cycle at our own pace. Another cyclist almost fell in to a ditch while a horse was turning around. Also the 1st fall from the Surrey lot was by Alex Titchmarsh.. in the 1st mile!!!
Little did I expect to be in the front with one other cyclist, having the mountain ranges create gaps and splitting everyone up. At the top it rained and was windy, Almost got blown off my bike.
There were just soo many hills they kept coming! I was soo glad to have reached the campsite!
Berwick-Newcastle: 89.5miles, 5hrs45 on the bike, about 6hrs total, top speed 36.52mph
The rain was dreadful, I got totally soaked and had no waterproofs on. I started to freeze and seize up. The dilema was to get the speed right, ride faster to warm up but riding faster meant more cold wind which would make you coder again, this which forced me to climb up hills faster to warm up. My feet were so soggy by the end of the day! lesson learnt not to leave without waterproof covers for my shoes.
Newcastle-Leeds: 108miles, 7hrs40 on the bike, about 11hrs total, top speed 38.52mph
This day was dreadful! Much longer than the previous days and twice as many climbs up hills as the 1st day, the hills just kept coming!! The front group got lost so added about 4 miles onto the trip but managed to catch up to a load of people dispite this. As the day went the hills kept coming, at the lunch stop, 47 miles in, we had arrived around 3pm, so others would have had arrive much later just to that stop. We kept going on and energy was scarce especially with all the hills. We were told that there was only one more climb left after the last food stop, there were actually 5 really long ones!! I was soo happy to see the Leeds Halls of Residence sign, which happened to be on a hill as well! arriving at 8pm
This was probably most people's first century of miles in one day, it was certainly mine.
Leeds-Nottingham: 105miles, 7hrs on the bike, about 9hrs total, top speed 32.60mph
This stage was much had less climbs and was mostly flatter but still undulating. because of the previous day everyone wanted to go harder so that we wouldn't have to arrive so late in the evening. By the end of the day fatigue was kicking in massively. Now both achillies tendons were in pain. After miles and miles of cycling you become delirious, even to the point that you're falling asleep.
Nottingham-Oxford: 111miles, 7hrs15 on bike, about 10hrs total, top speed 35.26mph
Although this was the longest ride, it didn;t seem as bad as Newcastle-Leeds. The average speed was the fastest of the week and there was some great views. Oxford is such a great city for cycling in and because of the lack of protein in Nottingham 3 of us from Surrey Uni went to eat KFC later on the night sitting on a bench. The best suprise was that the oxford campus was on top of a massive hill!! 3 consecutive days cycling over 100miles!! There was a sports hall where we kept our bikes. I couldn't resist doing some flips and jumping around as I do, that didn't help my knee, it made it worst!! Silly :D
Oxford-London: 72miles, 5hrs15 on the bike, about 7hrs total, top speed 48.6mph
This was the day to relax a little because the plan was that all 100 riders would regroup at the last foodstop just outside London so lunch considisted of waiting for everyone to regroup. The 1st food stop was just before a steep 20% hill which was so thrilling to go down, first time I managed a 40mph top speed. Me and Chris Sharrock teamed up, Chris being my lead out man to try and get an even higher one. The funniest moment was climbing back up that hill and watching others go past the opposite direction in fear that it was the wrong way and had to climb it again! The speedo on my bike wasn't working the 2nd time we went down so we climbed back up again and I managed to reach 48.6mph. The hill bent round so it was scarily dangerous and the road led to a T-junction which wasn't far away. Stooping must have melting the brakes.
Funnily enough we had to work for our food, the lunch stop was on top of a hill that didn't seem to end. The worst part of the ride was cycling through busy London! but eventually we made it!! ending at Buckingham Palace.
Overall it was a great cycle, for a great cause, my bum hurts and my body is just starting to recover. The amount of hills that had to be climbed were immense! Loads of effort was made by everyone, some people didn't make it easy for themselves including me, speeding ahead, my theory was to get the accomodation as soon as possible. I cant imagine how others stayed out soo long. Thats something I admire. I kept falling asleep on the road after riding out for so long.
I had never been over 40mph ever nor rode more than 100miles in a day before this event, and the things that kept me going was what the cause of the ride was for, deprived children across the world.
Let's do this!! (something I kept saying everyday)
Keep sponsoring! Thank You
Trung
The Cause:
Your donation will help children on "Right To Play's" programmes around the world.
This Charity help deprived children across the world by using sport and play programs to build local capacity in four areas:
1. Basic Education and Child Development:
2. Health Promotion and Disease Prevention:
3. Conflict Resolution and Peace Education:
4. Community Development:
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child guides our work. Right To Play programs target the most marginalized including girls, people living with disability, children affected by HIV and AIDS, street children, former child combatants and refugees.
The Cycle:
Day 1: Edinburgh - Berwick (60 miles)
Day 2: Berwick - Newcastle (90 miles)
Day 3: Newcastle - Leeds (108miles)
Day 4: Leeds - Nottingham (105miles)
Day 5: Nottingham - Oxford (111miles)
Day 6: Oxford - London (72 miles)
Total: 545 Miles
http://pennineevents.co.uk/PIR/.
For more details about the Charity please visit http://www.students4righttoplay.org.uk/aboutus.html
Donating through Justgiving is quick, easy and secure. It’s an efficient way to sponsor me: Right To Play UK gets your money faster and, if you’re a UK taxpayer, 25% in Gift Aid is added to the donation.
You can sponsor un until 30th September for those who are struggling without that student loan!!
Thanks for Sponsoring!!
Trung
