24th June 2007, starting and finishing at Pitlochry in Scotland.
This should be a hard one, 134 km / 83 miles with a total ascent of 2,078m / 6,817ft while maintaining an average speed of over 12mph. The event will provide a true test for experienced cyclists and those who enjoy a new challenge. It will also prove an attraction to those not currently cycling to get on their bike and rise to the newest fitness challenge in the UK.
The Ride and Results
Considering it’s the wettest June in recorded history, I think we were pretty lucky that it rained for only the first 40 miles. The scenery was spectacular, closed roads were an absolute dream to ride on and heartfelt thanks must go to all the local residents of Pitlochry for allowing the event to go ahead. The originally stated distances were a bit off when compared to my GPS tracking device, which recorded 81.32 miles and 6,400ft of climbing, but I maintained an average speed of 15.7mph and finished the event in 5 hours 10 minutes and 13 seconds.
The winning time was 3:48:15, and the last place time was 7:28:24. My position was 633, out of 868 finishers, which considering I finished a cycle of immunoglobulin treatment 16 days before the start wasn’t too bad. Next time I hope to do much better, I was disappointed at not breaking five hours so I now have a target to beat.
Well this is a long one, somewhere in the region of 700 miles each way. The aim is not to cycle the whole way, but to have a fun holiday – to that end, trains and B&B type accommodation will be used in conjunction with camping and cycling.
Waiting for the ferry at Harwich
The planned route was to cycle to Wigan, where I get a train to London, then cycle to Harwich for the ferry to the Hook of Holland (Hoek van Holland). Then cycle across the Netherlands and Germany, until I meet up with the EuroVelo route from Berlin to Prague and then head south into Prague.
The trip actually turned out to be a bit of a farce from day one. The ride to Wigan went well, although the supposedly cycle-friendly gates on the canal route are only passable if you don’t have panniers. The Virgin train from Wigan North Western to London Euston arrived on time. However, because someone killed themselves on the railway line somewhere in the Milton Keynes area, the train stopped at Northampton and everyone had to get off. Most people continued their journey by bus, but since they generally don’t take bikes on the relief buses I was stranded. Fortunately, an hour later saw the arrival of another train that eventually left for London. I arrived at London Euston very late, and set off for Harwich, at Brentwood I decided that it would be better to use the train service again to try and get back on schedule. I left the train at Manningtree, and then cycled the remainder of the journey to Harwich.
Tied down on the ferry vehicle deck
The ferry crossing from Harwich to Hoek van Holland is very long and boring, and a good book would have been most welcome. Once in the Netherlands, I cycled from Hoek van Holland to Zoetemeer, but even this turned out to be more complicated than necessary. There were several diversions to contend with, and I couldn’t ride the route I wanted to take. Fortunately the hotel in Zoetemeer was good, and I got a good nights sleep. The following day I covered just over 100km to Veenendaal, but got extremely wet. It rained constantly from morning to night, and there were several points of the ride where it was impossible to see and the lightning was very worrying. All of my cycling clothes were wet, my sleeping bag and tent were wet and my Karrimor panniers proved to be useless in these conditions.
From here on it rained every day until three days before I was due to return to England. So my ride to Prague was completely washed out, I do at least now know that panniers are called fietssassen and Ortlieb ones don”t leak, and the dutch word for a launderette is “wasseretta”.
My plans got changed, but I managed to ride every day, and toured around the Netherlands. In total, I covered approx 1,000 miles over the two weeks.
