27th August 2006, starting at Bristol (Temple Meads), via Chobham Rugby Club and finishing at London (Euston).
This is the first time I have ridden the Action 100, which despite being labelled as Bristol to London, doesn’t officially finish in London. So being the stubborn perfectionist that I am, I decided to extend the official route onwards to Euston station. Which, by the time I had diverted around the Notting Hill Carnaval, turned out to be 143.6 miles and caused me to nearly miss my train home, which left 30 seconds after I got on board.
The total online amount I raised for Action Medical Research for this ride is £245 (excluding gift aid), which is fantastic and sincere thanks go to everyone who sponsored me.
My online sponsorship account for this event is now closed.
7th May 2006, starting at Tonbridge Castle, the ride is a 100 mile circular route visiting five other castles in Kent.
You may think that Kent is quite flat, when you look at a map there are certainly no significant peaks. However, looks can be deceptive and Kent is far from flat, there are lots of small, steep hills to climb and the 100 miles is literally up and down all day long.
Having got my moan about the Kentish terrain out of the way, it should be balanced by the outstanding natural beauty of the county.
I took on this challenge ride with a colleague, and friend, from work. Gavin is a runner, and not a cyclist, but he agreed to give it his best shot. He did next to no training whatsoever, having bought his bicycle just over a week before the ride and had only ridden 35 miles the weekend before. I congratualte him on his sheer determination to finish the ride, which he did. Which just goes to show that provided you have enough determination and will power you can ride 100 miles in a day.
My online sponsorship account for this event is now closed.
This was my first charity bike ride, 300 miles in 4 days arriving in Paris in time to see Lance Armstrong win his 7th and final Tour de France. I did the ride for Action Medical Research, after my mother’s partner found their advert in the Sunday paper and raised £2,739 to help them fund more research programmes.
Day 1 – London to Dover
The day started quite cool, setting off from Blackheath, and riding southeast out of London. The route took us to Rochester, across the river Medway and then down narrow country lanes all the way to Dover. After the initial coolness in the morning, the weather warmed up, and the day turned out to be a scorcher. Not necessarily the best thing for a long-distance cyclist, but welcome nonetheless. Some of us, me included, missed a turning and ended up doing about 30 miles extra.
Day 2 – Calais to Abbeville
After getting the ferry across the channel, we set off for Abbeville. Today was another hot one, and the tarmac actually felt to be sticky, making the going very tough indeed in some places.
Day 3 – Abbeville to Beauvais
Pretty much the same as the ride from Calais, but a little cooler.
Day 4 – Beauvais to Paris
From Beauvais we cycle to the lunch rendez-vous, from there we cycled into Paris in groups of around 20-30 cyclists, working on the principle of safety in numbers. There was some question whether it would be possible to cycle round the Arc de Triomphe, as it happed we needn’t have worried. It’s certainly an experience I will never forget, riding round the Arc and then down the Champs-Élysées. I attempted to video this last bit, but the cobbles made the video extremely shaky so it’s not the easiest video to watch.
