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Sunday 27 May 2012

Land's End to John O Groats 2

Here's another write-up I did of my epic cycle tour through the UK as part of the Ubunye ChallengeThis one was "commissioned" for the blog-roll of the Ubunye site itself. 



THE CYCLE LEG OF THE UBUNYE CHALLENGE

NOTES FROM A MONOPOD


There is a lot to be said for the tremendous simplicity of spending all day on a bike with nothing more significant to worry about than how far away the next food stop is. I discovered this through the incredible experience of participating in the cycle leg of the Ubunye Challenge, after Cameron Bellamy invited me to join his 7-day group. We each experienced so much in those seven days that it’s difficult to even begin to describe. Of course, the challenge meant different things to everyone and the things that stand out in my memory, now that almost three weeks have passed, will naturally be different to those for everyone else.

So, instead of trying to imagine how my fellow riders felt on the tour, and instead of setting out a day-by-day account of the experience, I will focus on those highlights…

DISTANCES


Before the Ubunye challenge, I considered a 90km ride to be a good day’s work. This comfort zone was smashed on day 2 of the ride, when we rode from the curiously named town of Westward Ho! (yes, there is officially an exclamation mark in its name) to Gloucester. I managed 140km that day, and that was just the morning’s ride. Stuart took my bike, and Cameron, Hayley and Greg carried on riding to complete 240km. This marked the furthest distance any of the riders had ever ridden. After that, anything less than 100km was just a warm-up and many of the days saw us reaching the 200km mark.


WEATHER


I confess to secretly harbouring hopes of balmy weather in the run-up to the ride. This naivety was thoroughly corrected as we woke up on Day 1 to what can only be described as a screaming Arctic headwind. Conditions could not have been worse as we set off that morning. The wind turbines along the side of the country roads looked as though they were about to lift off, and the icy rain fell almost horizontally as it drenched every layer of clothing we had on. Fortunately, we managed to outpace the misery over the next 2 days. 90km into Day 2, I managed to see my shadow for the first time since arriving in England, and by day 4 we had some wonderful clear skies. The riding gloves and leggings stayed firmly on, though!
Scotland presented the best weather conditions of the tour, as we encountered clear skies, brisk tailwinds, flurries of snow and sleet, rain and bright sunshine – all in the space of a couple of days. The irony of encountering the best weather at the most northern end of the ride was not wasted on any of us.


CRASHES & INJURIES


It is inevitable that when one spends so long on the saddle, the odds of wiping out are dramatically increased. At a roundabout intersection in Windermere, Greg hit the brakes so hard to avoid a reckless driver that he went over the handlebars. Luckily he avoided all contact with the car, but this didn’t stop him from standing in the middle of the street bellowing obscenities at the sheepish driver while he held up traffic. An experience the driver is unlikely to forget! Cam also managed to hit the tarmac on a fast stretch of country road on day 2, after wheel-sucking too closely and clipping my back wheel when I slowed down to stop.

The sheer quantity of kilometres travelled was our guarantee that nobody would complete the tour unscathed. Saddle sores, stiff legs, aching backs, swollen knees, wind-burn and numb hands (still recovering in my case!) all manifested themselves. Greg once again took the cake in this category as the only rider to hospitalise himself: Upon arriving at our B&B at Inverkeithing just north of Edinburgh, we found Greg in a pitiful state with an ambulance on its way to treat him. Too much exertion and not enough nutrition (not to mention heatstroke) had caught up with him and his system could take no more. Sadly this marked the end of Greg’s tour but he recovered well enough by the next day to continue in the support van with his characteristic good spirits.


SCENERY


The UK revealed itself to be surprisingly full of very charming scenery. Most of us had never ventured too far into the English countryside before. Everyone knows that there’s no better way to experience a landscape than to cycle through it. Without the cocoon of a vehicle or a full-face helmet between you and the elements, it finally becomes possible to soak up the passing landscape. I was very pleased to finally get the chance to become more acquainted with this often maligned country.

We all expected busy roads and service stations (of which there were many), but the true pleasure came from the ribbons of country road and quiet villages that we breezed through. Town names became blurred as we passed so many of them, but I will never forget the joy of riding into the famous Lake District in Cumbria. Rolling hills and low stone walls separated fields of fluffy white sheep and lambs, interspersed with streams running with clear fresh water. The Lake District tested our legs as we traversed Kirkstone Pass (all of 1497 feet), but the relentless climb was rewarded by a blistering descent into the lakeside town of Glenriding. We arrived with wide smiles that day!

