Departure day!!! London - Land's End

Saturday. Departure day. The day we have all been looking forward to. The day when we collectively get in the car to drive to Land's End so we can click into our pedals and head out onto the wide open roads on our 1000Miles Challenge ride. These were the thoughts that got me out of bed, but only just, as the boundary between being sleep and awake was still very fuzzy. Those lovely thoughts could have simply got me dreaming again, and I would likely have done the entire ride while still snoring away. With the amount of sleep I have missed I would probably also only have woken up once the actual ride would be mostly over.

But...no...must...resist...sleep...then the alarm goes off and I cross the boundary towards being awake. I really needed that annoying buzzing sound to get me into action. Then I used an imaginary hoist to pull me out of bed. 08.30 my phone said it was. And I didn't exactly feel very energetic as I had only just set the alarm about 6 hours earlier as this was the time I finally managed to hit the sack after spending another late night at work. Serious sleep deprivation really is not the best way to prepare for cycling 1100 miles in 10 days, but then money also needs to be earned and I was bent on finishing all of my work before setting off. I do take pride in my work you see. But I have a feeling my dedication will come back and bite me in the ass big time in the days ahead. And probably seriously so.
Anyway. A rather strong coffee later (one of those that allows you to place your spoon anywhere in the cup without it falling over...) I get a call from Dirk who is on his way to my place. So I start collecting the various bits of kit which I have not had time to place in one spot over the last week - sleeping bag, pillow, foam camping mattress, tool kit, bike spares, clothes, energy drink powder, recovery protein powder, calcium/magnesium/boron pills, glucosamine sulphate/chondroitin pills, cycling kit, sunglasses, suncream, toiletries,...and I start wondering whether I really need all this stuff piling up in front of me. By now Dirk has arrived and while he drinks his coffee he watches me go up and down the stairs at least 50 times going back and forth for more and more bits and pieces. Pocket knife. Torch. Maps. Check, check, check. Careful not to forget my head as well, I mentally work down the list of things several times to make sure I don't miss anything, because I still haven't fully crossed over the boundary to 100% wakefullness yet. Helmet. Check. Bag to put everything in. Ehm...make that two. Check. Ah yes. Laptop. Check. WiFi card. Check...

A good hour (or so) later I am finally packed up. We put everything in the car and drive the 200 meters and 4 corners to Ollie's place. Ian had crashed on Ollie's sofa after having driven over from Cardiff the night before, and as we pull up I see that the front garden and hallway are already filled with things to go in the car. And, as I get out of the car I see there is more in the house. And in the garage, too. Oh boy... packing this car will be where the 2010 Challenge starts... Luckily though, I once went on a 13,000 km drive around the South Western states of the USA for weeks on end with my then girlfriend, which turned me into a 'packer extraordinaire'. The car we were travelling in was one of those old style Golf Convertibles, which had a boot the size of, well, a spare tyre give or take a Snickers bar. So after everyone had had a go I just pulled everything back out of the car (to their chagrin), got rid of packaging materials and boxes (while they commented 'what difference will that make') and Tetris stylee I repacked the whole lot. And it all went in. Beautifully. And then we were finally ready to go. A quick coffee later, and off we went. Or so we thought.

