Posts in category Cycling

Day 2 – Calais to Abbeville

Sep14
2008 Leave a Comment Written by Charles Barsley

Despite an early start it was great to be waking up in France! There was a good breakfast in the hotel at 7am. Although the coffee machine was broken. There is nothing like French stick and croissants in France! It doesn’t taste quite the same in England. The coaches left just before 8 and we found our bikes in the fire station and assembled in the town square. Here there was a chance to check all was well with the bike and fill up water bottles and bike bags with drinks and sweets.

There was a short remembrance service at the Calais War Memorial before the first group departed bound for Abbeville. Now that we were in France we would travel in groups each day. There were three groups, 10 mph, 14 mph and 18 mph, so named because of the speed that they travel. Through my training I have achieved pretty solid averages of 14.5 mph so went for the 14 mph group. This was the last to leave at 9:30am so we found a cafe to sit down in before setting off.

Each group had a lead car, around 10 motorcycles escorting and closing roads, at the back there was a repair van and a food van.

We took a fast pace out of Calais initially averaging 16 – 17 mph. This was to get us out of the town quickly and out onto the less busy roads. From Calais, all the way to Paris we would be escorted and not have to stop for traffic, except trains at level crossings of course! Leaving Calais the flat road turned into long climbs. Throughout the cycle in France I found the roads so very different to England. Here we have lots of short and steep hills whereas the areas of France we travelled through they seems to be very long hills, not as steep but would wear you down from their length. However this wasn’t a problem, by travelling in a group you found yourself taking their pace and and although at times it was tough you had the determination to continue.

We stopped for lunch after 40 km in Salle Raymond Dufour. We were served in what seemed to be the town’s Sports / theatre hall. Lunch consisted of an airline style tray but with much better food in it! Also I was surprised to see wine on the table. Though I didn’t drink any! After lunch we still had around 80 Km to do and it had started raining. The next stage was the toughest with hills, rain and wind to contend with. The rain was washing gravel and stones into our path and I past several people who were standing on the side of the road with punctures. At one point I was pedalling up what I thought seemed an overly tough hill and looked down to my back tyre and realised why. I had a back wheel puncture too! I stopped. It was terrible watching everyone go passed, I also realised how far spread out we had become in the rain. I saw the repair van in round the corner and tried to wave it down but it carried on. The food van saw me and stopped. I got in and realised why the repair van had continued. There were 3 others all in the back of the van with me needing repairs. No sooner than we set off it was time to stop and pick someone else up. At this point they stopped the ride in a small village so that the bikes could be repaired. I sat in a bus stop and Pete helped me patch up my inner tube and get it inflated again. Then I was back on my bike and off again!

Unfortunately the repair only held for an hour or so but fortunately this time the repair van was empty so while I rode along in it balancing on a tool box one of the mechanics changed the inner tube for a new one. I was pushed out right at the back of the field and was enjoying making my way back through the group until we stopped at Rossett for a tea break. It was still raining hard and we didn’t stop long. Having lunch so early made this feel like a very long tiring day. We continued on until we reached the Forest l’Abbye. Hear we joined with the two other groups of cyclists and set off on the last leg to Abbeville as one large group. I thought as we had joined together it would be just round the corner but ended up being over an hour away. In Abbeville we left our bikes in the sports hall. We were part of the unlucky group who’s hotel was over 30mins bus journey away. Though it was a nice hotel. Once again we arrived quite late at the hotel with just time to eat and then straight to sleep.

Stats

Distance 76 miles

Time 6 hrs

Average Pace 4.44 mins per Mile

Average Speed 12.7mph

Total Ascent 5297 ft

Tagged Abbeville, bike, calais, cycle, france, popp, Punctures, royal british legion

Day 1 – Greenwich London to Calais

Sep09
2008 Leave a Comment Written by Charles Barsley

Standing at the start in Greenwich Park

Thursday 4th September had finally arrived. I had to wake up far too early… even by my standards 4:15am. Went to my fathers for porridge and to load the car. We left just after 5am and picked up Nick en route. It was a surprisingly smooth journey into London despite the Tom Tom blacking out a couple of times.

We arrived in Greenwich Park at 6:30am for registration, it was already a hive of activity with cyclists unloading and checking their bikes. Registration was quick and simple, I was rider 16. We met up with other riders we knew locally. Together we formed the “Tunbridge Wells Independent Travellers” or TWIT’s for short. We gathered in the Pavilion tea rooms which was doing a roaring trade in bacon rolls and coffees. Time passed quick and we were called to General Wolfes Statue where the 250 of us gathered with our bikes for a photo shoot and a few short speeches. We were told that “this wasn’t the 12 Pedal to Paris and it wasn’t the 14th either” I’m not superstitious, but the fact that this was the 13th Pedal to Paris would come to haunt us!

