Wheelers Rides

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North Downs Century Ride
21 May 2006

Kerry and Ken reporting

You might not know this if you were stuck in the city yesterday with all the rain, but it didn't rain in Kent at all on Sunday. Not a drop, it was beautiful skies, gentle breezes, perfect temperature for a leisurely bike ride through Canterbury and other attractive places.

Aack, ok, my gloves are still dripping wet. And there was that brief point after standing around, cooling off, and waiting for Steve's second flat tire and it started pouring down again after a few miles where I lost the will to live. But I survived and I'm pretty happy about that.

78 miles, pretty rapid pace. And rain, did I mention that one yet? An almost complete loop from Headcorn to Faversham down to Canterbury and finishing at Ashford.

The Oare Marshes were quite attractive and the weather cooperated for a few minutes there. Canterbury was pretty scenic (the parts that were not dripping wet), although somehow Steve managed to shake off the rest of us so that he could be the first to the pub and get his order in first. The pub was really old (Simple Simon's) and it had a cool Roman wall in front of it. I'm a sucker for that kind of stuff. And then back across the North Downs to catch a train and congratulated each other for surviving. Started with seven, six finished.

Not a good day for tires, three punctures, I believe. And an OS map that likely won't see the open road again. Opening it on the train home was a bit like historians dealing with old documents, carefully opening them before they turn to dust (or mush in this case).

Ok, pictures

Kerry

Amazingly I was the last to arrive at London Bridge where we took the train to Headcorn. There were seven people who started and all were male. What is the matter girls, too far or was it the idea that the rain forecast for today was likely to be more prolonged and heavier than Saturday? It may just have been common sense but it was an all boys ride.

The group was led by Steve Collins and consisted of Dave Tuckwell and Kerry Nice and three guests who were Chris a tall Polish guy who had appeared the previous week on the ride to Weybridge, Bruce a fit looking Kiwi making his first venture with THW, Tim who was also new to me and myself; Ken Peters.

As the rest of the group had already got their tickets I used my railcard to get my discount and we were ready to go after finishing coffee and sundry beverages at Uppercrust on the concourse, which appears to be a favourite gathering point of Steve's. Well at that point there was only one other catering outlet open which was much further away from the platforms so it is easy to see why we were gathered there.

Once on the platform we were requested to split up so we paired up and I travelled with Kerry that meant I had an opportunity to catch up with tales of the Highland Tour. The journey was pretty standard except we did run into a few showers which was not too promising for what was billed as a long day.

At Headcorn after the usual loo faff we managed to get underway pretty quickly and soon we were speeding, and that is the right term, through some nice lanes. I looked at my computer and we were doing speeds around 30Kph for lengthy periods once we had a short break while Bruce, I think, attended to a minor problem.

The next stop we had was still in the flattest part of Wealden Kent where Steve had to adjust his seat. There are images of the technical maestro at work. It also gave everyone time to catch their breath and to wonder why Steve's newish bike, it is less than a year old, has already had two or three new seat posts. It must be sheer bad luck but Steve now travels with a spare seat pin as a precaution. The ride settled down into a pattern with Steve leading us at a very brisk pace and with Bruce and myself close behind and chatting about all things cycling, with the remainder of the group slightly strung out due to the fierce pace. The order changed when we hit up slopes as Steve tended to go backwards through the group as the better climbing skills of others came to the fore. I have to say that Bruce is a pretty strong rider but he should be with an advantage of twenty or so years on me. We did pass through the village of Egerton which meant I had to take a picture as that is one of my middle names. Please don't ask about the others.

It was about then that the fierce pace was beginning to take its toll on us and with the sun out we all stripped of layers of clothing and it felt for a brief time as if we were doing a summer ride. That was not to last because by the time we got to Faversham it would be raining.

The next problem we had was when I had to stop for a puncture soon after a lovely but very muddy stretch of lane where I temporarily lost concentration and rode into the gutter and had to make a swift adjustment to avoid a major wipe-out. Dave Tuckwell who was behind me described it as me going off road and it certainly felt quite hairy for a few moments. That was not the cause of the puncture as I had realised that earlier when we regrouped at the top of a hill that the tyre felt a little soft. It definitely means a new rear tyre after I had replaced the front one before the ride on the day before.

