Story
24th July 2010
Well, finally did the ride. Found it very hard, especially the windy bit after Gosport on the way along the shore to warsash. Thankfully had the company of Candy (doing it for the second time) and Jon, who joined us from Gosport.
The GPS crashed a couple of times, but most of the track is available (as will the photos, eventually) at:
Thanks again for sponsoring me :-)
Well, back from the US and riding again. I'll be doing the Solent Challenge route on either the 24th or 25th, hopefully with one or two people who did it on the real date, and possibly a little more company on the bit from Hamble to Southampton :-)
IMPORTANT NEWS
20th June 2010
WE DID IT!!!!!! In fact it was actually 67.1 miles in total and we had a great day, and no sore bits today :-). The day went as follows:
06.50hrs Started out from home to Town Quay for the Hythe ferry crossing;
08.00hrs Got to Hythe;
09.00hrs Arrived at Lymington to catch ferry to Yarmouth;
09.45 to 12.30hrs Rode across the Isle of Wight from Yarmouth to East Cowes;
12.30hrs Quick re-fuel, consisting of a much needed packed lunch and water;
12.50 to 15.30hrs Rode from East Cowes to Fishbourne to catch the ferry to Portsmouth;
15.30hrs Arrived in Portsmouth and made our way to the Gosport ferry;
15.45hrs Arrived in Gosport for the final push home;
16.30hrs Quick ice-cream stop in Titchfield!!!;
16.45 - 17.30hrs Titchfield to Warsash for a well earned glass of vino;
18.30hrs Arrive in Woolston where we had to abandon the others and go home
(all times are approx.) So a very long, but very enjoyable day. Thank you so much to every one for your support and sponsorship. Can't wait for next years challenge already. Photos will be posted soon of our escapades, but they are on someone elses camera so will get hold of some on Monday.
Many thanks once again.
Charmaine & Adam x
09th June 2010
Hello all from the surrogate Paul. This is also the first time I have participated in the Solent Challenge, although I am no stranger to the odd long distance bike ride.
Over the last couple of years I have done the Isle of Wight Randonee (39 miles), a last minute ride to Romsey (approx 20 miles), a Sunday afternoon jaunt to the New Forest (40 miles) and many a random ride through the dreaded PO postcode. This is the first time I have combined them all together in one day so am really looking forward to it. I have even enlisted the support of my wing man (husband Adam) for the day (now that is what you call true love!!!). He is no stranger to the NOC and knows many people there so is honoured to be joining the team.
Thanks in advance for all the sponsorship and support and I promise not to let you (and Paul) down.
See you on the other side.
Charn x
4th June 2010
It looks like I will now not be able to participate in the official Solent Challenge ride this year. However:
1) Any money that you've given will still go to a good cause.
2) Charmaine Richardson will ride in my place on the day - and she will be able to edit this page.
3) For those that are very unhappy about me dropping out, I PROMISE that I will ride the route sometime before the end of July, and put the track up on Everytrail.com.
I'm very sorry about this, but just for the record - merely in training I have already covered well over 60 miles :-)
Paul.
Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.
Doing the Solent Challenge as part of the NOCS team. Never done it before as I'm usually at sea when it is happening!
For more info on the Solent Challenge, go to: http://www.cyclingchallenge.org.uk/I have actually started training for this, I did somewhere between 16 and 20 miles on Sunday 16th May, and hope to do a training ride with the rest of the team this Wednesday from NOCS to Lymington and back.
Good news is I have received the pack from the organisers, with the route information, all the ferry tickets I'll need, and the all important rider number, which is 252.
John, have you ever tried swimming whilst carrying a bike? I haven't so I would appreciate a demonstration :-)
Did a training run (approx 24 miles) last night with Jon Seddon. You can see the route by going to:
http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=625540
Finally got around to doing a practice ride with the rest of the team last night (26th May) - probably at least 30 miles :-) The track has been uploaded to the everytrail web site, but the photos are not there yet.