Tuesday 8 May 2012

Happy Days:)

Day four saw us winding up through Shropshire and Cheshire along some traffic free country lanes with very little climbing to do after we decided as a group to remove the major climb of the day near Church Stretton and use the more direct route instead. This turned out to be a blessing to all when we rode past the bottom of the deleted climb and saw how steep things would have been.

A surprise lunch was laid on for all the team today courtesy of Wumpy and Andrew, close friends of the Pyne family. One team member commented that our hosts had done excellent homework and must have read a cycling recipe book as we were treated to gorgeous pasta dishes, chocolate brownies, fudge and coffee - all essential cycling energy foods! After team photos in the garden it was off to Warrington for an early finish and to prepare for the big day.......


Day five was always going to be a big day and it certainly lived up to it's billing. Plotting a 1000 mile cycle route that comes through the town where you live had us all worried we could find it difficult to leave home again the following day, but on the flip side it was a golden opportunity to share our adventures with friends and family. In the end those fears never came to fruition as all had a great chance to catch up with family, get on top of washing the cycling kit and carry out any essential bike maintenance or cleaning.

The night before a team decision was made to use two of the north wests major roads, A49 and A6, rather than our planned route. This meant a speedier trip to Ulverston and one that could be controlled easier as we had a set time to be there. After all, we knew there was a party to attend!

Leaving Warrington early in the rush hour was a bit hairy with huge numbers of cars, thankfully all negotiated past and no incidents occurred. More of the same near to Wigan, Preston and Lancaster before the roads started to quieten. Progress was made very quick to the north of Lancaster with an average speed in the low 20's mph! The lunch at Burton in Kendal was arrived at almost an hour early giving us a relaxing break before we headed in to the excitement of the day ........


We left Burton in Kendal after a good lunch and set off for our meeting point on the outskirts of Ulverston, this part of the route we all knew well from training rides flew by in extremely good spirits due to high levels of excitement.

Whilst our ride was to raise funds for the new charity Alice's Escapes it was also to promote awareness of this wonderful new cause. Our arrival into Ulverston was timed to coincide with the launch of Alice's Escapes and this would hopefully bring the charity much needed media attention.

Alice had been in contact with Cumbria Constabulary before the start of our LEJOG ride and they kindly offered to help us safely along the final stretch of the journey with a police motorcyle escort. Wow, now we felt REALLY important!

After arriving to collect our escort bang on time we changed into clean cycling jerseys and were met by Alice who joined our team car for the convoy.


To take up the story please click on the ITV image below..



The charity was officially launched with a speech from John Woodcock MP, and after photos, TV & radio interviews with the Bay Radio roadshow we all made our way to our home comforts.

1 comment:

  1. OK I missed who is narrating this fantastic story,, Again handsomely written, one closes their eyes and you feel like the story is part of your life.
    I was really happy to see my Hero Daz in the video again.
    From a yank who thinks you all rock,,

    ReplyDelete