I would like to share a few things with you from my perspective of the 4 1/2 days cycle, but before I do, I need you to know that you would only fully be able to feel, or fully understand what an achievement getting to the end has really been like, if you were actually there. I don't have the words to do it justice, but hopefully you will get some form of appreciation of the task that everybody undertook.
The drive down to Yeovil was a little quiet with a sense of nervousness and apprehension given that Sarah had not been riding for long and knew very few of our fellow riders, however we were committed and arrived in Yeovil keen to get going.
Bikes loaded, luggage loaded and all aboard the 'Ridlers' coach, but were there enough seats? good job 16 had flown up to Newcastle. Last on the bus and oh! the last seat, right at the back!
I couldn't have ended up in a better place! There I was sat amongst four others on the back seat, none of whom I knew but hey, I am sure we would get on. Well about 10 minutes in, it was " here mate have you got change for a tenner?" - that was Rob White, more of him later. Card games began, three card brag for at least an hour, a bit of banter and the laughs started.
Having progressed up the M5, I saw Rob bring out his iphone and a cable thinking he might listen to some music, oh no, he was going to sing! A speaker extension and an 'app' with Karaoke words and he was off - little did I know Rob is an Elvis impersonator - so a rendition of Love Me Tender was followed by a Michael Buble' song, great stuff and a nice break to the long journey. Rob was to entertain the rest of us throughout the week.
Various stops on the way and The Riverside Stadium, Middlesbrough appeared in front of us, having been there twice before for games, it seemed really quiet apart from the vans and trucks of our guides and minders, 'Events Crew' - yes our bikes had arrived and were all in good shape.
Dinner provided by Middlesborough FC and a mini tour of the stadium made me realise what a massive gulf there is between our ex-Premier League hosts and the Glovers - but the evening gave us chance to meet other riders, fans of YTFC, all here for a common cause.
The serious stuff began early Tuesday morning with a swift ride in the coach from our hotel to the Riverside and collect our bikes from their overnigh storage in the stadium concourse - great hospitality from MFC.
Team photo done and we are off - in our pre- determined groups we wound our way out of Middlesbrough and headed towards Leeds - excitement and adrenalin keeping us going for most of the day. I was placed in group one, the fast guys, quite how I don't know but I really enjoyed the ride, the speed was great, the guys were great and I was buzzing - until, burn out - climbing a hill in too high a gear and too quickly, my quad muscles burnt out, strained and in danger of tearing! Squating in the middle of the road to get relief from the pain was all I could do, more drink, more energy gel and gingerly we set off, some 7-8 miles an hour slower- thanks to group one for helping me through - but would I be able to continue the following day, I was concerned!
A Twitter message to Simon Baker back at YTFC for some recovery advice was duly dispatched and greatfully responded to, thanks Simon - an Ice bath, leg elevation and stretching of muscles eased the problem, but I still had to consider what my muscles might feel like the following morning.
Bike needed a rest too!
Eat, sleep, ride became the ritual each day. Wednesday morning and Leeds to Nottingham. I had to give in to the muscle pain and drop down two groups, no longer could I even consider the 20mph average of group one! So, group three were my new pals and off we went. One of those rides where we just couldn't get going. Traffic, roadworks, main roads, towns, and a general stop start morning - frustrating. Fortunately our group had no mechanical issues, but we passed others with punctures and broken chains, but on we went only stopping for a welcome lunch.
thursday saw another change of group, and this time I moved into group four. I assumed the role of 'rear gunner' - and this is where I was to stay for the next 250 miles. As the afternoon progressed and things started to get a bit wearing, inspiration appeared as we moved through a small town - yes the traffic was busy, the reason, school day end - but what this brought was children cheering and shouting encouragement. Four lads aged about 10 stood on the kerb 'high fiving' all 16 of us as we passed - where are you going? Somerset we shouted - "chuffing hell" said one - brightened my day.
So the edge of Leeds and Premier Inn were our hosts, I am confessing here, my legs were in bits!
