Almost a year ago I completed the Great Kent Cycle.  I was reading my ride review to remind myself how things went last year.  Why you may ask?  Because on the spur of the moment I did it again today!  Other commitments I had disappeared so I had no excuse but to go to the ride.  As my lack of posts has indicated this year I have done very few long rides so I wasn’t sure how things would go.
As we arrived in Ashford it was spitting with rain, but …

Following my ride to Dover last week, I rode to Canterbury this weekend.
As with last time I got up at 4:30am had a bowl of porridge and a banana first.  While I was having breakfast I was watching the Olympics on BBC one which had the men’s road race.  It was interesting watching them in the first half as if they were out for a Sunday ride while 2 breakaway riders were powering ahead but would be caught by the group later.  One thing that made me chuckle was the …

The Great Kent Cycle is a circular route from Ashford which covers 59 miles (though we were told 53).  It is run by bike-events for the Canterbury Oast Trust.  I went with 3 other riders who are all doing the London to Paris.  We arrived at 8am and signed up there and then (didn’t pre book).  I was number 628.  It was my first time at a event so I was really surprised at the size of it and the number and range of bikes.
We headed off at 8:15am so …

Was really looking forward to this trip, and wasn’t disappointed! The weather was great, a slight breeze on a warm but not overly sunny day. Seemed perfect weather for cycling. I met up with a work collegue at Paddock wood Station to cycle the 40 miles to Ashford via the Sustrans cycle route 18.
We set off at 10:45am through Paddock wood, taking the normal route to Horsemonden. Here we picked up route 18. I was really amazed at how well signposted it was. There …