Cycling through London

Then we were off. The police took us as far as the A20, so no need to stop for red lights or traffic. We travelled as one large group this far and then started to spread out as we each found our pace for the ride down to Dover. Initially I found I was up near the front within sight of the lead motorcycles. Although I wasn’t travelling overly quick I should have pace myself a little more initially as there was a long way to go.

The first break stop was in Aylesford at the Royal British Legion Village. I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of refreshments available. Hot and cold drinks, crisps, pork pies, chocolate etc etc. We didn’t stay too long though as we were keen to get to Dover amongst the first half in order to catch the first boat. The 6 Twits left together as a group on the next leg between Aylesford and Sellingfield. This was the longest leg of the day and seemed as if it was all up hill. I would look up to the crest of a hill and when I reached it I would see the next hill! I kept going at a pace I was comfortable at, though it is hard to pedal slowly so I found myself flagging a bit at this stage. Although I had lost sight of my group there was always another cyclist in sight! The route was also well sign posted.

It was now raining and quite windy. It was particularly bad when lorries went past covering you in spray. Though I perfectly timed the lunch break, arriving in Sellingfield as the heavens really opened up. Lunch was really good, Pret Rolls and Sandwiches! Plus the Tea was Yorkshire tea, the finest of all the teas! I never knew you could buy it in a 3kg bag though! At lunch I checked the map and was pleasantly surprised to see we were much closer to Dover than I imagined, only about 20 miles to go. The journey along to Folkstone wasn’t bad, it was still raining though not as heavily. After Folkstone there was Dover Hill. This is the steepest hill of the day and I was feeling pretty knackered so i pushed the bike up just this one. As did around 2/3 of the cyclists I saw.

We assembled in Dover and received our ferry passes. Although felt worn out after the day’s cycling my average speed was 14.5 mph which I was really pleased with. Also I was in time for the first ferry.

We cycled into the port of Dover, straight through passport control and customs without stopping, we even set off alarms as we cycled through one of the scanners, but were waved straight on to lane 112 where we waited, and waited, and waited.

Queuing for the ferry in Dover

Seafrance were running late and we were pushed to a later crossing. The exposed ferry port was windy and wet so we all invaded the foot passenger lounge and waited over an hour for the boat. It was a new experience to cycle onto the ferry. We boarded wirst and had to be really careful as the ramp and metal deck was so slippery. The crossing was rough but ok. From here we cycled into the centre of Calais, leaving our bikes in the local fire station and too a coack to Hotel Mercurie. A wonderful old fashioned hotel with large traditionally decorated rooms and a good 3 course dinner.

Tagged bike, calais, cycle, dover, london, Pedal to Paris, police, royal british legion

Pedalling to Paris

Aug30
2008 Leave a Comment Written by Charles Barsley

As I write this there are less than 5 days until I embark on the Royal British Legion 2008 Pedal to Paris.

I leave at Greenwich Park at 8am on Thursday 4th September (though I will be there much earlier). It would be great to see some familiar faces at the start line to wave me off! We will be near the Tea Pavilion and General Wolfe’s Statue.

While I am away I won’t be able to write on this site. Instead I will “blog” the old fashioned way with a paper and pen, in order to write up a full report for my return.

Thank you again to everyone who has supported the Royal British Legion by sponsoring me for this challange at https://www.bmycharity.com/V2/Barsley

Tagged blog, Pedal to Paris, poppycycle, royal british legion

Counting down the days

Aug27
2008 Leave a Comment Written by Charles Barsley

I first posted on this blog in February. Back then the pedal to Paris was far in the distance. But not any more. As I write this it is just 7 days away. At 8am I will leave Greenwich Park in London bound for Paris on my bike.

Last week my training peaked as I cycled over 100 miles in the weekend, including 76 to Farnham. Since then I have started to slow up on my training as recommended to ensure I am ready for the start. However, every time I have been out it has started overcast and then poured with rain….. usually at the point when I am furthest from home! I try though to put a positive spin on this, if the training is as bad as possible eg wet, cold, hilly and I can get through it then I will enjoy the actual ride. That said I do hope it doesn’t rain!

I visited France on a day trip last weekend and am now so looking forward to getting there, there were fields as far as the eye could see, being harvested, the sun was beating down and there were mny people cycling along the coastal roads. I can’t wait!

I will post an update at the weekend to give some more information about the Royal British Legion Pedal to Paris 2008!

