Anthony Wilde
RSA Cycle 300 Miles in 24 Hours!?
Fundraising for Dame Kelly Holmes Trust
Story
Well, to say what an
epic ride would be an understatement – It was an amazing but very random
enjoyable 24 hours which I will never forget.
A huge reiterated thanks to Mark and Suzanne who were excellent support crew, without
them it would have been almost impossible and certainly not as enjoyable as it
was. They kept a very close watchful eye over the ride, having to stop every 40
miles or so and put up with our various demands from MacDonald’s to ice cream.
We all have a lot of very memorable moments with no punctures or serious
incidents; I fell off my bike at Fenchurch Street, just had to get that out
before the others and a couple of navigation errors other than that we all
completed the ride with an hour to spare.
We all were, peculiarly feeling fine although mentally I think we were all
exhausted with the sleep deprivation thrown in and didn’t feel tired until we
stopped.
Also, for those that are unaware the tracker is still available at the
following link: http://maps.opentracking.co.uk/15rsa300.cfm
Thank you again to everyone who took part in the ride ‘phenomenal effort from
all riders’. I had an amazing few days...Thank you for all your donations!
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It's nearly time!
Just over 48 hours until we set off – leaving Horsham at 17.00 on Wednesday evening for our 300 mile ride, taking in offices in Redhill, London, Manchester and ending in Liverpool, hopefully before 17.00 on Thursday evening!
We have a tracker – so you can watch us in real time to see how we're getting on, the link is available here: http://maps.opentracking.co.uk/15rsa300.cfm
It will go live when we start, and should refresh every couple of minutes!
Encouragement is welcome through whatever forums possible, we will keep up to date with messages left on here, so feel free to help us on our way, and donate for the great cause that is Dame Kelly Holmes Trust.
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Well, here we are, just over a month before the big ride, so thought it
best that we give a little update.
The
headline is that eight has become six; Ryan, or rather his collar bone,
succumbed to an icy road a couple of months back, whilst Phil has simply not
been able to commit to training for reasons beyond his control.
So that
leaves six of us to set off from Horsham on the 24th June and head
in the general direction of Liverpool. The excuses have been coming in thick
and fast, even months in advance, with prior events meaning tired legs,
equipment malfunctions... just about everything.
Training
has been going on slyly in the background, although the social media platform
“Strava” allows us to make sure that no one participant is doing too much
riding, at risk of putting us to shame on the day. Nigel remains an unknown,
excuses abound of why he won’t use it, immediately followed by mention of
“training camps” in Mallorca and other such slightly concerning talk.
Logistics
are all but sorted. Support crews are recruited, if not entirely briefed as yet
– we thought it better to leave this until the 11th hour lest they
change their mind. The route is more or less finalised – flat, to save weary
legs as the miles tick on, avoiding back roads with associated navigational
perils, but also trying to avoid our most major of roads, at risk of falling
victim to an errant HGV driver.
Speeds have
been discussed, albeit with a degree of reticence, and a distinct lack of
commitment. 15mph was mentioned, a mere 20 hours for our 300 mile jaunt. Talk
was had of increasing this to 305 miles, commemorating RSA’s age, whilst it
wasn’t entirely rebuffed, it certainly wasn’t agreed either.
This close
in it really does seem to be a case of getting some hours on the bike and not
panicking too much. I must say, the closer it gets the more I can’t wait to get
going!