En Route

Posted by Neil

Hard work getting out of London from Gresham Street, over the river and then out through Lewisham means only 10 MPH average so far. Now at Wrotham Heath.  The climb up Shooters Hill was pretty stiff, but the main issue is just the volume of traffic, stopping for traffic lights every 50 metres and concentrating on not trashing your wheels on the pot holes...

On The Train to London

Posted by Neil

Rode the 15 miles from home to Chester station in glorious sunshine but a stiff headwind. Successfully caught the train to London and the bike's safely stowed. Time for a cuppa.

Progress

Posted by Stuart

Time to post just to keep the momentum going as we had towards our Grand Depart, which, gentlemen, is only 6 weeks away later this week.  We've all got things to sort.  In no particular order: Me - must get our routes sorted and written up.  To be fair, they are all figured out apart from the last day into Paris Centre, I just need to write them up for myself and my compadres.  Neil - keep the riding going in the face and pressure of a new job, and a couple of weeks holiday in August.  Dylan - get the bar tape sorted.  I think you've bought the new mitts.  Keep riding when you can.  Andy - trouble the scorers as far as sponsorship money is concerned, finalise carriage arrangements during the ride.

My conservative, pessimistic head is raising itself again - I'm a little concerned we haven't built enough contingency into the first day.  It's quite a challenging ride from London to Dover, what with busy roads, navigating out of London itself, the sheer distance and the fact that we'll all be riding laden for the first time.  It would only take a mechanical and/or a couple of punctures to put us under some real time pressure.  Think there may be an argument for bringing forward our departure to 7.30 am.  Views gents, if you're reading this?

I think it's probably going to be worth all of us speaking at least once before we go too, just to check progress.  We're all in different places geographically and organisationally, so we don't have any day-to-day opportunity to speak.  Watch your diaries for invitation(s).

Route planning

A very quick blog to kick things off.  We're still over 3 months away from departing these shores, but it's never too soon to start, and indeed finish, the planning.

We got together as a foursome, as it were, last week, and I think all is going to be well.  We each have our challenges to overcome if it's going to be a totally harmonious experience, but with a bit of luck those are undulations rather than high peaks on the road ahead.  Mine?  So many....remember this is for pleasure rather than being a military exercise, get the navigation sorted properly, remember not to preface every sentence with "when I did Land's End to John O'Groats" (I'm boring myself with that), for starters.

As far as navigation is concerned, the route from central London to Dover has been bothering me.  My first thoughts were to go out through south-east London, and then hug the north Kent coast through Dartford, Chatham, Gillingham through to Faversham, then hit the back roads to get to Dover.  I didn't fancy the navigation over the last 25 miles though, and elements of the route to Faversham looked a bit dull, to be frank.  I think we've got a better one now though, heading south after Dartford to pick up the A20, then staying on that through parts of the North Downs to Maidstone, Ashford, and nearly all the way to Dover.  Andy has been kind enough to stick it through bikeroutetoaster (I need to get a lesson off him - I've failed dismally to make it work for me so far), and it looks ok.

Three months feels like a long time between now and departure, but before then we've got plenty else to occupy us.  Inter alia, there'll be a trip to France to watch the Tour de France for Neil and me, a new job for Neil, summer holidays, and bike buying for Dylan.  So the time will go quickly, and the more we can get sorted quickly, the better.  It looks like we'll be having a practice outing on Monday 27th June, organisation courtesy Andy, so there's an interim target.

A Challenge, A Chance and Four Bikes

Posted by Neil

A Challenge

Men in middle aged crisis.  Motorbike?  Sports car?  Slippers and a pipe? Join an 80s rock covers band?  Not here.  Here there be bikes. And miles.
What better way to spend a long weekend in September 2011 than to a) reach an ambition; b) add another event to your tally of endurance challenges for 2011; c) create a target for a year of getting back into running, cycling and swimming or d) joining in because your so-called tough military cadet type mates gradually fell by the wayside and couldn't cope with the idea of riding their bikes from London to Paris?
As this blog goes on, your challenge dear reader is to match each rider to the above 4 statements of intent.
Why London to Paris?  Its a popular ride with fund raising groups and it brings the opportunity to finish at a globally recognisable location - be it the Eiffel Tower, or our choice - the Arc de Triomphe at the top of the Champs Elysees - scene of the last stage of the Tour de France.

Stuart and I have both made the pilgrimage to see the end of the Tour so it makes some sort of sense for us to finish there.  We'll be starting at the Lloyds Banking Group HQ on Gresham Street in London as 3 of us currently work for the bank and the fourth is a supplier to the bank.

And that's about as logical as it gets, I guess.
We're riding completely unsupported.  We won't be followed by a van containing our luggage, we've done all the organising ourselves, we'll have to fix anything that breaks and we're funding it all ourselves.  Treating it as a bit of a cycling holiday really.  We'll stay in Formule 1 Hotels and cycle between 80 and 90 miles for 3 days and then finish with an easier 30 or so miles into Paris on the fourth morning before heading back for home on the train.  Route details will be posted here.

A Chance

A chance to do what?  To raise funds for 2 worthy causes.

Neil, Stuart and Andy are raising funds for Save the Children
Dylan is raising funds for Help for Heroes

If we're going to do something challenging, its great to be able to combine that with raising money for those that need some support - so by supporting us, you can help others too.
Choose your preferred rider and/or charity and sponsor us please - every little will help us reach our targets.  Check out the links at the top right of the blog homepage to make those donations on line - its quick and very easy.
Thanks for your support!

Four Bikes

and four riders.  We're all from different backgrounds, cycling wise - see our individual pages (tabs at the top of the home page) where you'll find a bit more about what cycling means to us and why we're involved in this little jaunt.  We do have fairly common aims though - complete the journey, raise some serious cash, have a good time and to get suntanned, not soaking wet.
We'll blog about preparations, the route, practical stuff like kit lists / bike prep etc., and hopefully we'll have the right tech with us to make some jottings and post up some piccies on the way and definitely afterwards.

We hope you enjoy our musings.  Wish us luck.