Eat, sleep, ride and we were off again, our destination, Stratford-on- Avon and again my place at the back of the group - I really enjoyed my position. Helping, encouraging and motivating. A chance to chat on quieter roads, a chance to get to know people better - good people, people with a story, people with a goal, a purpose, a desire to achieve.
Ten miles in and rain, not just a shower, not drizzle, full on rain, we were wet, very wet, but on we went, there were miles to cover! But this was day three, issues started to surface, a lot of effort had gone in over the previous 150 miles and some were feeling it. For one it became a struggle, low energy levels, tiredness, loss of focus. Step forward Tony, a paramedic giving up his time to travel with us, very valuable, a must for such an event and now he had a serious role to play. Low sugar levels to blame, not enough calories the night before, not enough fluids, he was concerned! Two blood tests later and it wasn't good news, 'you need to stop' said Tony - a few tears later and a defiant "No" would only be accepted if the next blood test showed improvement - just about acceptable, but only just!
A slow steady afternoon in yet more pouring rain, another energy boost stop, this time for virtually pure glucose straight onto the gums and eventually Stratford Novotel and bed for the night.
Eat sleep, ride - today was going to be huge - our destination Bath - and the Cotswolds awaited. For the first hour we were hosted by two club riders from Stratford who took us through the very picturesque part of Stratford and out into the country. Passing houses you may buy with Lottery winnings, chocolate box villages, this was high end property value territory, but hey, we had riding to do, and lots of it.
'Jones Day' - all wearing a Jones Building Group sponsored shirt.
Today I was going to need my energy levels to be high, we had hills to climb, big hills, long drags, sharp steep hills and those 'killer' hills, but this time they weren't going to burn me out, slow and steady was order of the day. But some couldn't conquer them all, and why should they, getting back to Yeovil was the challenge. Of the many hills that day, I probably rode 80% of them twice - I went back for the ones giving it their all but finding it tough. I wanted them to do it, I partnered them, coached them and rode up at walking speed, they all got back on, they all achieved, awesome!
Part way up one hill on the second climb, I came across Matty leaning on his bike, down but not out - "come on Matty, you can do it" came the shout from those struggling themslelves. Matty got back on, struggling to clip in his shoes, he tried again, and again, then off he went - he pushed himself, he rode hard, he dug in deep, he conquered the hill - I was humbled by the whole thing.
A mid morning break and it became clear one of the guys in another team had a problem, a major problem, and seriously, he should of called it a day. With a knee injury like that, had he been a horse, they would have shot him! More about Dan later.
So 82 miles passed and we were in Bath, but where was team 5 - nicknamed 'Elvis and the Fat Boys' they were quite some distance behind. Having adopted Dan, nursing him along at a slower pace had taken it's toll. They had been on the road from 7:30 am and it was now approaching 5:00pm we all gathered at the front of the hotel to welcome them back and at 5:40pm they arrived to a massive round of applause - the 'Backfromboro' team spirit, camaradarie and good will had shown itself right there in appreciation for team 5.
A sports massage, a couple of glasses of red wine later and having eaten it was time to sleep, a really early morning was ahead.
Lucie Spraggon - Sports Therapist
So, it was Saturday morning 4:30am alarm and 5:30 start - Dan and three support riders had set off at 5:00am - they needed the time to get to Yeovil in good time, we had people relying on us being there at an agreed time, and there was a football match to take place.
Out of Bath and onto the old railway line - through the 'two tunnels' along the cycle track and out into the counrty. This was not a steady ride along level countryside, there were more hills, long drags, energy sapping climbs. Wonder how Dan and the others were getting along?
After 10 miles we re-set back into our previous groups and set off - Radstock, Shepton Mallet, Pilton, West Pennard, Keinton Mandeville and on to Ilchester where we were to re-group prior to heading on to Huish Park. It was Charlton Mackrell when we rounded a corner and in front of us was Dan, Nathan, 'Macum' and Claire - fantastic they had got that far Dans knee sporting massive amounts of strapping from Lucie the Sports Therapist back in Bath. They were joined at this point by Dan's dad Gary who up until this time had been in our group - he had to do it, I would have done the same, emotion was beginning to build.