A strange ticking sound was coming from under the bonnet of Ollie's Saab. A sound that after closer inspection turned out to come from one of the fuses. And then we found the car had no power. It did not start. In fact, it didn't even turn over. No response. Nada. Zilch. Even the lightbulbs only managed a very faint orangey glow from the filament. Oh SH!T. We managed to jumpstart the car with the leads Ollie's neighbour kindly lent to us, and Ollie quickly took the car for a spin around the block to put some juice in the battery. Then Dirk started to complain he burnt his hand while taking the very hot clamp off the battery... I lent him my frozen can of Guinness (forgot it in the freezer the night before) so he could 'ice' it. Ollie returned, we all piled in, and off we went. Then I noticed a rather peculiar sound coming from the rear right wheel suspension... but as it was now already around the midday mark (so much for the original plan to leave at 7...) we thought we'd best press on.
We drove over Petersham Road into Richmond, and the heavy traffic made us suspect something was up. And indeed it was. A Prius had pulled out of a side street without noticing an approaching cyclist, who had slammed into the side of the car and was now lying on the road on a stretcher, with his neck carefully supported. I so bloody hate car drivers that do not know how to drive... After having suffered several accidents myself over the last few years, all of them the fault of road users that just did not pay attention, were going too fast, speaking on mobiles and so on, I really felt my blood boil. May the fleas of a thousand camels infest the nether regions of these people. I also prayed this crash was not a sign of things to come on our own ride.

Then the next mishap struck. I had been banking on working in the car to finish a translation for the Austrian FA, but then found that the inverters connected to the cigarette lighters returned no power, likely due to the earlier fuse problems. With absolutely nothing I could do about it (force majeure) I closed my eyes, pulled the Brixton Cycles musette over my eyes and tried to catch some much needed sleep. In the meantime, Dirk was still holding the slowly defrosting can of Guinness to cool the burn on his hand, now slowly turning into a Guinness Slush Puppie. On a hot day like this a plan was quickly hatched to let it near a level where it would be consumable so we could enjoy some of the best slushy ice cream imaginable...lol.
After several hours of dozing, we stopped for petrol near Bridgewater in Somerset. The noise emanating from the right wheel arch had by now become pretty loud, and as we still needed to find a place to buy some SD cards for the X170 bullet cams lent to us by Action Cameras anyway, we went into Bridgewater itself to look for a garage. During the short ride there we discussed what the sound could possibly be and decided to check for tightness of the wheelbolts. While Dirk went to purchase some SD cards I asked some people in the parking lot if we could borrow their wheelspanner. Sure, we had one ourselves, but that would have meant unpacking the boot of the car again, something preferably avoided. However, none of the ones we tried fitted. But, with a Halfords nearby, we went in, borrowed some tools (thanks guys!) and tightened the nuts. But when driving off, the noise was still there. Mystery not solved.
After Ian narrowly avoided a head-on smash with an oncoming ambulance the rest of the drive was uneventful. Still no power in the car though. About a mile away from our final destination for the day, the YHA Land's End, the SatNav instigated a detour, taking us onto a dead end road to the beach. Already quite impressed with the greenness and size of the local plants, we were even more impressed with the stunning sunset in front of us.
After a bit of breathing in heady mix of fresh sea air, BBQs and flowering plants we jumped back into the car and about 10 minutes later we pulled up at the YHA. Ian and I unpacked the car, Dirk cooked dinner, Damian got the ales in (and then quickly went to bed) and Ollie made the beds. Right after some great food Dirk and Ollie went to catch some ZZZs while Ian and I sorted out camera settings and associated bits and pieces before we too retired for the night.

T minus hours to go. Then...camera issues....

When picking up the Sony Z1 camera lent to us by ThreeFeetHigh I thought I'd check to see if everything worked...and found there was no power. The chap at PIKS repairs where we collected it from told me they replaced the power board and that it should be fine. But upon checking the battery he told me that in fact the battery was faulty. And as luck would have it there was only one battery in the camerabag. And at PIKS they had none either...AAAAARRGGGH!!! So frantic calling ensued to anyone and everyone I knew in the business to see if they had a spare Z1 battery somewhere, but no joy. Even the hire places I rang were either already closed or did not have any. After what were probably 50 calls to Giles from ThreeFeetHigh I finally managed to get a hold of him (sorry for the huge amount of tries Giles, but I was pretty desperate as you can imagine) but he also did not have any at all as this was an obsolete camera for them. So I resigned myself to the necessity of a very early Saturday morning start to knock on the doors of as many hire places as possible, something I really did not need because we had planned to leave Richmond by 9AM...

