Page 27 - QARANC Vol 14 No 9 2014

THE GAZETTE QARANC 25
charity cycle ride 2014
57 miles and I was glad the longest day was nearly at a close. Surely day two would be easier?
Day Two – Windermere to Leyburn
Day two was 63 miles in total with a finish at another hotel, The Grove House in Leyburn. Although we knew the hill out of Keswick was particularly brutal the rest of the route seemed okay. However, it was the unpredictable elements which would be the day two battle, the not-so-great British weather. Right from the very onset of day two the menacing grey skies would keep us doused with regular showers and blustery winds to match. The shocking weather did concentrate our efforts and any time we may have wasted admiring the scenic views or stocking up on during pit stops were cut short, as the main effort was to get to Leyburn and into some dry clothes.
Despite the poor weather we couldn’t miss the photo opportunity when a sign told us we were currently on a section to be covered by the Tour De France. I hope they do not encounter such testing weather conditions as we did. We finally reached Leyburn at 1630hrs which had meant about 8 hours in a rather wet saddle. It was Michelle’s birthday so once again the support crew had pulled out the stops and supplied a cake once we had all eaten our evening meal. The hotel we were staying in were very hospitable and in addition to allowing us to eat our homemade cake in their bar area, they also made us late afternoon tea (free of charge) and made a kind contribution to our chosen charity.
Day Three – Leyburn to Whitby
Day three was the longest distance of 80 miles, but the terrain was favourable (or so we were told) and thankfully so was the weather. We also had fish and chips waiting for us at the finish. Our starting line-up had sadly dropped to eight due to an unfixable bike fault for Marc. Paul Coyne had to hang up his lycra as he was riding Marc’s spare bike. Clearly the pace in the fast group was taking its toll on the hardware, the hare and tortoise fable proving to be true.
A slight navigational misjudgement almost led Michelle and me to cycle onto the A19. Luckily you can do a u-turn on a bike even when you’re on a slip road. The scenery again was breath taking, but I don’t remember the huge radar station at Fylingdales (The Big Cheese) ever making it onto Heartbeat. Also, the favourable terrain, as described by Marc, was obviously just a morale boosting line to get us into the saddle as the moors contained plenty of ups and downs.
A road closure midway through the day might have added some additional miles to our ride but after a quick photo shoot with the workman who had closed the road they kindly allowed us to proceed, but at our own risk. It was a risk worth taking! We had already endured the Lake District dog-leg for the sake of reaching the 200 mile barrier and didn’t want to be late for the RV on the approach to Whitby.
One mile outside of Whitby was the final RV so we could all ride into town as one. The sun was shining as we met and started our final mile but the closer we got to the end the greyer the skies got. By the time we finally reach the chippy the heavens opened, but we were past caring. The final 80 miles had been covered in about 9 hours and the only thing broken was one of Marc’s bikes so clearly the “wheel dipping” works. I can still taste those chips now!
Acknowledgements
Events such as C2C bike rides don’t just happen and without the determination of Marc Leader and the dedication of Maureen and Sheryl the whole thing would have never got off the ground. A special mention must also go to Marc’s dad who drove our bikes to Whitehaven and back from Whitby. Also, the sheer volume of donations humbled us all, especially the £830 raised by my neighbour who took a sponsor sheet to his place of work, The Claymore Talisman oil rig in the North Sea. Finally the tenacity and persistence of Maj Good to try and complete day one with his brakes on must be mentioned. Legend!