Just before this, group one who had left Bath a whole hour behind us had overtaken and disappeared in to the distance, we pushed on, the excitement of being just a few miles from Huish Park, we all stopped in Ilchester square and celebrated the inevitable success, we could walk from here if we had to!
The epitomy of the 'Backfromboro' spirit was demonstrated when two of the group one riders didn't stop in Ilchester, they turned around and went back to look for Dan and the others, to support them on the final stretch - a few minutes later in they came. A massive cheer and a round of applause closely followed by group 5 but they weren't allowed to stop - we had a deadline to meet.
What followed was quite awe inspiring - the sight of 64 cyclists all adorned in their Green & White cycle shirts, sponsors names appropriately blazened across the front and back - all travelling along the Ilchester road in a line. Car horns hooting, cheers from drivers and a motorcyclist happy to ride as rear gunner and offer protection. We were even joined by one of last years riders who came to support us.
In to Chilthorne Domer and up through Thorne to be met at the top of the final energy sapping hill by Gary Johnson. It was here we gathered for the final time as a group of riders, we were back. We were buzzing, what could we expect 200 yards further down the road?
As we all know GJ brings a lot of humour to proceedings and he delivered on this occasion as he tucked his suit trousers into his socks and mounted a bike with the swing of a leg similar to mounting a horse, closely followed by a cry of "ouch". But the serious side of Gary was demonstared by a sincere handshake with every rider and a kiss for the girls, you could sense he had full respect for what had been achieved at this point.
So our new leader on his iron horse provided by Rock & Road led us into Huish Park, and what a welcome - hundreds of fans, family and well wishers lined the road with Tour de France style messages chalked into the tarmac - I say it again awesome, spine tingling and very, very humbling!
It was over, done, finished, we made it, generally unscathed. We were 64 leaving Huish Park by coach and we were 64 arriving back by bike - a fantastic welcome home and for me a brief moment of reflection before the demands of photographers, a can of Thatchers and the need for a shower!
The rest of the day moved on - a game of football had to be be played (no further mention of that) and a parade around the pitch at half time. It was great to be applauded by nearly 6,500 people, all standing in appreciation of our efforts. But as we approached the 'away' end, somehow I felt a sense of attachment to those guys, they knew how far they had travelled that morning to get to the game, we had done that by bike and they understood the enormity of the challenge. So much so, fans were handing out donations from the terraces, nice people, great support.
The final chapter was the after match event in the main stand, a speech by Ben Tupman, players came in to support us and a good crowd gathered to hear about our challenge. Some deserving awards, a song from 'Elvis', and some recognition for those behind the scenes that made this such a pleasure to take part in. In particular Marilyn Cottle, you are an absolute star, thank you!
Over to Terry Cotton, a YTFC legend turned Auctioneer and a numer of lots to sell, signed footballs (£55 each) Sam Foleys boots (£70) Luke Aylings shirt worn in the match (£200), Joe Edwards shirt, worn in the match (£150) an Everton shirt, a Manchester United shirt and a Middlesbrough shirt (£120+ each) and finally that bike - the one GJ rode 200 yards on. Paul from Rock & Road donated it to the charity - wow, an opening bid of £600 progressed to £1,000 and a very modest businessman who had committed to corporate sponsorship of the event and put his inexperienced cycling efforts into completing the challenge himself had delivered the final remarkable gesture of a remarkable week.
So, the bike has been cleaned, the kit washed and the spnsorship money collected. Three chariteis will benefit from over £40,000 - those less fortunate than ourselves will benefit from our efforts. It has always been about them - the reason why we all signed up for the challenge - a challenge that I would willingly do again tomorrow - fantastic, awesome, humbling - just ....... brilliant.