But then I got a call from Deuan, who simply rang for a quick chat before we set off to Land's End in the morning. And this was the call that sorted it. Not that he had a Z1 battery, no, even better. He had an almost new Canon XHA1 in his attic...as you do... Turns out he had bought it for the charity Communities Empowerment Network, for which he works, a couple of years ago. With some convincing I got him to agree to lend it to us for the trip. After all, CEN can use the publicity to highlight the superb work they do for kids excluded from school as well as raise money through our ride. So, Deuan arranged for Dirk to pick it up in the morning on his way over to my place as Deuan himself was not joining the ride until Glastonbury, two days into the 2010 1000Miles Challenge.
It did mean a lot of lost time though. Had Deuan mentioned this camera before I would not have needed to go asking around for a freebie, costing me many hours. And I would not have needed to go to Wandsworth to collect it from the repair shop. Neither would I have had to bother everyone I knew in the tv industry with a plea for a spare battery at 8PM on a Friday. However, I did get a connection out of it with Giles from ThreeFeetHigh who seems a throroughly decent chap. Apart from offering to lend us his Z1, he also paid for the repairs to it so we could use it and also offered to pay for rental of batteries. Unfortunately there was just no time to meet up with him for a coffee before we left on our ride, but this will happen still. Things happen for reasons...and I look forward to actually meeting up with Giles at some point soon.

T minus 1. Last day to organise things!

Friday. The last day before departure tomorrow morning. And it all has to happen today. Last night had turned into yet another early morning workwise and after arranging the group's visits to the Eden Project and Wookey Hole this morning and sending the last few emails to get donations in through justgiving.com I am back at Input Media at lunchtime.

My mission at work is to finish off the last bit of transcript and to help Julian in the edit suite with my Dutch language skills. The end is in sight though and I am confident all will be in the can by tonight. Relief! However, Julian is just about to set off for lunch when I arrive so the edit suite is pushed back until the afternoon. Today's diary is and in order to cart all of the equipment we need back home Ollie and I will be driving around hot and busy London. Half an hour later, just as I am working at full tilt, Ollie is outside with the car and with time at a premium today I decide to hop in and finish the transcript in the evening. With a bit of luck I will still catch Julian in the edit suite before he leaves, and the only way to ensure this is to leave there and then to do the rounds.

• First up is a meeting with Tahir at Action Cameras' HQ in to collect the X170 bullet cameras they are sponsoring us with for the documentary. We discuss the route and the documentary and Tahir gives us a rundown of the camera's features and instructs us on how to use them. These are superb little cameras, weighing just 128 grammes each, delivering dvd quality and they have a 170 degree adjustable lens which allows you to mount the cam in pretty much any position. They have also given us a discount code for all of you who want to get your hands on one of these, meaning 10% discount for you plus another 10% donated to our charities so get buying! The discount code is 1000MCHALLENGE. We then take some pictures together, he wishes us luck, and we're off to the next point of call.
  

• Next stop is in Wandsworth to collect the broadcast quality Sony Z1 camera kindly lent to us by Giles Harvey from ThreeFeetHigh Productions. There were some issues with the power supply when he pulled it out of one of their moving boxes so he kindly had it repaired for us by PIKS repair shop where we'll be picking it up.

• Final stop for the day is the best bike shop in London, Brixton Cycles. Apart from collecting Ollie's Specialized, freshly repaired after last week's crash and ready just in time for the trip, we get some last minute bike parts we need like bottlecages, Ollie also buys some sunglasses and we stock up on 5 bottles of energy and electrolyte drink powders. Brixton Cycles have also given us a 10% discount code for all of you to use, redeemable against accessories and clothing. The discount code is 1000MilesChallenge.

Then we are back on the road. It's now Friday evening rush hour, and because it's a hot day everyone is out and traffic is murder. It takes us absolute ages to get back to Shepherd's Bush and unfortunately Julian has already left while we are still navigating through the traffic jams. Plan is to now get some sandwiches and continue working until 2 in the morning while Ollie heads back home to start packing his kit ready for tomorrow's departure.

