Hills, Headwinds and Heatstroke

Sorry no blog pic... I wasted 1/2 hour of sleep time hoping the ferry wifi would be good enough.... it wasn't!

We all gathered on Blackheath Common in good time for our start time of 15:00.
By 12:30 we were set up for registration, by 13:00 I had checked my bike over, checked SPOT, checked my sat nav and was itching to just go! Bear in mind, usually its just me... and I have a few quiet words with myself and then the pedals start turning and all is good... none of this anticipation and time for the nerves to build up.
Fortunately for me... and probably for everyone else... my aunt and cousins turned up to distract me.
Eventually though, it was time. Group photo and then 2 people just went, followed in a slightly bedraggled way by the rest of us. The signs, so wonderfully put up the day before were nicely visable and matched my gps so all good.

The first miles were punctuated by red lights, pedestrians and all the other annoyances of being in a city on a bike. And it was HOT! The sun was beating down (yes I had put on sun cream) and in my anxiousness I was not drinking nearly enough. The hills in London hit me pretty hard and I was sweating out probably twice what I had drunk. With only one nearly missed turning we were soon out on the open road... and then the hills hit with a vengeance. Personally im blaming the fact that I had added a bag or two to my bike, but I think actually it was my legs screaming at me... "not again!"
I did my best to pacify them by telling them that this time it was only 2 days... (lets not mention the small bimble up a few mountains in a few weeks time).

The bike kept running out of gears, and prob due to a slight dehydration issue, my heart kept hitting its max rate... so it was a bit of a grind. The sun didn't relent and in the  background I could hear those vindictive cycling gods starting to laugh!
The headache that started to develop fortunately drowned them out a bit but the echoes were reverberating round.

We reached the first stop to be greeted by rave music, drink, food and a lot of very cheerful people who kept telling us how well we were doing! it was a nice boost for sure. We kept our stop to a minimum.. filled up the bottles again and clipped in ready to roll.

Yeah, rolling would have been nice... my head hurt and the hills kept coming... one neverending one......

But I got up them.... slowly... very slowly but each pedal turning round like a metronome. At one point... the sound of the rubbing of my shorts against the bike bag made me think of the song... I wish it could be Christmas everyday... but unfortunately only that line.. so the hills ended up with a little bit of christmas cheer 😆

By the time we were cheered into the second stop by our second enthusiastic support team, my headache and heat exposure was making me feel very ill.... so I think I was a little less enthusiastic at that point. I took a bite of some banana malt loaf.. and instantly wondered if I was going to throw it straight back up... fortunately not... but I took some brufen and tried to smile.. and off we went again.
Harriet's parting words were... don't worry its all flat or down from here! Hmmmm the incline we were groaning up didn't seem flat... in fact opposite of flat!

The drugs had worked wonders and my headache disappeared... and my legs came back to me. Basically they had realised that it was only for 2 days this time and decided to get on with it... with my legs came a better mood, more energy and I felt pretty damn good at this point.

We wound round some beautiful country lanes ... yup.. got some downhill... the sun had lost its intensity and life felt good. We also importantly got our bike/gate photo in front of some pretty impressive gates! RESULT!!!!

Of course the cycling gods read my mind and decided to rustle up a little bit of wind... yup ... headwind time. It was strong enough to make the legs feel a bit like lead for a time and was a stark reminder of the power of the cycling gods. They had however left it a bit late to do any real damage and we kept getting a whiff of the sea to remind us we were nearly done for the day.

With signs for Newhaven appearing thick and fast we knew we were nearly there...
A few little inclines later... (little compared with what had gone before... but felt pretty big).. and we saw lights of stopped cyclists and a few people clapping... and we had made it... to the fish and chip van!!! Life was suddenly REALLY good! Some arrived well before our little group... some after... but we all made it and as we sat around with our fish and chips, a little warm glow came over me!

Time to board the ferry and with it the most confusion of the day. A few had popped their (more expensive) bike in the van but as we queued, they were told they couldnt board as foot passengers as they had booked with a bike, nor could they walk with us as they had no bike with them. In the end they were escorted to the van, to take their bikes out... palava.  Once we were all finally through, with 2 tickets each , one for the bike and one for us... it then became easier. We cycled right to the front of the q, and got to board first, which meant more importantly we got Prime space on the boat.... comfy seats!! Bonus and a luxury in comparison to some of my overnight spots 😁

So I sit on a warm ferry, writing this blog actually kinda looking forward to tomorrow. Yes .... 4 mile hill still awaits us... and navigating through Paris may not be the most fun I have had on a bike... oh and a small matter of double the distance of today...

Yes Kirsty, thanks for your reminder of Rule #5!!

Thanks to all friends and family who have sent encouragement and smiles... always greatly appreciated!!

Keep following SPOT, check out OneChallengeAtATime fb page for updates and photos and hopefully (Cycling Gods allowing...) we will get to Paris without missing dinner 😁

LHS X