As the sun rose over the sleeping village of Alvechurch, two enthusiastic cyclists departed on a 10 mile lap of the peaceful Worcestershire countryside. Unfortunately, as they approached the first climb out of the village, their smiles were soon a thing of the past. The scenic 10 mile lap was actually the dreaded 10 mile lap, featuring 276m (906ft) of climbing, including the final ‘Heartbreak Hill’.
Why, I hear you ask, did we think this would be a good way to spend a Saturday?! The Solihull office’s official RHide challenge was Solihull to Birmingham, less than 10 miles along the canal towpath. We therefore wanted something a bit more challenging, and our Sunrise to Sunset challenge delivered the goods! Our aim was to complete 1,000 team miles in the daylight hours between sunrise and sunset. We set out a 10 mile lap and riders took turns to complete as many laps as they could manage.
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| 5:00am - the start of the Sunrise to Sunset Challenge |
The day started well, with Steve (Truluck) and Tim (Clipsham) kicking off the day at 5:00am, waved off by Victoria (Clipsham) (not in her dressing gown!) whose excuse for not getting on the bike to join them was that she had to stay and look after the house. Steve and Tim were closely followed by Mike (Stringer), who had some minor technical difficulties initially, but completed a solid lap. Victoria and Jon (Sortwell) were next to go, closely followed by another few laps by Mike, Tim and Steve. Laura (Sanderson) and Steve (Orton) arrived soon afterwards and put in a fast first lap. By early morning, the team had put in a good few laps, with only one minor incident when Jon’s chain broke at the bottom of Heartbreak Hill.
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| The first casualty of the day |
Mid morning saw the arrival of our support crew, Siripen (Songprasit) and Latha (Yellampalli) and prompted the lighting of the BBQ and bacon sandwiches being dished out to the hungry cyclists. Siripen had also undertaken her own personal challenge the week before by “baking from sunrise to sunset”. We therefore had a mountain of cakes to keep us going, including muffins, rocky roads, flapjacks and macaroons.
Mid morning also saw the arrival of Rachel (Ranger) and Luke (Kelly) who had cycled from their house, already clocking up 20 miles by the time they arrived in Alvechurch. Charlotte (Hamling) and Sonja (Tuner) also made the journey across from Peterborough and put in a couple of good laps, particularly considering they were both running a 10k race the following day in Peterborough.
The cat dragged in Matt (Balkham) and Louise (Mason) late morning with sore heads from a late night, but this didn’t deter their enthusiasm, and they were soon on their way to completing their first lap.
As the day wore on, the cycling started to take its toll on the team. Steve (T) suffered with a sore back, but Latha was quick to volunteer to stand on his back to relieve the pain. Matt and Louise had a few nightmare laps, with Louise’s bike refusing to keep hold of its pedals. There were obviously numerous complaints of sore backsides, and some members of the team discovering bones and muscles they didn’t know they had, but perhaps it’s best not to go into too much detail….!
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| Repairing a broken Steve (T) |
Rachel and Luke headed home mid afternoon, having completed two laps, plus their 20 mile outward journey and impending 20 mile return journey. This makes it sound like they left happy and content, but in fact Rachel had to nearly be dragged back onto the bike by Luke! The team’s spirits were then lifted once again by the arrival of the youngest members of the team, the Stringer family. Lucy managed a good few laps up and down the road, which we later calculated as being 1 mile, and Tom (whose method of stopping involved falling off) did a few laps of the drive. Isabelle helped us to demolish a few more of Siripen’s cakes, which was much appreciated!
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| One of the more scenic (and flat!) sections of our 10 mile lap |
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| The youngest members of our team |
At 8:15pm the team gathered for a group photo before completing the final glory lap. This really was a great way to end the day, with the sun setting over Heartbreak Hill and the whoops and cheers coming back through Alvechurch. The best thing was the smell of sausages as we were on the home straight, as Matt and Louise decided to take one for the team, missing out on the glory lap to prepare the BBQ, food and beer.
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| The team gather for a photo before the final "glory" lap |
In total, we clocked up 761.5 miles between us, with Steve (T) leading the pack with 11 laps (110 miles) and 9 members of the team clocking up more than 50 miles. Calculations have since revealed that anyone completing more than 5 laps (50 miles) actually cycled up the equivalent of Ben Nevis, and as team we completed more than twice the height of Mount Everest! The fastest speed recorded on the lap was 44mph by Steve (T) and the style points go to Victoria’s neighbour who managed to catch air over a canal bridge and even manage a little flick of the back end of his bike (this was NOT in the risk assessment!).
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| Our base for the day - pimped out and corporate for the occasion |
It really was a great day, for a really great cause. As an office we have raised just under £1,000 for Stuart. Thanks go to Steve T for making the journey up from Chertsey, Sonja and Charlotte for coming over from Peterborough, Siripen for her epic cake baking session, both Siripen and Latha for being there all day as our support crew, and for everyone for giving up their Saturday to take part. Also a final really big thank you to everyone who sponsored us.