The jerseys look COOOOOOL!

Today was the second pay-off day. The first was last week, when I went to Brixton Cycles to pick up the box of spares for the ride they so kindly provided us with. And today was the day the jerseys would get done. It's a bit like finally getting to do the painting after a lot of building work - you get to see the fruits of your work! Getting to this stage with the jerseys was not a straightforward trajectory though. Getting logo's of the right resolution from Communities Empowerment Network never materialised, and Arthritis Research took hours and almost ten people's involvement to send a logo which we could not use in the end anyway due ton its format and colouring. So unfortunately only Project Peru made it onto the jersey.

I had also been in touch with a number of jersey manufacturers, but costs were high for the limited amount of jerseys we needed and lead times of 8 weeks were just not realistic either as we were still trying to get more sponsors to come on board. And as soon as the words 'Charity Ride' and 'discount/sponsorship' were mentioned the door closed. So in the end I bought a bunch of jerseys from eBay and decided to have a local company put transfers on them. This would be the quickest and cheapest solution. After one local outfit told me at the last minute the job was actually too big for them after initially having accepted the order I came to Microtees. The reception was friendly, they tried hard to accommodate our needs despite being very busy, and agreed to a friendly price as we needed these jerseys for a charity ride. To save time I actually helped put the transfers on, something I very much enjoyed doing as it felt I was making the jerseys come to life myself after all this planning! The end result looks pretty darn good!

T minus 2. And the sleep deficit now stands at a ridiculous level...

I am so tired. Exhausted is the word. And rather cheesed off too I must admit. It has now been a week, working until 3, 4 or even 5 in the morning at the tv production company..then getting up at 9 to crawl behind my desk at home by 9.30 accompanied by a large mug of strong coffee to sort out the last bits before the ride kicks off. It's unlikely I will have time to build up my nice lightweight carbon bike for the 1100 miles ahead and have resigned myself to using the rather heavy alloy racing bike I use for commuting and training. Not happy is an understatement.

I feel - rightly or wrongly - that I am doing all of this by myself. Despite several meetings over the past few months with the other guys in the group and dozens of emails I have sent out asking them for logo's to go on jerseys and assistance in organising it seems that all has fallen on my shoulders. So far all of the sponsors that have come on board are there because of my efforts. As are the blogs on RoadCyclingUK and BikeMagic, the quiet and beautiful route over the small white roads, pre-production for the documentary, sourcing of camera equipment, getting voice over artists, a soundtrack composer, an editor, bike spares, a driver now that Janine has decided to drop out at the last minute, a cameraman, team clothing, visits to Eden Project and Wookey Hole, and so on. And tomorrow, well, later on today actually, looking at the clock, I will need to get our jerseys made up.

In a way I can't blame the others though. We never did make clear agreements on task division and as I am hell-bent on getting the maximum returns for the efforts put in I have gone all-out. And if you want something done well you have to do it yourself. In the process I have probably put the bar a little high though. But then that is what the word Challenge in the name of our ride stands for. My impression is that the rest just want to cycle, and raise a bit of money for charity. More publicity means more publicity for the charities and the excellent work they do though, and will also boost donations, so I regard it as imperative that the filming, photography and twitter and blogs and so on are well organised. Problem is that there are so many things on my plate I often don't know where to start...and it is 5 in the morning already...AAAAAARRGGHHH!!!

T minus 6 before the 2010 1000Miles Challenge is go...

