Blood, Sweat & Tyres...

Matthew admirably leading the way through a field of wheat somewhere in the middle of the North Downs Way.


...and punctures & laughs & rain & sun & more punctures & more laughs & crashes & cramps & mud & diversions & eye watering downhills & Pain & leg and lung busting uphills & more rain & yet more punctures & even more laughs...

So there you have it...Blood, Sweat & Tyres 2007 in a nutshell. We had it all! All and more!

Day One...Dover to Lenham via Canterbury.

Lee & I met the others at Dover Priory Station on the East Kent coast at 10:45am on a sunny Saturday morning...Matthew, Phil, Raj, James, Mike & Ben all turned up already clothed in their mountain bike clobber. I was still in my jeans and an old t-shirt. I had made just the day before a laminated number plate each for the riders. They were numbered from 1 to 6 and I had myself the number 999 because 9 is my favorite number and being the only haemophiliac on board I thought having the emergency services number attached to the front of my bike would be handy in case of an emergency;) I handed them out and off we went. Then barely five minutes into the ride I get the first puncture of 8 for the whole weekend...still in Dover! This would be the first of 8 rubber related deflations. The weather was good for us for most of the day...Sunday would be an altogether different affair! My friends Debbie & Graham met us too to see us off and would also be feeding us for lunch just 20 miles away in Canterbury. It took us 4hrs 50mins actual time to arrive at Debbies, courtesy of four punctures (of which I had three...the first of which happened whilst we were still in Dover!) & several miles of the North Downs Way that was very well hidden and not very well sign posted. In fact most of the NDW is quite well hidden and if it wasn't for Matthew's GPS computer and waterproof map we would most probably be in France by now;) At one stage we were beginning to think that whoever owns the NDW doesn't want anyone to find it. But find it we did!

So after a string of punctures and a bramble whipping or two we finally arrived to the most amazing lunch ever at Debbie & Grahams. I am not exaggerating when I say that you will never meet a Lovelier couple as D&G!! Thank you guys from the bottom of our belly's for such a memorable feeding:)
Lee, my best friend & our support vehicle driver was already there and fixed yet another puncture as we all tucked into our fine lunch. This time it was James who had gotten a thorn still attached to it's stem stuck in his tyre, but amazingly the tyre stayed up and we continued for another several miles before it eventually went down just as we pushed our bikes into D&G's back garden...talk about perfect timing:) After our lunch of hot jacket potatoes, cornish pasties, chicken and cakes and bananas and fruit juice and pickle and avocados and loads more besides, we made tracks back onto the streets of Canterbury until we found the NDW again. Then James had a bit of leg cramps on the side of the road and with the help of our number one (Matthew) stretched it back into shape in what to the passers by in their cars must have looked like some kind of roadside pilates class. On our way again, through several tiny very picturesque villages with names like Chilham, Broughton Lees, Charing & Kennington we ran out of daylight and time and I needed my 20:28 tablets which were in the van with Lee several miles away in Lenham...and it began to rain too. We anticipated arriving in Lenham at 7pm for an 8pm dinner. But because of all the punctures and little diversions trying to find the NDW we ran a little late. Lee came and picked us up at 20:20pm just in time for my tablets and after two small journeys we were all sitting around a dinner table where we all enjoyed a wonderful meal each. Lots of chatting and joking and scoffing later we were all in bed snoring like babies. My legs were alright and my arm & ankles were amazing! It was a very good weekend where my joints were concerned. In the days leading up to the ride I was petrified of having one of my bad spells and not being able to walk let alone ride a bike! Thank goodness my joints behaved as well as they did is all I can say.

Day Two...Lenham to South Godstone via Trosley Country Park.

Then came along Sunday morning, after dreams of pedaling along, came a grey but dry view from our bedroom window and after last nights rain things were looking good. My legs were still feeling great and I was ready for a 60 odd mile bike ride. I filled myself up with some yummy factor VIII at 07:30. Breakfast came and went and off to the van we went to get the bikes ready and fill our Camelbaks up with much needed drink. Then it started to rain! It continued to rain on and off (mostly on) for the rest of the day! It was still raining when I was at home some 12 or 13 hours later! But did it detract from the fun? Hell no! It was a wonderful experience being out in the elements with such a great bunch of guys. The trails were slippery and the hills were long and hard going up and fast and bloody dangerous coming down. A few of us had some crashes courtesy of the wet chalk that the North Downs Way are made up of. Phil took a tumble as did Mike (twice). In fact I even fell off myself whilst riding up (yes, you read that right...Up hill;) through a field of wheat when my speed became so low that I had to put a foot down (chocolate footing) but my foot was stuck in my pedal and over I went in to the wheat. I remember lying there for a few seconds thinking how strange a field of wheat looks from your back looking up into the sky. Everyone who crashed were fine thank goodness! And we were able to carry on covered in mud and scratches and stinging nettle stings on our arms and shins! I even managed to get a scratch on the end of my nose...Jason The Red Nosed Twit;)

