Orchid 75 mile Challenge / 14th June 2009

The furthest I’ve ever cycled on a bicycle! The morning begun at 5.45am (not what you need on a sunday but I guess I’d better start getting used to it). Thanks to ‘not-work’ rail we had to cycle 6 miles to Broxbourne which we decided to treat as a warm up to the day ahead.

When we got to Billaricy you could spot the serious riders from the amateur ones, there were teams in matching lycra, helmets, gloves and even matching top of the range road bikes. We rocked up on our non matching top of the (lower) range hybrid bikes, although we did have matching TCC Challenge t-shirts. We weren’t there to compete, we were there for the endurance to see what 75 miles on a bike felt like not minding how long it took us.

In actual fact we managed a steady speed of around 10 mph including stops and finished in just over 7 hours. Pretty poor considering some of the serious bikers finished the 100 mile race way before us, but we achieved what we set out to do nonetheless and rolled in in time for a cold beer!

The day itself was glorious hot sunshine perfect cycling conditions and I was impressed at how well organised it all was. Every junction was signposted (although we still managed to miss a few), there were regular banana and water breaks and we were even awarded a certificate and a medal upon our triumphant return.

The night was finished off with a bbq at home with some friends. Later on Holly pointed out a blister on my bum- oh the joys of cycling…

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