With less than one week to go, stress levels keep going into the red. There simply are so many things to organise still and so little time to do it in. And it has become rather complicated due to my workload at Pitch International creeping into this week because of the tricky availability of XDCam machines... All in all it looks like I will have to continue doing (very) late nights at work the rest of the week while organising meetings with sponsors Brixton Cycles, Action Cameras, ThreeFeetHigh Productions, a meet-and-greet at the Eden Project on day 1 of the ride, and and and...
I have already been here several consecutive days now until the early hours of the morning trying to get it all done... Not the best way of preparing for a daily dose of over 100miles on the bike, and quite the opposite of what I had planned. But, needs must, and the scripts need to be ready for the show my colleagues Julian, Ian, Marie et al. are putting together, so I will have to just bank on my mental strength pulling me through the first days of the ride. Not the most pleasant of prospects as the consensus is that Cornwall and Devon are the toughest days... Truth be told though - I can hardly wait. Making a documentary while cycling almost 1100 miles in 10 days and raising money for Project Peru and Communities Empowerment Network is a big challenge I can't wait to meet head-on!

Broken Dreams?

As I did not go on today's training ride, there is little I can say about it. Turned out Ollie and Dirk never did get my messages to take pictures as both of them forgot to take their phones. Something they are unlikely to do in future as today's experiences showed them how vital such equipment can be. I won't say more - instead I will pass you over to Ollie, who will tell you about what actually happened that day. It was not pleasant...

Ollie's recounting of the last training ride before the big 1000Mile Challenge kicks off...

So, it's our last training ride before the big 1000 miler, I'm feeling good and conditions for riding are simply beautiful. We are due to leave for Box Hill at 9.30, this has now become my favourite "bread & butter" ride, starting at Teddington Lock, along the River Thames, Bushy Park, a few fast/busy roads up to Esher, then pretty much Surrey countryside all the way, some good climbs and fast descents and beautiful scenery. Best of all today I’m sporting my brand spanking new Specialized Tarmac, full carbon fibre, all the bells and whistles etc, etc - this is the closest I've come, or probably ever will come, to owning a proper racing bike, bought with aid of Mr. Brown’s Cycle-to-Work scheme. I've been getting used to my new pocket rocket over the last week or so, the steering feels a bit twitchy being such a fast bike, requiring 100% concentration, but my daily commute to Canary Wharf has given me some very fun run-in time. Frankly I’ve have simply been ripping it up, leaving all for dust on the Embankment, passing 6ft ‘Cervelo’ racers with calves the size of Argentina and even mad fixie dudes. So I'm raring to go - then a call from Jorrin at 9.23 he has been "working" late and can't make it - to be fair Jorrin has over last few weeks put a massive amount into the ride, sorting out sponsorship, drivers, cameraman, and a host of other extras, as well of course giving us all invaluable cycling advice in one form or another - so I give him a break. However, Damian can't make it, and no word form Deuan, and Dirk, whilst he can make it, has forgotten his cycling kit! Hmmmm, where is the dedication with a week to go? So it looks like I'm going it alone today, and hence why I'm writing the blog rather the resident Flying Dutchman. Jorrin sorts Dirk out with some cycling kit and they both turn up at my house with a whole load of goodies from one of our sponsors, Brixton cycles (socks, bottles, tee-shirt etc) – good effort BC!

The ride kicks off well, and I am really looking forward to the climb and view at Box Hill. I'm leading most of the way and am probably going a bit faster than usual, its approx 25 miles to BH, so I reckon we should keep the speed up as we are not doing too many miles today. I have in my mind that I should really enjoy today and also remain safe, and not repeat my spectacular somersault shenanigans on the last team ride - in attempt to avoid a non-signalling Mercedes (nice), I hit the breaks at the bottom of Kingston Hill, however, having borrowed Jorrin's bike with continental placement of the brake levers (i.e. front and back brake levers reversed), I grabbed a fist full of front brake! - a definite YouTube moment. Damian was drafting behind me - the look on his face said it all.

