Cycling Day 1 - Dover to Guildford

The start of a journey of 1120 miles

After a hastily rearranged overnight stay at the St Margaret’s Holiday Park courtesy of a phone call by Carol Roper, the cycling stage started at 7.45am today from the car park of the Premier Travel Inn on the A2 at Dover. The sun was shining and with a light breeze, it was ideal conditions for cycling.

The first stage was a 25 mile ride east to Ashford past the Channel Tunnel Entrance and Folkestone Racecourse where Dan and Rob stopped at the Tesco store. They both felt exhausted and stiff after their swim earlier in the week.

From Ashford, the route was across country with the road becoming gradually hillier as they entered the Weald but the guys settled into a rhythm averaging around 18mph and had their second stop just short of Tunbridge Wells at the Blue Boy, where the kind proprietor allowed Sandra to collect money and the customers were very generous – THANK YOU.

After a break, the cyclists weaved their way through Tunbridge and onto the A264 for East Grinstead and Crawley. It was a tough and hilly 27 miles so by the time they arrived at Tesco Crawley, after a short detour when they missed the last turning by the Ramada Hotel, they had covered 82 miles and were ready for lunch. This was kindly provided by Tesco whilst 2 members of the local Leukaemia Research Branch collected donations from the shoppers. Re-energised after jacket potato, cheese and beans and plenty of liquid, it was after 2.15pm when the cyclists followed by their 2 support vehicles – motor home and Volvo estate – set off for the last stage of the day to Guildford. This involved a flattish start along the Horsham Road but became progressively hillier with 3 ‘Alpine climbs’ followed by a steady 3 mile descent to finish the day near Guildford.

They had covered 105 miles as planned for a hard but very good start to the cycling phase of their triathlon. and met James Blackley, a Sports Masseur who had driven down from London, at the finish. Having rejoined Sandra and Faye in the motor home and filled up with chicken sandwiches, Dan and Rob then had a full body massage on a portable massage table in a lay-by at the side of the A268 as the Friday afternoon traffic sped by.

James and Faye then headed back to London (Faye will be back on Sunday evening and James on Monday evening) whilst the rest of the team headed to their next Premier Travel Inn destination. This one has a power failure so it looks like dinner for 5 in the motor home! Let's hope it's not too wet tomorrow