Elgin to Edinburgh, Day one, 11th June

RHiders: Jamie Green, Peterborough Office & Steve Truluck, Chertsey office

'The forecast for Aberdeenshire today is, well, put it this way, if you're going to an outdoor event, don't bother. Stay indoors!' Wise words from the scottish forecaster. We were already 40 miles into the hills with the grim prospect of another 60 plus to go so had no other option but to continue!

Prior to the rain on Saturday everything had gone rather too well. Jamie had put up with me at his place on Thursday night before we set off early doors to the Peterborough office to commence our journey up to the start line in Elgin.

Our journey up the east coast was fantastic and we sat chatting to a couple, Mike and Annabel, who kindly gave to the cause. The train even arrived early which made our 10 minute transfer time onto the Inverness train doable. I then realised that the well spoken 'English' Jamie had turned Scottish! His Scottish roots became apparent with his accent growing ever stronger as he chatted to his fellow country folk.




RH's Flying Scotsman at Edinburgh Station


The Inverness train was full of 'Rock Ness' goers which made life interesting! The train then suffered a delay when the driver thought he had hit someone on the track meaning that our transfer onto the Elgin train was never likely to happen. This gave us the chance to get well needed supplies and a takeaway pizza to get the energy levels up.

We were met by Bob Bryce in Elgin who had kindly agreed to be our back up should things go wrong. He gave us the keys to Barbara Hellett's flat in Elgin (Barbara you're a star!) where Jamie prepared our 2nd dinner of the evening with a recipe from his latest book.

Anything Ainsley can do I can do better! (We saw Ainsley Harriet at York Station)

We then began our last minute preparations for the journey ahead starting with getting the gear ready.

Bags of energy

 We knew that the forecast was for rain later in the day so we decided to get an early start and make hay while the sun shines so the RHide began at the Moray Flood Alleviation Office shortly after 6am with the sun shining.

6am start at the project office

The first few hours were great. A bit cold but we made good early progress on empty roads through gorgeous scenery with Buzzards aplenty. Everywhere we went the farm animals seemed to be very interested in watching us with whole herds of cows chasing alongside us in their fields!

It's oh so quiet!

We ploughed on through Whisky country with Jamie pointing out various parts of the scheme RH has been working on. The smell from the distilleries along Speyside was dominating my every thought. Recent training trips for Kilimanjaro with Mark Kerstin, Peterborough, have meant that I have developed a liking for Whisky so it was quite a struggle pedalling onwards even at that time of the morning.

Hmmmmmm...Whiskey!!!

Onward and upwards we continued with a brief stop for a bacon softie in Dufftown where Edith the lady behind the counter also donated to our cause. The terrain got steeper and we soon found oursleves in the midst of a classic car rally deep in the scottish countryside. MGs and Morgans flew past us as we clawed our way up the hills with each car giving us a cheering toot and a wave. Another stop for a meat pie and a tea was greeted by another donation from an inquisitve passer by. Well done marketing for the stickers!

Upon the restart  it all started to go wrong. We took a wrong turn and then got lost. My leg was hurting (hadn't set my bike up correctly), our banter stopped and the clouds overhead closed in.

Onwards & upwards!

 

At about 11 am the rain started. And it continued and continued and continued..... This combined with the cold air temperature meant that my feet turned to ice blocks. Jamie wears glasses so he was struggling to see and because I didn't have mudguards on he couldn't follow me without getting even more drenched! We decided to stay on the main roads to avoid any further navigational errors and hopefully speed up our progress.

Surging downhill we found our brakes were barely working in the wet and cold air. Scary stuff at 30mph on narrow road tyres. We soon realised we had to start making the most of the situation and take cover and rest whenever it presented itself. We stopped at a lovely quaint tea shop 40 miles in. It was here that I committed a crime.

I was cold, wet and covered in god only knows what off the roads and my bike. I did what I had to do. Whilst waiting in the tea shop for my hot chocolate and cake I spyed with my little eye something beginning with ...T. It was a whole pile of them too! A pile of clean, dry, fluffy towels. Only one thing for it! I used one to dry off and then refolded it and hid it at the bottom of the pile.....I'm a bad man but needs must.......