Past Esher and a few steady climbs as we start to get into the Surrey Countryside proper, we head up toward Polsden Lacy (National Trust), followed by a few more climbs and then a nice fast down hill before we get to the bottom of Box Hill for the climb up. Dirk is doing a good job of keeping up and I point to the 20% sign as we descend into Westhumble (just before Box Hill), we whizz past a couple of leisure cyclists who are freewheeling down whilst squeezing their brakes hard, we pick up optimum speed and then there is a steep turn to the right, I am anticipating this and have both breaks covered and on, but clearly not enough, the road surface is covered with loose gravel and as I don't want to lose control by losing grip I ominously start drifting out to the left. I notice a collection of leaves, twigs and roadside debris, and in that split second I realise it's decision time - either lean down further and try to make the corner at risk of losing the wheels from underneath me (serious road rash), or carry on and run out of road, but using the high dirt bank in a sort of "wall of death" type effort - being the daredevil type I decided on the latter - I mount the steep dirt curb – ‘I can make this’...then the tell tale sign, everything starts to go into slow motion, my mind is one with the moment and starts musing, 'right, I in fact, am not going to make this, so how bad is this going to be? Are we talking broken bones? Possibly, lets then try and somehow avoid those trees and barbed wire fence, as much as I love the Surrey country side I would quite like not to be part of it’ - then DOOOSH, AARRGH, TWANG, SPLURG (banana in back pocket), PING PANG PING (most spokes in back wheel), SCCARG (the sound skin makes when it is taken from your body and laid on tarmac), THWUMP! 'Oh hi Dirk' - SMASH, CRUMPLE. 'Oh hi smug leisure cyclists, no, no I'm just fine, no I like to wear my bones on the outside, what, the bike?, yes it is new, no I'm sure its fine too, in anycase, I need ed a new carbon fibre windchime. Oh yes, and my lovely Aksium rear wheel, would now make a great Dream Catcher, great idea, thanks'.

After scraping myself and my now not so new looking Tarmac off the tarmac (yes, yes I see the irony), I realise that I was in fact very lucky, my knee has seen better days and my Achilles is screaming at me, but all in all it could have been a lot worse - unfortunately no action camera shots again, but here are some post 'ride' pics to show you what blood looks like on Carbon Fibre forks .

As I resign myself to picking out the mixture of earth, banana and grease from my wounds over the following days, I reflect on this most recent of crashes - I have all the usual feelings of embarrassment, bruised pride, self loathing/stupidity and anger, but most of all it make me laugh - what a p*at!...and moreover I must have another go at that decent!

The Specialized has not faired so well though and looks a rather sorry for itself. It's currently at Brixton Cycles being looked after by the doctors. And put it this way, I'm not so worried about scratching the frame on the bike rack at work now!

What a day...and it had started off so well... Wiping out at 27/30 MPH, trashing my new bike and my old knee, - all in all great preparation for the 1000 miler. I will probably have to revert back to my old Ribble for the ride (unless Brixton cycles can work some magic), I'm currently nursing the leg, and if my achilles doesn't heal in 5 days I think I might be relegated to driver/cook etc....

PS Many thanks to the White man van/mountain bike rider who gave us a lift to the Westhumble station - we owe you one.

Choosing sleep over riding my bike...or not? (part 2)

Just woke up. It's 8am and my son has just come to poke me in the side so I can put the breakfast cereals on the table. Although rather knackered I happily oblige as I truly cherish the time I can spend with him. Maybe it's just down to being a proud dad, but he truly is the cleverest and best behaved 4-y old I have ever known. And knowing that I will not be going on a ride today but instead will crawl back into bed after breakfast makes it all OK. But the sun is out and the air feels warm...and I am not not sure anymore that this will be the plan of action. Having lived in the UK now for 16 years one learns to cherish the lovely sunny days and quite often you just need to reschedule the entire day just so you can enjoy it. There are just too few of them to pass up on them. But then I get a text message from Damian, telling me he won't be able to make it today either. After almost spilling coffee over myself while still quite sleepdrunk I however decide to stick with my original plan of resting up. Tomorrow my parents will stop by for a brief visit on their way back to The Netherlands and I will also have to get back to my work at Pitch. Then there are the various things that need purchasing and organising still for the Challenge ride, not least a decent camera for Ian to use.

