Blogs
Wed, 1 Sep 2010
Team JHT get on their bikes...
A letter from L'Auto!
It was a mid week morning in June when Tracey from our Marketing department explained that she wanted to put together a team from work for a charity bike ride. I put my hand straight up, thinking a nice bike ride for charity with everyone from work would be a good laugh... then I found out it was a 50 mile grueller on the route of the Stoke-on-Trent stage of the Tour of Britain, all for the good cause of raising money for the Prostate Cancer Charity.
I couldn't quite decide if I was more concerned about the fact that I hadn't ridden a bike since my Pink Barbie bike when I was 10 years old, or realising this was the distance from my house to Selfridges in the centre of Manchester (which is far enough in a car!)
The fear began to set in, however, so did the training...
Team riders: L'Auto, Captain Chain, Extreme, Reflector, TT.
Session 1 was a flat, rainy, wet and cold ride along the canal... but no real incidents.
Session 2. We all met on the JHT HQ car park and awaited the new edition of the team... my bike. What can only be described as a Magic Carpet was pulled out of the boot of Captain Chain's car, tweaked, and was ready for its first flight around Stoke-on-Trent. The route had been set to all head to Extreme's house - a steady cycle with one long incline about midway through, with main roads, country roads, and ROUNDABOUTS to master.
After donning the relevant hi viz clothing, we set off at a steady pace from JHT HQ, the magic carpet ride beginning in 'follow the leader' style.
All was going well until I questionned how we were going to manoeuvre the roundabouts. Extreme claimed that we would attack them as if we were in a car! Panic washed over me like a heat wave, and beads of sweat formed on my forehead as I saw the roundabout approaching. At the very last minute, Reflector spotted a cycle path around the roundabout and we were saved from what can only be described as Stoke-on-Trent's craziest roundabout. I breathed a sigh of relief. Back on the road we continued our journey and found ourselves at the beginners' version of Everest! With our legs pedalling fast, we attacked the prolonged incline with lactic acid raging, and battled our way to the top. The look on our faces when we reached the top, well it might as well have been Everest! Sheer elation. We had done it. Now on to the country roads; a lovely picturesque ride through winding and ungelating side roads. A fallen tree gave us an excellent excuse to stop and have a quick drink (water of course). Whilst a handful of natives struggled to move it off the road we looked on, trying to preserve our energy. TT decided to give the Magic Carpet a blast for a few miles to see the difference between that and her mountain bike, and it looked as if she had gotten onto a motorbike, she was away! It certainly does have magical powers.
After reaching Extreme's house and pumping up one of the tyres, it was time to turn around and we were waved off by Team Extreme and on our way. I was spurred on by a group of young, and hopefully huggable hoodies cheering me to pedal faster. I worried that if I didn't I might be in trouble. This was all the motivation my legs needed to get pedalling! Go go go!
A broken chain on the way back proved that Captain Chain could remove, fix, and replace a chain in pit stop record time, proving he is an extremely handy guy to have around when technical faults occurred and earning him his honoury title.
The way back was a whistlestop tour of the local area, and possibly my favourite part as it was mainly downhill. Reflector pointed out that there was the perfect industrial sunset over the horizon.
All in all, I surprisingly enjoyed the master class - cycling 17 miles in total, 3 chain breakages, 1 tyre issue but countless aching muscles...
Next session: Reflector's Route - Short ride with steep hills.
Wish me luck!