The remainder of the morning was fairly straightforward until we got to Faversham although we did have a stop at Ore Marshes where Steve filled his bottle from a well which we reckoned to be the source of his eternal life and great cycling power on the flat. Our arrival at Faversham was approximately 11.30, by which time we had covered 37 kilometres at which point Steve was telling us that his average speed was 15.5 mph, but Steve was very clear that we were only having a tea stop and once we managed to make our way through a veteran/classic car and bike display we found a local greasy spoon where we were able to leave immediately outside a rear window in an alley immediately adjacent to the café. The food was strictly utilitarian, O.K it was not very good and the clientele was definitely what they call "local colour". The finest moment we had was when Dave asked for his water bottle to be filled up and the waitress asked "with what". Not long after we left Faversham we were reduced to six as Tim decided that our pace was far too fast for him and turned back to get a train home from Faversham.

After Tim left us we all donned protective gear as it was beginning to rain and it remained wet for a long time while we rode to Canterbury. On reaching Canterbury we had a few problems with navigation the town centre and after losing Steve for a while we were reunited at a pub near to the cathedral. While we were trying to find a pub for lunch Chris had time to repair a puncture which was the second of the day for us.

Lunch was average but Bruce and I hit the jackpot with a massive meal of pork shank that had an amazing amount of meat on it. While we were at rest the rain stopped which was beginning to be a feature of the day. After a lengthy break we were back on the road and it began to rain quite hard. For several miles we were totally drenched but urged on by Steve we kept riding at a high speed.

We had another stop after about 75K when Steve punctured and we found ourselves outside a pub where we thought we could have a tea break. Unfortunately it was about 16.00 and the pub had just stopped serving so all we could do was to get water bottles filled while Steve did the required repair. From then on it was a slog towards Ashford as we had decided that we would cut the ride short.

Re-crossing the North Downs seemed much harder than in the morning and at times when we stopped at junctions to regroup all that could be heard was the steady drip of rain and heavy breathing as we all munched on energy snacks.

I have to say that the final part of the ride was terrible for me as from about 80K I started to feel really bad, possibly because I had allowed myself to get dehydrated while we were riding in the rain, and I very quickly scoffed the copious quantities of dried fruit and other stuff I had packed for the day. I have to thank Dave for coming to the rescue with several oatcakes although when I got home and undressed I found a full packet of glucose tablets I had forgotten I was carrying. I was not the only one who suffered as Chris also flagged badly in the last ten or so kilometres.

Eventually we arrived at Ashford and stopped at a petrol station to load up with snacks for the return journey. Finding the station proved to be difficult but after some difficulty we turned up and only had a five minute wait for a train. Ashford station being such an important point in the rail system did have a busy cafeteria open despite the relative lateness of the day, about 19.00, so we did not really need to have bought stuff at the petrol station but as it is the exception rather than the rule we were all happy to restock our supplies wherever we could get food.

I almost forgot that Kerry who along with Dave had been on the Highlands Tour was riding very strongly for most of the day and especially when I started to suffer. It shows the benefit of a tour in terms of riding fitness so the message to anyone who wants to improve their cycling is to get the miles in with THW on their tours or weekends away.

Statistics:
Distance covered 115.79K
Maximum speed 54.4Kph
Deflates 3
Enjoyment A wet day but good fun was had by the group

More photos

POSTSCRIPT
This is not strictly part of the ride but Steve and Dave joined me in my flat at Elephant and Castle and along with Leigh Andrews we had a well deserved dinner that I had spent the evening before preparing.

There is one great story to relate as Steve left before the others as he had been on shifts over the earlier part of the weekend and had very little sleep. Once he left and Dave had unlocked their bikes and pointed the way out of the development we were joking that Leigh and Dave would find that Steve was so tired he would fall asleep by the gates. As it happened that was not the case but Steve called me in a fairly tired and befuddled state as he could not get the entrance gates to open. Unfortunately as he was not familiar with the gates he expected them to spring open to let him out when all he needed to do was pull the gate after pressing the button which released them. We were all highly amused to watch Steve in his very tired state eventually work out how he could escape from the development. Sorry about that Steve.

Ken

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