At just after 9am Dirk pulls up in front of the house and we down a quick coffee while I make my apologies for not being able to make it today. He knows I have been pulling out as many stops as possible over the last few weeks, so although he is disappointed I won't be coming today, he agrees it is probably the best course of action for me to take. Besides, it's not as if he can say anything about it. He is probably the one who has trained the least and he has admitted he will probably be the first one to start crying when the going starts getting really tough next week.
We then head over to Ollie's place, which is just around the corner. here we go through the box of spares so kindly given to us by our sponsor Brixton Cycles - bottles, t-shirts, spare 8/9/10sp chains, cassettes, brake pads, tyres, wheels and so on. The best bike shop in London with the best customer service. Truly. If they had decided not to sponsor us I would have bought all of these bits myself as there really was no other bike shop whose name I would have been proud to wear in this event!

Ollie's kids are partly washing the car and mostly throwing water over eachother. It really is one of those lovely summery days that just make you go 'aaaaahhh....'! I wish Dirk and Ollie a good ride and head back home. Clearly the best course of action because even Ollie's wife Jo comments I look like death...cheers Jo! I forgot to tell the guys to take some pictures while out riding for the blog, so I give them a quick ring. But neither answers their phone so I figure they'll pick up the message when they stop for a break somewhere. Now, where is my bed...? Ahh. Zzzzz.

Choosing sleep over riding my bike...or not? (part 1)

I might just have to revise my attendance to tomorrow's training ride...not because I don't want to, quite the contrary, but because I don't want to burn myself out before next week. Together with colleagues from Pitch International I have just been to the local pub here in Shepherd's Bush to meet the company's chairman Trevor East and Input Media's chairman David Wood. It was a great opportunity to talk about the documentary we are making of the 2010 1000Mile Challenge and to do some networking. I did not stay the entire evening as the stack of work on my desk will not go away by itself, so I was back behind my desk before 19.30. I have been working hard all evening as well as at times laughing my socks off about some of the stories the Dutch ex-internationals on these disks were recounting. And it is now 2am. I am very tired after the past few weeks of organising so many things, and decide it would be better to rest well this Saturday instead of caning it on the Surrey hills. I know myself - going slow is not something I am very good at! All too aware that Exhaustion is one of the doors in the hallway I am in, I decide to go through the door called Rest instead.

London - Orcheston - London

Today I will set off on 2 training rides planned for this weekend; I am riding 100Miles to Orcheston in Wiltshire and then back to London again tomorrow. Initially Ollie, Dirk, Deuan and Damian were to come along, but one by one they have pulled out, quoting family and work commitments as reasons. Their loss! I have set out a beautiful route and can't wait to click into the pedals and set off...

Soooo much to do but soooo little time to do it all in...

I have been absolutely inundated with work the last two weeks or so, and not all of it has been organising things around the upcoming 1100miler or preproduction stuff around the documentary. I also do a lot of work for various sports tv production companies who I help with translations of Dutch, German and French footage so they can go in the edit suite with a script. It's a fun job. But over these past weeks and the week ahead the amount of work coming my way has just skyrocketed. I know, it's a bit of a luxury problem, but it does mean many red-eye nights trying to get all of this time-sensitive work done as well as sort things out for the ride.

So, it's Friday today, and tomorrow we are planning to ride our last big training ride in preparation of the Challenge ride next week Saturday. I would have really liked to do a 100miler, but as it turns out Ollie and Damian need to be back by 2pm, quickly putting paid to that idea. We'll now aim for as long a ride as we can muster in the hours between 9.30 and 14.00. The route plan from our meeting point at the Cafe by Roehampton Gate in Richmond Park would have taken us through the Surrey countryside to Upton Grey near Basingstoke then towards Reading and from there back into London. With time at a premium however, we'll just follow Ollie's inbuilt compass and head towards Box Hill and do a smaller loop.

