Dylan's Dad's Ride - The Aftermath

The Prequel
We thought we were being organised: all the cakes had been made Thursday night (porter cake, chocolate and raspberry brownies and a bakewell tart), I'd even arranged piles of "stuff" ready to be put into bags and boxes as required so that we could have a Friday morning nicely relaxed whilst packing things into the car so that we could leave on time to take Dylan for his first swimming lesson before heading North.

Dylan on the other hand decided that Friday morning was the best time for a meltdown which meant that one of us was occupied with him whilst the other packed and swapping roles where required.  It wasn't a relaxing morning and we didn't leave on time.  And we forgot things.  Nothing too important, but still.  Dylan did get to (most) of his swimming lesson however and seemed to enjoy it.  Which is a good thing as he's got another one next Friday!

We all know it, but motorways suck on a Friday evening.  Meh. Arrived late at the BTW's, ate late and went to bed late.  Not a great way to prepare for two long days of riding a bike!

Saturday - 08Sep12
We were reasonably organised in the morning, bikes ready, cars packed as much as they needed to be good to go.. and then I decided that clearly we weren't having enough fun so I contrived to drop a set of keys down a drain hole (the ones in the side of the road covering where the rain water gets collected).  Quite an important set of keys: ones needed to attach the bike rack to the car and all the bike lock keys.  The drain was reasonably horrible, backed up with all sort of nasties and (full) dog poo bags.  Yay.  A stick with a hook was quickly created using bamboo and a coat hanger but all that could be found were leaves and poo.  The BTW's hubby (Rich) volunteered and groped around in the bottom and found  them.  He then put his arm in the disenfectant...  As that had been so quickly dealt with I then managed to mislay the bike computer.  Again not normally a disaster, except this had the directions in it...

Ready to leave.  Finally.

After all that it was quite a relief to leave.   Not much to say about the ride to be fair: split into three sections (New Mills to Leek, Leek to Eccleshall, Eccleshall to Coalport) with cake acting as the demarcation lines.  Of the sections the first is the hardest due to the hills, the second is the busiest (A520 for most of it) and the third is the one to get lost on!  But the sun was shining, it was nicely warm and there was more cake than I'd seen in a long time and when the roads were quiet - especially on the singletrack roads in the third section - it was really very pleasant indeed.

At each of the stops the Mother and the BTW were there making sure we were drinking enough and feeding us cake as well as mugging passers-by for cash for the charity boxes!


Sunday - 09Sep12
An earlier start than the Saturday was required due to the distance involved.  Like the previous day, there was early morning mist which was still clearing by the time we left just after 8am.  The first part of the ride was giving me a little bit of concern as it doesn't really appear on the map.  As it turned out it's a cycle path which is all very nice and then the tarmac stopped.  Riding on gravel\dirt tracks isn't too bad but not really what you want when you're running tyres at 120psi at 20mph.  It gets a little bouncy\twitchy.  Only one puncture: inevitably it was mine.  Still it was very pretty in the morning light with the mist boiling off the river in the sunshine.  That was the nice start to the day.

Early morning on the Coalport to Bridgnorth
Cyclepath\Dirt track

The rest of the morning was spent either going up hill or down it again.  There wasn't much that was flat between Bridgnorth and the first stop at the Cousins-in-Law at Bishops Frome.   Although the hills were smaller than the previous day, they were sharper.  It was a hard 40 miles.  The sun may have been shining but the wind had also increased and inevitably it was always a head-wind.  We also had another off-road section getting out of Bromyard.  It was probably a private road.  It was certainly a farm track as we rode through the farm and like everything that morning it was down and then back up again.  On a dirt track.  Need I say that comments were made?

After the first stop, the ride flattened out considerably which was a great relief certainly to Rich who has done the least cycling out of the three of us.  The first day's ride (67miles) had equalled the longest he'd ever done so to then have to go even further the next day was always going to hurt.  The only problem again was the traffic around Gloucester.  We stopped at Quedgely where we met Neil's brother Ian who joined us for the last section into Bristol... and 40-odd miles later and another stop at Thornbury (it's important to keep your energy levels up, besides we had all this cake to eat!) we arrived at St Michael's Hospital and the Ronald McDonald House.  Photos were taken and the cars were prepared for packing before getting some well-deserved food (and beer).  And then we had a minor problem concerning keys.  Specifically the set of keys required to attach the bike rack to the towbar on the car. 

Arriving at Ronald McDonald House. 
St Michaels is in the background

The car that already has a reasonable amount of kit in it including a pram, three people and a baby.  It transpires that it had been noted that the keys were attached to the main set of keys by a reasonably flimsy keyring in the morning by the Mother.  Who then forgot to do anything about that, which tends to happen when you have a grouchy baby to contened with.  They were no longer on the keyring at the first stop.  Oops.  So there we were, tired after a long two days in the saddle having to pack a car with all this kit, two bikes, a push chair and the s****ing bike rack so that three adults and a baby could also get in and head to Taunton.  It did all go in.  Just.

Clearly, the moral of the story is that bike racks are evil and that bikes should always travel within the vehicle.  And a Ford Focus estate is evidently some sort of Tardis.



The Numbers
Total Distance:             170 miles
Total Ascent:                2500 meters ('ish)
Max Speed (by me):     41.6mph (bit disappointed at that - was hoping for 50)

Money Raised Online:  £2827 (so far - donations accepted for another couple of weeks)
Money Raised Offline: £580 (doesn't include collection boxes)

We should raise about £3500 pounds in total.  Which is fantastic.



The Riders
Dylan's Dad
Rich
Neil
Ian (from Quedgley)


The Support Crew
Dylan
The Mother
The BTW


The Cakes
Bakewell Tart
Blueberry Blondies
Chocolate and Raspberry Brownies
Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies
Porter Cake
Spiced Pound Loaf


Thanks to:
Everyone who has made a donation.  The ride has been an enormous success and it's all down to your generosity.
The Cousins-in-Law who welcomed us at Bishops Frome
The Co-Op at Leek who let us stop there and collect money from passers-by.
The Kings Arms at Eccleshall
The Haywain at Quedgely
The Anchor at Thornbury

Photos
There is a small photo collection available here