sorry for the lack of updates recently. i've been keeping myself pretty busy, and the further behind i get with this blog, the less i can be bothered doing it! ok ok i know that's not the attitude. afterall, i've got to have something to remember my time in london by...so what have i been so busy with? cycling i guess. my bike's done quite a few kilometers recently. last weekend i did the london to brighton ride with around 27,000 other cyclists and i've got to say it's one of the coolest things i've ever done in my life! i got such a kick out of it, and it was all for a good cause too. in total i raised about £350 for the British Heart Foundation. Here are a few pics from the day...
it was a 54 mile ride (85km), but including getting to and from the race i think i must have ridden about 65 miles (100km) that day. the above pic shows the 'terrain'. check out the hill at the end. bloody hell! it was just about vertical and almost about everyone got off to push their bike, even some of the more professional riders, but i'm very proud to say i managed to get all the way up it without stopping once. i think it was sheer stubbornness which spurred me on!
i did the ride with kate and hannah, who i met the weekend before on our 30 mile practice ride.
this is one of the 15 official rest stops along the way. each had refreshments, food and toilets - check out all the bananas! we stopped 3 times in total.
there were 2 very serious accidents along the way which brought things to a standstill. i'm not surprised as some parts were pretty hilly and going downhill we built up a fair bit of speed. at one point i hit 50 miles/78km an hour!!! it's the fastest i've ever gone on my bike. it was exhilarating! the photo above shows how banked up it got after a few accidents. at this point we had been crawling along/almost stationary for about 1hr to allow ambulances and marshals through to attend to people. looking 1/2km into the horizon all i could see was a sea of bikes.
the view from the top of that mammoth hill at the end.
riders queuing up at the finish to collect medals...
it was a 54 mile ride (85km), but including getting to and from the race i think i must have ridden about 65 miles (100km) that day. the above pic shows the 'terrain'. check out the hill at the end. bloody hell! it was just about vertical and almost about everyone got off to push their bike, even some of the more professional riders, but i'm very proud to say i managed to get all the way up it without stopping once. i think it was sheer stubbornness which spurred me on!
i did the ride with kate and hannah, who i met the weekend before on our 30 mile practice ride.
this is one of the 15 official rest stops along the way. each had refreshments, food and toilets - check out all the bananas! we stopped 3 times in total.
there were 2 very serious accidents along the way which brought things to a standstill. i'm not surprised as some parts were pretty hilly and going downhill we built up a fair bit of speed. at one point i hit 50 miles/78km an hour!!! it's the fastest i've ever gone on my bike. it was exhilarating! the photo above shows how banked up it got after a few accidents. at this point we had been crawling along/almost stationary for about 1hr to allow ambulances and marshals through to attend to people. looking 1/2km into the horizon all i could see was a sea of bikes.
the view from the top of that mammoth hill at the end.
riders queuing up at the finish to collect medals...
