1 Day to Go!!!

Thanks to everyone who has donated so far! Really appreciate how generous you all are being. We are off tomorrow on our grand adventure so please stay tuned for Olly's Twitter rants and blog updates on a regular basis.

Just to let you know we are now on both our charities websites:

http://www.childhope.org.uk/article.asp?id=773

http://www.raft.ac.uk/our-news/latest-news/news-article/items/cycle-challenge-in-aid-of-raft-and-childhope.html

If you have not yet donated please do - they are really good causes and we will be riding our socks off to make it all the way down the UK in 9.5 days.

Enjoy the Easter Break!

The Cycle of Life Team 

Training Finale

 LONDON                                  TO                                 BRIGHTON

AND BACK AGAIN VIA ARUNDEL......

So for our final training session before the big ride we decided to do what many cycling enthusiasts do every year and cycle the roads from London to Brighton. The session was going smoothly, we were making good time, enjoying the views and chatting to many other cyclists along the way. Ollie had made the realisation that there is a lack of diversity on the roads and Rob was cranking out the singing on a regular basis. Then our lucky streak came to an abrupt end as Steve from Bolton fell of his bike when he went into the back of Joe after enjoying his slipstream for many a mile (for all of you who voted for him - congratulations - Steve will give you a prize next time you see him). Soon after Joe suffered 2 punctures to the same wheel but best of all Rhys broke his bike gears (2 snapped off the bike cassette) and he had to cycle for 30 miles with them sellotaped up before getting a new one. 

We arrived in Brighton to minimal applause but were all pretty chuffed that we had succeeded on stage one. Then off we went along the south coast westward to Arundel. However due to all our upsets we ended up cycling the last half hour in the pitch dark (which is actually rather nice and quaint in the countryside compared to the big bad city. Finally we reached our destination and enjoyed a nice hearty nutritional dinner of Mcdonald's finest with a few celebrity beers before bed.

The next day was less eventful but still worth mentioning for all of you still reading at this point. We experienced the delights of Arundel including the beauty that is Arundel castle before heading north to Horsham to fix Rhys's bike, up through Leatherhead to take a trip down memory lane for Joe and back on the super cycle highway in Clapham. 

6 days to go! Watch this space. Please continue the donations - we appreciate all your support.
http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/thecycleoflife

The Olympic Route!

So for our third major training session we decided to go bigger and better than the previous two rides and cycle the Olympic Cycle Route which ran to 90 miles. Joe, Rhys, Rob & Olly were joined by none other than Elise Bromley (a keen cyclist from Tadworth - find out more about her cycling heritage in the interviews section..) Here are some pictures of the milestones of the journey:

 

The weather was ideal, the company was fautless and the scenery was stunning. So besides this what else is worth noting? Well, Rob got a puncture early on and broke the CycleofLife record for fixing it (18 mins, 22 secs). Joe learnt to cycle with no hands and managed a personal best of 21 seconds. Elise taught Olly that he can't clean his bike chain with fairy liquid. And Rhys found that he can't cope sitting down cycling and riding a bike without a bottle of lucozade to hand.

 

If you want to find out more about the Olympic cycling route please click on the link below: 

(We highly recommend it if you are thinking of doing it)

 Olympic Route Map

The Sights of West London

For our second training session we were to cycle a grand loop of West London around the lovely towns of Staines, Kingston, Slough and Southall and the not so lovely of Richmond, Runnymede and Windsor. The trip was very well organised by 'Steve from Bolton' and we made good pace (an average of 17mph for 60 miles according to Rob's speedometer).

From the journey we found out three things:

1 - the approach that works best for us is work hard play hard, so every half an hour we stopped for delights such as McDonalds Drive Through, Candy Cup Cakes Store in Windsor and Lucozade Pitstops

2 - if you sit on an uncomfortable seat or forget to wear padded shorts (which feel like you are wearing a nappy) then you are very sore in the gluteus maximus region.

3 - cycling in rundown areas is not a good idea. Chavs swear at you, pull out in front of you and if you are really lucky you get a frozen lasagna thrown at your head (Joe was the blessed recipient - lucky he bought a helmet with him this week...)

But all in all we had a killer whale of a time cycling on the open roads and are looking forward to getting back on those bikes again very soon.

1st Training Session

On Sunday 13th March we had our first proper training session. 45 miles on our brand spanking new bikes! It was all going so well until we ended up venturing off the cycle track and down a very rocky/glassy path. Joe got a puncture less than 24 hours after buying his bike. It took 2 and a half hours to fix which means we will have to work extra hard on improving our pitstop times for the future....