On a sunny and slightly chilly Saturday morning, Jorrin, Deuan, Damian, Oli and Dirk set out to ride to Brighton (65 miles). We met between 8 - 8.30am at various places in London to be at the Fat Boys Cafe in Croydon for a 9am start.
With some time left, Deuan and myself cycled to the cafe to have a quick top-up breakfast - beans and toast - yummy. Its great to take the most quiet roads to Brighton as it can be a little overwhelming to have to ride past cars in a group of 5 with narrow roads and frequent traffic lights. As soon as we hit Coulsdon we went onto the small road leading through Farthing Downs. From there we used small country lanes and B roads. There is some really nice country side along the route. Despite being a bit chilly, one could feel nature awakening slowly from the wintry grip.
We only had a few punctures but the whole journey was pretty enjoyable. I had to get myself a pair of long cycling trousers as it really was a bit chilly and the last thing I need is a cold. After about 35 miles Damian and Oli turned back as both had other commitments on the day. The rest continued to Brighton.We arrived in Brighton at around 2pm which meant that it still took us 4hours to get there (including 45min pub stop). This was not bad but also not great considering we've done this trip in 3.5 hours previously.
Upon returning to London Jorrin and I went to East London to see some friends and I was surprised that the body can recover so quickly having cycled some 65 miles. Cycling from Clapham Junction to Hackney and back was another 20 miles which brings the total cycled on the day to 95 miles give or take a few. This is the kind of distance we'll be doing on a daily basis in May - for 10 days with maybe one or 2 rest days in between.
We are all pretty excited to welcome our van driver Janine who also works for Embrace Cooperation (as project manager). She will be looking after the cyclists to ensure they have a meal for their lunch break and know where they'll be staying for the night.
[s]tay tuned to more updates as we get ready for LEJOG 22nd May 2010.
over and out - dirk