So on we cycled through more pretty looking villages called Eyhorne Street, Thurnham, Blue Bell Hill & Detling until we reached a rather miserable looking Rochester. The NDW (Pilgrims Way) winds it's way through the outskirts of the City along back roads and main roads. It was wet and grey but quite interesting to see such a diverse mix of scenery on out ride. We eventually came out the other side of Rochester and crossed the River Medway by the M2 and met Lee (at 12:20pm) to stock up on drinks and bananas. Just outside Rochester we came across a tiny little village called Upper Bush and wondered whether there was a Lower or indeed a Middle Bush. The silly things boys will get up to eh;)
More rain and another puncture for Matthew from a thorn which was about 2 or 3 inches long & we were on our way to a place called Trosley Country Park where we had lunch at 14:20pm. By this stage we were covered in mud and wet through and hungry! Hot food was on order and we filled our bellies up with jacket potatoes, sausage rolls and cheese and bacon panini's (I asked for chicken but there wasn't any to be found!) washed down with hot tea. Some of us changed into dry, clean cycling gear and filled our CamelBaks up once again. Then at 15:20 we made tracks and plodded off in the on/off (more on) rain towards Dorking (another 30 odd miles away to the West). Through villages called Chevening, Westerham, Titsey, Oxted & Tandridge. We hit some rather nice trails winding it's way through, up & down some quite thick woods. At one point Matthew had to bail out from his bike whilst negotiating a rather low tree branch that was hanging over the trail. His dive onto his right shoulder would have looked good in any action movie;).
Light was fading again and the rain was falling...again. Time had run out and we were behind schedule due to the weather and so many punctures slowing us down so much and Matthew had to make the decision to end our ride at South Godstone station in Surrey just 12 or so miles away from Dorking (by car) and more like 15-20 miles by bike. I was the only one that had a set of lights out of the seven of us and we had to call it a day. But we did however manage to pass the 100 mile mark in total distance travelled and by the time we reached a soggy & grey South Godstone train station we had cycled a total of 106.77 miles and 60.98 miles for the day! Yay!! We did it! Even if we didn't make it to Dorking. It would have been far too dangerous to continue in the dark and Matthew's decision to end there was like all the other decisions that he made during the weekend...Absolutely spot on! I really don't know how he did it to be quite honest! Reading a GPS that he was still getting used to and reading a waterproof map whilst cycling along and making sure that the rest of his riders were ok...one of which was a severe haemophiliac! You really have to take your hat off to him for completing such a well organized event! And to Lee too for being so patient with us taking our time finding the stop points and doing all that driving! I know that Lee would have rather been riding alongside us but instead drove the support vehicle...Way to go Lee! And to all the other riders too, who I am pretty sure I will meet again someday:)
And lastly thank you to Debbie for feeding me yet again when I arrived back home in Teddington absolutely covered in mud! That gravy was out of this world:)

From left to right; Right at the end...A very damp Matthew (No1), Phil (No2), James (No3), Mike (No4), Raj (No5), Ben (No6), Me (No999) & Lee (I did make him a number plate but with his name on instead) at South Godstone station in Surrey aftar 106.77 miles of riding across the North Downs Way. Well done lads!!

Stats for Saturday;

45.79 miles in 4hrs 55mins pedaling (9hrs from start to finish) with an average speed of 9.3mph and a max speed of 30.3mph and 7 punctures!

Stats for Sunday;

66.98 miles in 5hrs 46mins pedaling (10hrs 45mins from start to finish) with an average speed of 9.8mph and a max speed of 39.1mph and one puncture.

Total miles ridden;

106.77 miles

Total time pedaling along;

10hrs 51mins

Total time out with bikes;

19hrs 45mins

Total punctures; = 8


(Update 21.08.07)

Well what do ya know? Yet another puncture...Number nine! I was on a 30 miler tonight and at the 24 mile mark in Bushy Park having already done a lap and a half of Richmond Park, I got it! The tiniest of thorns imaginable! So I fix the bastard and what happens? It goes down on my way home, but not enough to prevent me from cycling the last two miles with a very soft tyre. I'll sort it out in the morning...maybe;)




Jason









(C) JPT 2007.........2602.67 miles.