Day 2 - London to Calais

Tuesday blog:

Day 2 – London to Calais

We left the YMCA in Ealing early without breakfast because they didn’t serve until 730 and we wanted to beat some of the London traffic. The plan was to get some photos by some of the big tourist places on the way through for our sponsors to use so we rode over to Marble Arch, Buckingham palace and Westminster Abbey. Cycling in the rain in London is pretty hectic and you have to stay pretty alert but its wicked fun. I don’t think we actually obeyed 1 traffic light!!

When we got to our last tourist spot, Big Ben we asked a friendly Japanese tourist to take our photo only to be asked if they could have one with us!! They obviously thought we were someone of note, not just 3 losers on bikes!

Look!!

Today is where we discovered that the cycle sat nav we were relying on (from here known as the ‘Starfish Navigation System’) was a massive pile of gash and that we’d have to resort to old fashioned maps to sort us out and get us where we needed to.

So from London, we headed out to Dartford. It has to be said that our capital is in no way as flat as you might expect. There are some big frikkin hills to deal with along the way!!
These hills enraged a problem I’ve had with a knee and started to make the journey a bit miserable. I adopted an LL Cool J stylee limping pedal stroke which helped but tired my left leg quickly as I was using it almost exclusively. I called the girls in the support car and sent them to Boots to find me a support. The middle section of today got tough.

Due to the traffic in London the girls took a long time to catch us up. We eventually got to the A2 which would take us to Dover and can only be described as a 4 lane mental busy motorway. The scariest 30 mins of cycling ever. Quick stop at a services for pasta and rice crispy squares and we went on. The road eventually calmed itself down and we started making some good progress through a load of towns which I can’t remember. Knee still screaming, me still gangsta pedalling. If you ever pass through Northfleet (or something like that) do it in a car. I swear that place is an actual mountain. Massive, massive hill to get out. Good times

The girls eventually caught us up in Faversham and furnished me with an awesome knee support. I was really hoping it helped because we knew we had some long climbs ahead and a 100+ mile day tomorrow. Thankfully it helped. With the extra aid of painkillers I could use my right leg again. Sweeeeet.
Shortly before this we had our 1st accident. Hardly an accident, more of Simon ending up on the floor because neither me or him looked ahead when we pulled out of a car park. Its an image that has kept me smiling throughout, and is actually making me LOL as I write this. Simon on the floor, completely horizontal, fully clipped into his pedals, in a perfect riding position, just on the floor. Haaaaardy blooody haaar he will say. I care not, it has made me laugh my way up some hills.

After another good 20 mile stint we knew the end was in sight. I had a look at the gradient map we had and saw a big climb on the way into Dover. By big, I mean 4 ½ miles!!! It funny how having the finish line in sight can seemingly cure all the aches and pains associated with such a big ride. I felt really good and forgot about my knee and arse issues the whole way up. We had nearly ridden to the coast!! The sight of the Sea was a massive relief, not only because the end of the day was in sight but because the end of the hill was! The descent into Dover was one of the best moments of cycling ever. Fast, winding roads leading ultimately to us getting off our bikes!!

We put the bikes on the car, crossed the channel into France and found our hotel. By this time we could only get pizza and chips for dinner. Not the healthiest choice again but whatever, it tasted good.

Me and Simon stayed up until 1am planning the route for the following day because we knew we couldn't rely on the Starfish Navigation System. Just what we needed with the biggest day of cycling any of us have ever done next!!

So that was day 2. What a ballache!!!


Bring on Paris!!