London to Brighton on a Brompton Against my better judgement, I have entered the 2005 London to Brighton Bike Ride in aid of the British Heart Foundation. The ride itself is Sunday June 19th - let's hope for reasonable weather (cool, with a gentle Northerly wind and occasional sunny intervals will do nicely, thank you).
The ride
The ride itself starts in Clapham Common... but the easiest way to get there is to cycle from Victoria - so that's an extra three miles already!
The bicycle
It took a long time to pluck up the courage to spend nearly £500 on a bicycle. Would I actually use it enough to justify the expenditure? The answer, it turns out, is "yes". I use it daily and feel the difference in my health & fitness. It's easily paid for itself in bus and tube fares. And I get 20p per mile if I use it on official business! Find out more at the Brompton Bicycle web site, or buy one at Phoenix Cycles. The Good Cause
The aim of the British Heart Foundation is to play a leading role in the fight against disease of the heart and circulation so that it is no longer a major cause of disability and premature death. Money raised could go to a variety of things, from basic medical research, through education and awareness to provision of equipment such as defibrillators.
£15 could help place life-saving defibrillators in more GPs' surgeries £30 could help buy equipment for hospitals, such as MRI scanners to diagnose heart conditions £50 could help fund training for echo technicians to detect heart problems in unborn babies In retrospect
Will I do it again? Watch this space! |
54 miles. That's quite a long way when you're used to doing just five miles a day. I cycled home from work the other day instead of taking the train. Fifteen miles. I felt proud of myself - and knackered! Not sure I can imagine going on to do the same distance again immediately afterwards. And again. And then again.
It's the hills that worry me! Cycling home from London I can barely make it up Broomhill at the end of 15 miles. So how will I cope with the infamous Ditchling Beacon? (That's a rhetorical question; we all know the answer - I will walk. Slowly. Leaning heavily on the bike)
Bernie the Brompton! I love my Brompton. I used to cycle, many years ago, but living in commuterland made it difficult to fit cycling into my life. The Brompton folds small enough to fit between the seats on the train. Cycling to the station is quicker than the bus, so it's the lazy man's route to exercise.
Having a folder means that I can take the train. Or even a bus or a taxi. The Brompton will fold or unfold in 13 seconds. And it rides like a real bike! I did a design course with the OU, part of which involved testing folding bikes; some of them were downright dangerous, but I fell in love with the Brompton.
See 
£10 could help towards producing children's books, teaching them to look after their hearts
The start, in the words of the announcer "on the green sward of the hallowed turf of Clapham Common". For me, the start was Victoria Station - you've not cycled from London unless you've crossed the Thames! 
It was a hot day. Very hot. So hot, that the tar was melting on the roads, slowing us down and making a wonderful squelching sound as 27,000 bikes waded through it. With liberal application of Factor 40 (reapplied many times, as it kept getting washed away by sweat), I survived. But Ditchling Beacon nearly killed me! Guess where we're heading for in this picture? 
The finish! 5:30 pm after 8 hours of cycling. A lot of killing uphills, lots of lovely freewheeling downhill, lots of good solid cycling along the flat in hot, hot sun. And a good number of kind people playing sprinklers on the road from their front gardens.
54 miles left me feeling tired, but as much because of the heat as anything. Thick with sticky sweat, sick of the taste of sunblock, and the sting as it drips into my eyes. The next day, I woke with that lovely feeling that I'd exercised my body well, but no serious aches or pains.