And what a fine day it is today...not. Intermittent rain, cold, but sunny spells. That was the forecast, and for a change they had it right. Not difficult though with such a prediction, is it? Today was a late start. Ollie and I are off to Box Hill for some base miles and hill training. None of the others were able to make it today. Well, tough then. The distance from Land's End to John O'Groats does not get any shorter than the almost 1100 miles indicated by the routeplanner on BikeMap.net and less training beforehand is likely to equal more tears when having to go up some of the mountaineous hills en route. Personally I'd rather prepare myself now, so I can enjoy the 1000Mile Challenge as much as possible. So, after a sturdy breakfast I soft pedal over to Ollie's place around the corner (well, 4) and we finally set off about 11ish, more than 2 hours later than usual. Estimated time to complete is about 6 hours including breaks, and we dapperly set off. Ollie is riding his brand spanking shiny new Specialized, which looks veeeeery nice indeed. I am on the Dave Quinn. I just fitted some nice fresh yellow tyres to match the rest of the colourscheme and it really looks the part. For a £15 ebay special (frame only) decked out with components of my choice it is actually incredibly good and it has made a superb commuting and training bike.

So, along the Thames then over Kingston Bridge, passing Hampton Court Palace and into Surrey we go. Ollie seems to have a built-in compass because the tiny roads he choses are rather winding but we actually get to Box Hill very quickly. For all of the talk about this hill it is actually an easy climb, but the view from the top is superb and it is very handy to have a cafe near the summit. Not quite California's Mount Diablo, it is nonetheless one of Surrey's finest. The cafe is full of cyclists. Cervelos, Specializeds, Cannondales, and so on are parked up all around while their owners queue for a coffee and a sarnie. And despite the low cost, alloy frame and Shimano 105 of the Dave Quinn it garners more attention than all of the other bikes together. It just goes to show that one can make a damn fine bike with a bit of vision and knowledge of parts and colours. Then down the hill we bomb, around it and deeper into Surrey. I'd like to post a picture here of the route, but I have no idea where we were or where we were going. I let Ollie lead the way, and he certainly did pick the kind of route I like. Sub-B roads, no traffic, hilly, green, countryside...superb. We then head out onto some A and B roads to work on average riding pace and stop at a petrol station for some energy drinks. And, just as we come out sipping from our ice cold bottles, hail stones start falling. And big ones too! But, as the saying goes 'stick around for a bit and it will change'. And so it did. Less than 5 minutes actually. The temperature has dropped as a result though and we still have only covered a third of our projected riding distance. So back in the saddle, apply pressure and zoom on, now slowly completing the loop riding towards Hampton Court again. We add a couple of miles by following the Thames eastwards and stop in Shepperton for a sandwich. Halfway 100miles we are, and the cold is getting to me slowly but surely. Despite a baselayer, a jersey and a cycling jacket the layer of sweat is fast cooling down and my legs begin to shiver. Right then. Back onto the bike. Over to Richmond Park to do some laps and add some more distance. Completing a 100miler today does not seem very likely as the clock is ticking on. Sub-B roads are the best but they also take longer to negotiate. Once into Richmond Park we do another 3 laps, pushing it hard especially on the steep hill between Roehampton Gate and Kingston Gate. The wind has also picked up and the long and fairly straight stretch between Kingston Gate and Richmond Gate has become a wind tunnel, blasting us with cold air while we struggle to stay above 20mph. We burn the last available bits of energy and ride home. 80 miles. Not bad. Not bad. But, next weekend will be the real test. the objective is to ride from home to Orcheston in Wiltshire where my parents have a little summer home. 100miles there on Saturday, then 100miles back on Sunday. Now THAT I am looking forward to. With a kind of perverse sense of self-castigation...