Scotland stands out in my memory as having some of the best roads in all of the UK. We were hardly aware of the height of the fabled Scottish Highlands as the roads meandered past snow-capped peaks and forested valleys. Scottish engineering prowess certainly made for an easy passage through this majestic terrain. The distance between Glenriding and Inverness on day 5 was enormous, and we could not avoid arriving in the dark. Cam and I rolled into the YHA after 23h30, way after sun-down and in near complete darkness. If it weren’t for the smooth, wide highway we would almost certainly have had to call for backup as we were essentially riding blind.


EVERYTHING ELSE


There were so many other experiences I gained on the ride that can’t be so neatly categorised. Seeing Edinburgh Castle; gliding along the shore-side road of a lake so calm that the reflection on its surface was as bright as the sky itself; eating my own body-weight in chocolate; fixing a flat tire with Cam on the side of a quiet highway; taking seven pain-killers on the last day of the ride; trying to squint through the sleet as I wondered if I’d ever regain the feeling in my fingers on day 1; learning a Chinese nursery rhyme about a one-eared tiger. All of these memories are bundled into a wonderful montage that I will carry with me forever.

Of course, the tour would not have been possible without the hard work of Lauren Pienaar, Mirka Fortunova and Bhavna Sadarangani, our tireless backup drivers. Their hopes of a casual road trip through the UK didn’t survive past the first day! But they never faltered in their support and without them the tour would not have been possible.

If I ever had any doubts that Cameron had the ability to complete the enormous challenges he’d set for himself over the course of the Ubunye Challenge, they have been authoritatively crushed.
All doubts were finally cast into oblivion as I watched Cameron and Hayley pedal up to the grassy mound at John O Groats that marked the end of the ride. Cam, who on day 5 couldn’t tell if he was riding uphill or down, accompanied by Hayley and her entourage of pain-killers, represented all eight of us when they dismounted their bikes for the final time and we gathered for a photo.

And while seven of us raced back to the support van to shelter from the freezing wind, Cam was testing the water to see if he could fit in a cold water training swim before supper. The Ubunye Challenge is in good hands!


Finish line at last! 
Cam, already onto the next adventure...


Tuesday 15 May 2012

Land's End to John O Groats 2012


For the sheer amount of road-kill on England’s country roads, you would be forgiven for thinking that the nation is populated by lunatic drivers. This thought crossed my mind more than once as I weaved my bike’s wheels past the pitiful remains of some recently despatched creature. Long distance, multi-day riding certainly is the best way to get to experience a place, and if this means coming into close contact with ex-pheasants, hedgehogs, foxes and badgers, then so be it.
My reason for getting up close and personal with so much of Britain’s deceased wildlife was to participate in the Ubunye Challenge. Organised by my old friend Cameron Bellamy (an ex Capetonian living in London), this triathlon of continental proportions will see him cycle the length of England, swim the English Channel and row across the Atlantic Ocean. To the best of our knowledge, these epic feats have yet to be accomplished by one person within the space of one year, and Cameron hopes to be the first. Along the way he will raise money for the Angus Gillis foundation in the Eastern Cape, supporting early development in rural children.

About to face the headwind at Land's End
The cycle leg took place in late April to early May 2012, and saw two groups of riders (a 10 day group and a 7 day group) accompany Cameron from Land’s End in the South West to John O Groats in Scotland, a stone’s throw from the Orkney Islands. The total distance we covered over 7 days along this popular route was approximately 1400km - in weather ranging from screaming headwinds and driving rain (day 1) to merciful tailwinds and bright sunshine (day 7). Throw in snow, sleet, sunrises, sunsets, urban mazes, rural nirvana, streams, lakes, mountain passes, castles and beaches, and you have a short taste of what the trip was about.
  
And yet, the trip was about so much more… I have never bonded as much with my Giant TCR road bike as I did on those 7 wonderful days. It held up its end of the challenge beautifully and on many occasions I found myself sending grateful vibes to Jason Lind and the team at Olympic Cycles for uniting me with this fantastic machine.

Somewhere on the A7...
Make no mistake; the trip took its toll on all of the riders, and some of the bikes. There’s nothing like frozen rain (affectionately referred to by the Scottish as “sleet”) to work road grime into a bike’s more sensitive bits (not to mention the riders’!). By the end of day 5, I could barely see the individual links in my chain and my brake pads were carrying their own volume in oily black mud. I suffered 2 broken spokes and a bent rim, and my speedometer and right knee rattled themselves apart…


Coastal cycling nirvana in Scotland - looking back
Although none of the riders completed each kilometer, reaching the beach at John O Groats gave us all an undiminished sense of accomplishment and a lifetime of memories. Friendships were strengthened, bikes were celebrated and tired legs and clawed hands were given a chance to finally thaw. And while my physio tells me I shouldn't ride for 2 weeks (grumpy knee), thanks to the guys at Olympic Cycles my bike is looking as good as new and ready to hit the road on its next adventure.