Tagged bike, france, london, Paris, royal british legion

76 Miles, Three Countys, Five and a half hours.

Aug17
2008 Leave a Comment Written by Charles Barsley

Once again I set off at an insanely early time, 5:15am for my Saturday cycle. I planned to go 70 miles to Farnham Surrey. This would be a particularly hilly route but would be good experience and hopefully worse than any days on the actual cycle to Paris.

Even though I had carefully planned my route and uploaded it onto my GPS I instantly started up the wrong street, I knew I was headed to Tunbridge wells, just forgot which route I had mapped. It was still dark, but fortunately I soon found that my Garmin Edge 205 GPS had a back light, so it was plain sailing from there on to follow the route. For the first 30 min’s it was dark so I took it slow as with recent rain some of the road surfaces are quite slippery. Also it takes 5 miles or so to get loosened up and into a rhythm.

From Tunbridge Wells, I took the back roads into Langton Green, Fordcombe and then on through the lanes to Edenbridge, it amazed me (although it was pretty early in the morning) that after doing 20 miles to Edenbridge I still hadn’t been overtaken by another vehicle and wouldn’t be for another 5 miles.

From Edenbridge I continued to Lingfield, Blindley Heath and Outwood. I think it was around here I was eating my first Powerbar – Banana flavour, (too early in the morning for chocolate flavour!) . Reading the ingredients I wasn’t surprised to see that there were no Bananas in it!

Over the M23 and into Salford, here I had a tricky junction on the A23 which I briefly joined but was surprised and pleased that my GPS correctly guided me round it. I continued on thinking how well the route was programmed. I couldn’t have been more wrong! I use a website called mapmyride to create all of my rides, I like this over other websites, because you just select way points and it follows the roads to get from A to B to C etc. However I soon learnt the problem, It doesn’t distinguish between private and public roads. I first noticed this (Yes it happened more than once!) outside Salfords, I checked my map, I had 10 mile line maps so I could see a way either side. But couldn’t see a way round, so I thought its not as if I am in a car, I’ll give it a go. I ended up going through a farm but came out the other side with no problems.

Within a mile it happened again Arrgh! This time it the road turned into a track and didn’t even follow the mapped route. I ended up with my bike on my back climbing over stiles along footpaths! But got through ok, the great thing with the Garmin is you can zoom out so I knew which direction to take. Looking back there would have been an easy diversion round but I didn’t know that at the time.

I continued pleased to be back on the road through the lanes to the A24. After crossing this I knew things would start to get tough. Especially when you see a sign welcoming you to the Surrey Hills! I continued following the GPS up a steep hill, climbing 200ft in a short space of time. Only to get to the peak and find those two words again “Private Road”! There was no going through this one as it lead to a house, so frustrating though as the main road was just on the other side of his house! I sped back down the hill and checked the map for a work around. Again I was so please to have a map which spanned 10 miles each side cos I needed it! I ended up going six miles off route down the A24 (Not Fun), onto the A29 and cutting up to Coldharbour. This was the highest point of the journey some 770ft above sea level. Though I did enjoy the next down hill section!

From there I was feeling a bit worn out after the hill climbing and annoyed with the diversions. I was determined to not have any more problems so I paid special attention to signposts and checked I was always headed a signed route. As it happened the rest of the journey was fine. I continued through to Ewhurst, and then Cranleigh where I stopped for coffee. Only a quick stop mind and headed on to Loxhill, around here I saw 2 other cyclists and chatted and cycled with them for a few minutes. It was galling to see them disappear into the distance but then I had done 60 miles and they hadn’t. Milford was the next village / town where I stopped to buy some Powerade, cherry flavour, it was Vile! But kept my legs moving round!

Then it was on following the B3001all the way into Farnham where I met up with a uni friend and enjoyed a BBQ and a sit down! Before catching the train back.

The stats

Miles 76.40,

Total time 5 hrs 32 mins

Average pace 4 mins 20 secs per mile

Average Speed 13.8 miles,

Max speed 37.7 mph

Total calories burnt 5756!

Total Ascent 7037 ft

It was a good ride, but incredibly draining. I learnt a lot from it, for example I don’t drink enough fluids when I am out on the bike. When you start feeling thirsty it’s too late, you should keep drinking from the start and throughout.

I have improved my hill techniques, I still find some incredibly challenging, but now I drop down to the small front cog and aim to keep my cadence high to get up hills.

Also I think I pushed myself too much at the start.

Finally I learnt to triple check my route!!!

The sponsored cycle to Paris is no longer weeks away more like days!

Please sponsor me here

Finally if anyone reading this has experience in websites, can they suggest a image host? I want to display images of my routes, but the maps have become so large you can’t make out the route using the maximum size on flickr!

Tagged bike, charles barsley, Farnham, Garmin 205 edge, kent, Paris, Powerade, Surrey