Guilty!

The lovely lady in the shop (I feel even guiltier) told us of the weather forecast (see first line of blog) and how she had had a very successful day from people's misery in the rain (I felt at ease with myself).

And so we ploughed on. More rain and the only time we took photos was whilst taking cover under bus shelters or trees.

The picture says it all......

But this picture says even more!

Jamie then 'bonked' in Banchory and we were struggling along. We managed to find a more upmarket shelter in the form of a random Monkey Puzzle tree to guzzle down some energy gels and bars to keep us going.

Bonking in Banchory



We pressed on. The rain continued. It was now freezing cold. We stopped at a public toilets in Stonehaven to take advantage of the shelter with the attendant taking pity on us, waiving the 20p charge for use of the facilities. The hand dryer was a welcome miracle.

Progress continued along the scottish coast with signs for Montrose, our stop for the night, now appearing. Time went on and on and the rain continued. This time I was bonking. Another stop, another bus shelter. Awful!

Bonking in a bus shelter

After 12 hours of cycling (7 in non-stop rain) we arrived at Montrose. Sorry to any Montrosians,but this was probably the only time Montrose will ever seem welcoming to me.

Jamie and I pondered if the good citizens of Luzarches were proud?

We hastily rode through the desolate streets of Montrose to our B&B. We stored our bikes and tried to make ourselves remotely presentable. Clearly that was never going to happen but it seemed that my crime in the tea shop had after all paid dividends with the owner letting us in. We weren't long in concluding that we had already seen what Montrose had to offer and opted to stay indoors to thaw out, dry our clothes and treat our trenchfoot. I know I'm a soft southern jessie but I had to have a hot shower, two cups of tea, put the heating on, put my thermals on and get in bed in order to warm up. The chill blains in my feet as I showered were pretty nasty.

We ordered a chinese takeaway ( 2 meals for 2 D'oh - our brains were fried too!) and hit the sack grateful for some respite from the rain. What a day!

FOOD!!

Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day........

Steve Truluck, Soft Southern Jessie

Peterborough - Leeds - Newcastle; day 1

Riders: Travers Blair, Jamie Ellis, Matt Greaves, Ayyappa Guidemetla, Paul Hart, Gregor McNiven, Richard Potter, Matt Smith & Philip Smith (part way). Support crew: Jane Clarkson, Dave Watson and Yvonne Watson.

Our ride started on the Friday evening when we all jumped in the minibus and a van carrying the bikes and headed south to Peterborough.  Yvonne Watsons sandwiches kept us going on the way down.  We stayed at various places in Peterborough and were fed well by our hosts.  Philip Smith cooks a mean chilli!

Ready for the off

We all gathered as planned at 07:30 at the Peterborough office and were welcomed by Gerry Cairns, John Whelan and Alastair McMillan which was a nice touch.

Within 2.7 miles Gregor had a puncture but this was quickley repaired and we were on our way heading up Kings Street and north.  Meanwhile Yvonne was back in Peterborough making the sandwiches.  Bourne came and went and we regrouped and met up with Jane and the van and our first prpoer refuelling stop.

Richard wins the brightest shirt award

Philip left us at Grantham and we continued on toward Lincoln along Ermine Street.  All going well, but by this stage Ayyappa had had enough and was with Dave in the van.

Matt "nice bum" Smith behind Paul Hart

The road into Lincoln and just under half way

We all met at Lincoln for some lunch which was delayed slightly by Jane taking a tour of the city in the van with the lunch in!  We set off again in torrential rain which didn't last too long but got us all pretty wet.  Ayyappa decided to restart and did another few miles before needing more rest. Jamie also rejoined the peloton.

The next big town was Gainsborough which I can't remember much about apart from that was when we really started to head west and into the wind.  This combined with a few hills slowed us down but we battled on with Matt and Richard sharing the pacemaker role at the head of the group.  Legs were beginning to tire as we crossed the M18 and wheeled into the car park of the Hare and Tortoise and a great welcome from Matt Greaves' parents.



