Day 5 – To Blackpool

Chester to Blackpool. Close to 95 miles, Six functions to attend, and a new group of cyclists to look after.  

Today I was to be the Domestique for the invited riders.  Andy and Adam had told me last night  that the confidence levels were not too high and that riding in a group was a relatively new experience.  We had discussed the principles of slipstreaming , where to look, how to brake, carbon rims vs alloy rims and the terrain.  We also discussed the weather forecast of…. shitty rain.  Not the kind where it rains hard and big but the shitty kind that is more of an incessant drizzle.  Susan, Julie, Shaun and Ian made up the team from AI.

Departure from the hotel at 07.30 and it was raining. Our first stop was not as scheduled. We were supposed to arrive at a Youth function at 0830 at a place that was only a few miles from the hotel.   A few minutes into the ride we all sat up and looked as a police car came past with the Blues and Twos going and pulled us all in.  Unfortunately for him he chose a bus stop that had a car parked in it so with a police car, three motorbikes, a lead car and 12 bikes there wasn’t much room for the follow car to pull in too… so nick waited and blocked the traffic even further – well done plod.

Rules of the road speech given and plod suitably placated after agreement not to do it again in Cheshire, we moved to our first function.  It was still raining.!  In, look about, shake hands, drink tea, sign stuff and move towards the exit.  I am guessing that this is what happened as I was busy outside (did I say it was raining?) making Greg more grumpy, chatting with the guys from the BBC who were filming us for the day, trying to make my powermeter work correctly and stuffing my face with flapjacks and sandwiches.  Moffs should be pissed that he opted out of this trip as there has been soooooo much eating going on that even ’Tony Baguette’ would struggle to keep up.

Next stop was the O2 call centre some 30 miles away. The roads to get there were not the best as it was raining and the potholes were filling up rapidly.  I was doing my bit at the back of the peleton making sure that we stayed in a two abreast formation at a distance of 3 feet from the wheel in front.  Susan seemed to grasp the concept quite quickly and it was evident from her situational awareness that she had done this before but didn’t like doing it in the wet. Julie got stuck in with gusto but preferred to be on the left (Kerbside) all the time, Ian also managd to keep pace with the plan and found himself trying to follow Greg/Leo/Eric/Nigel as they rotated. A fast pedaling Shaun looked super fit for the first 30 minutes as he spun at 34-12 at about 130rpm for quite a while.  ‘Change onto your big ring’ I suggested, ‘How?’ came the reply.  Step by step instruction on use of Shimano Tiagra follows at 20 mph on one of Cheshire’s dual carriageways in the rain whilst avoiding on-coming traffic and shephearding other riders.  ‘How long have you had the bike?’ I enquired, ‘oh, about 2 weeks’ was the reply ‘and how long have you used it?’ I digged further, ‘ about 30 minutes’ Shaun replied.  He had got on it for the first time this morning and managed to complete the whole ride to Blackpool.  A commendable achievement for the first time on a race bike.   I seemed to spend quite a bit of time with Andy and Adam at the back of the group and eventually the elastic snapped at about 50 miles in.  Adam conceded defeat to the rain and hills and took to the warmth of the follow car – sensible lad. We had tried and succeeded several times to get back on following a few inclines of more than a few hundred meters by the liberal use of gelpacks and drafting and the old fashioned process of pedalling a lower gear a bit faster, but in the end it was when Greg upped the pace on another dual carriageway that the elastic went twang .  My problem was then trying to get myself back on into a  headwind with a gap of well over 500 meters.  Andy, a bit further up the road, had the assistance of a motorpush but Dave the outrider decided to make me work a bit harder,  in the rain.

Andy’s elastic finally broke about three miles from the lunch stop which was in a National trust house somewhere near the Cheshire Lancashire border (I think).  We were joined by Pete & Tanya Slater from Science in Sport who have kindly sponsored us with product for this event and after a rapid lunchbreak we were on our way to Blackpool.  Tim Lawson, also from SIS, rode on to join us despite competing tomorrow in the European track championships he decided to us the time as a weak training ride.  The BBC guys managed to film our arrival at most places and also magaed to block a dual carriage way for a number of minutes as the filmed and took stills of the peleton in the rain – yes it was still raining.

A few miles from the AI offices we stopped so Andy could ride the rest of the day with us at a slightly reduced pace. The arrival at AI can only be described as spectacular. There was a banner across the width of the road and champagne was sprayed as we crossed the finish (of that part of the day).  I don’t think there was anyone in the offices as there were so many people lining the road. Oh, it stopped raining about 5 minutes before we arrived.

AI had put on a massive buffet for all of us (and themselves) and after a period of photos and signing, Andy presented UK youth with a cheque for £15,000 which they had raised during the year so far.

Back on the bikes we headed for a cycling based eco café and then joined by the Lord Mayor of Blackpool we opened a new cycle hire scheme and rode the route with a bunch of scouts to Stanley park for a Bike Club event. Initially sunny, the clouds were gathering.

The De Vere hotel beckoned and Andy & his team joined us for dinner in a private room. Julie took all our dirty washing home to return to ride tomorrow having cleaned and dried it all – when did she sleep?  Susan elected to clean her bike and lock it in a garage for which she had no key so spent her evening trying release it.  We all retired to bed somewhat shattered after a long day.  Tomorrow starts at 0630 and takes us to Carlisle via a hill called Shep.?   I thought he was John Noakes dog?

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• July 30, 2010
• BY Ian Williams
• IN