Rest was needed by all.



Ready for the off once again

 From Doncaster the road led us over more ups and downs and into more wind all the way to Wakefield. We managed to navigate our way through and out toward Morley where Ayyappa joined us once again for the descent into Leeds.


Caught short on the road to Wakefield

 We all cruised into the Leeds office car park, after a long day and about 123 miles to be met by Granville Davies and Steve Graham and boxes of pizza and a case of beer.  What more could we want, apart from a bath, a massage and a good sleep!

Pizza!



Leeds Office and the end of day 1

 We all enjoyed a soak in a bath followed by a late meal in the nearby Premier Inn who were great and allowed us to keep the bikes in one of their store rooms overnight. 

Rochdale to Liverpool 11th June

Alastair Clay, Dean Johnson, Craig Francis and Allison Oneill

The day started by the team arriving at the Rochdale office to much appreciated sausage, bacon, mushroom and egg sandwich, just what you need when you are preparing to ride 95km.

The team promptly set off at the scheduled time of 10.00am and immediately got lost as we couldn’t find the canal. After tossing a coin as to whether to turn left or right on the canal we decided to aim for Littleborough, fortunately this was the right choice.

We soon got into the swing of things and thought this was going to be easy, (I could never have been more wrong in all my life). We were soon motoring down the Rochdale Canal and made good pace as we reached Lock 65, we had calculated the day before we needed to reach lock 92 where Dukes 92 is and our planned lunch break.

We landed at the Manchester office at 11.30 and again convinced ourselves that this would be a walk in the park so we headed down to Harry Halls for Craig to buy some shades and then on to Dukes 92 for a spot of lunch and a beer.

After a brief lunch break and only one beer I must add we set off on the Bridgewater canal heading towards Lymm. Within 10 mins the heavens opened and it started to hail stone. Not good!!. At this point Allisons bike also decided to pack up and the gears were shot, we had a quick look at them and decided we couldn’t fix them so we had to make the decision that she couldn’t carry on so she headed back to the station.

As a team of three we now headed for the trans Pennine way, slightly concerned as Allison had done all the preparation and we hadn’t a clue where we were going.

Once on the

Trans Pennine Way

the realisation set in that this was gonna take ages so when we arrived at Lymm we decided a second pit stop was required. A quick pint of Guiness and back in the saddle.

We passed Warrington and in the distance rose Fiddlers Ferry power station in Runcorn, for some reason I had it in my head that this was on the outskirts of Liverpool.

Just before Runcorn was the last time Craig smiled

The next sign we came to convinced me otherwise and the harsh reality of a further 23 ¼ miles hit home.

After this it was heads down and no talking, it was getting towards 5 Oclock and we still had a bit to do.

We then bumped back into Allison who had got home, got her dads bike and got dropped off on the outskirts of Liverpool to finish the ride with us.

Liverpool Airport, this surely should be near the end! No according to Allison, still 6 miles to do.

The roads were now killing us, my front brake was deciding to stick on and I had no idea how to service or disconnect hydraulic brakes so carried on.

We were now actually heading into the town centre and the Liver Building was a welcome sight. Not much longer now.

Finally the Liverpool Office and the end

Alastair - Manchester Office

Solihull to Birmingham 7th June

The clock struck 4.30pm on what had been a horrendous day of wind and rain. To our delight; as if by magic, the clouds cleared and the sun shone down on us for what was to be an epic journey…

After we had dusted off our saddles (quite literally) and donned our cycling helmets, we were ready for the adventure of our lives.

Don’t be fooled….Solihull to Birmingham may only be 10 miles; it may only involve two roads and a canal; it might actually be quite pleasant in places; but these facts all pale into insignificance when you are about to cycle for 10 miles along a 3ft wide track next to open water with a bunch of jesters……

One mile in, and Siripen decided things would be a bit easier on Nick’s bike, so after a swift swap we were back on the road (well canal actually!) with Nicks knees knocking his chin! After a couple of hair-raising moments in the tunnels (and a few poses later…)

…We arrived safe and sound at the Birmingham office in time for a well earned pizza!

 While we appreciate that our 10 mile journey may not even get close to some of the heroic distances that have been covered in other the parts of the country, we feel that our small distance will bring us one step closer to achieving our goals as a team.

Check out the blog on 9^th July where you will be able to track the Solihull office taking on 1,000 miles in one day as a team. We will be based at Victoria Clipsham’s house with a BBQ on the go from sunrise to sunset. Please come and join us if you are free to do 10 miles, or 100 miles in the day to help with our target.

Laura Sanderson, Solihull office. 

London to Chertsey, Sunday 5th June



My day started at 5am for the second time in a row. This time, however, I could feel the aches and pains from cycling for 13hours for 102 miles into a 20mph headwind on the London to Peterborough leg the previous day.

Saturday had been a very draining day both physically and emotionally for me. I had witnessed the huge support for Stuart which started with the Board of Management and other senior staff being present at Dean’s Yard to cheer us off. I then have 13 hours of memories of seeing the pink Stuart Niven sticker emblazoned on various people in front of me, constantly reminding me why on earth I was doing battle with the hills, miles and the constant wind. Being clapped in as darkness fell at the Peterborough office was the icing on a huge satisfying cake.

Today, though, I just wanted to enjoy it.

My fingers and every other crossable bodypart were crossed for the wind to continue, as this time it would be behind us on the London to Chertsey leg. ‘Please let there be a tail wind and no more dramas!’



Graham Bignell, Me (Steve Truluck), James Graham, Robin Close, Richard Brown & Lizzie Dear in Dean's Yard

Our luck was in. The 6 of us starting from Dean’s Yard cruised along the Thames Path way ahead of schedule. We stopped at Richmond Park for a coffee to ensure that John, our one man support crew, was doing as well as us. Sadly, he was struggling to keep up with the pace as well as resist the stash of chocolate bought to replenish us.

Taking care to avoid the Deer crossing the road in the park, we progressed to Kingston Bridge where we were joined by the Ward family.

Henry, Sarah, Jessica & Andy Ward prepare to RHide for Stuart Niven

Henry, aged 2, tried to foil our smooth run to Hampton Court Bridge by losing a shoe but Jessica, age 5, got us back on track by heading up the pelaton and setting a strong pace.

Jessica Ward leads the way!

Graham Bignell on his funky fold up bike

Even though she has only been cycling for 2 months she blitzed the route up to Hampton Court Bridge where we were joined by the remaining participants for the ride.



The Cooks and The Lees ready for action at Hampton Ct Station

In stark contrast to the previous day, we continued to coast along the route taking in the scenery along the Thames.

We arrived at the Chertsey office a whole hour ahead of schedule due to the 3 youngsters within our group (Graham, Les & Robin) keeping up a surprisingly quick pace!



Outside the Chertsey Office one hour ahead of schedule!

Back row: Steve Truluck, Paul Crosby, Les Rivers, Phil de Jean, Robin Close.

Middle row: Richard Cook, Sharon Cook, John Russell, Tanya Lee, Richard Brown, James Graham, Lizzie Dear, Dave Lee, Graham Bignell.

Front row: William Cook, Joseph Cook, George Lee.



Sandwiches and chips at the local pub were then followed by birthday cake to celebrate Joseph Cook’s 8^th birthday – just reward for Joseph giving up his day to take part in the RHide for Stuart Niven.

Happy 8th Birthday Joseph!

It was a thoroughly enjoyable day and for the second day running I was able to look around me during the RHide and be truly humbled by the level of support being given to Stuart Niven.

Thank you to everyone for your effort and hard work in making this happen and for hopefully raising a substantial amount of money to help support Stuart.

Steve Truluck, Chertsey Office

I really wish my hair wouldn't keep sticking up through my helmet.....