Cycle Slam Stage 5 - Day 4

Alarm set for 4:20am!! & off we go again - a cracking Premier Inn breakfast set us up for the day & after a swift session with Andy the Physio we headed off to the start at Halfords in Ashford! As this was the last day of the whole event, we were joined by a number of previous stage riders, competition winners & a team from Skoda who had supplied the support cars, including my colleague Pete from Westover. My guess was there were 150+ of us!

We'd all done nearly 300 miles in 3 days, but felt surprisingly good & with only 60 or so miles to go, spirits where high. The only dampener on the horizon was Vigo hill - an 18% climb over about a mile with 20+% in places - you can tell i was looking forward to that!! I was determined to do my best & as long as my knees let me - I'd give it a go!

Out of Ashford, then, about 7:25am and into the lanes of Kent which look remarkably like Dorset lanes, especially when we were continually passed by Range Rovers and the road surface wasn't much better!!

Vigo Hill appeared before us, having passed under the M26 & I took it as steady as I could - It is mind over matter & somehow I got relief from my knee pain & steadily & surely made it up the monster of the hill - fantastic! After a brief rest, we headed down the other side - resting our legs & then hammered onto the lunch stop at the Skoda Garage in Dartford. Our last time in our groups then took us to Woolwich, where we, eventually, piled onto the ferry & crosseed the Thames.

Once across we rode on mass to Stratford - which was a challenging experience - although we did blitz through quite a number of red lights along the way!

What joy to reach the end & see Linsey & Sam & Jack as i approached capped a great week! Luke was at Lords & hit is first 2 sixes at Lords in the lunch interval while playing Quick Cricket!

We made a guard of honour for Lawrence & Freddie and saw the 2 immensely talented, humble and likeable sportsmen across the line. The money raised is fantastic but there's still abit to go to get to the £2,012,000. I spoke to both Lawrence and Rachael Flintoff along the way about the work they do with their foundations and it really is inspiring! If you're reading this and feel at all inspired then please add one more donation to www.virginmoneygiving.com/AndyNeill & i'll be extremely grateful.

Thanks for your support - until next time............

Andy

Cycle Slam Stage 5 - Day 3

Deadlines, Deadlines, Deadlines - there's a train to catch & a velodrome booked, so get up early again & head off by 7am!! Well that was the plan, anyway - We got away closer to 7:30 as we were waiting for Freddie. I had tracker fully functioning today, but forgot to turn my Endomondo on until lunch time!!

This was the flatest ride of the 4 days & boy did we motor - One of the greatest buzzes of the week was our peleton tearing through pretty French villages, in perfect formation & harmony, at 25 mph with just the sound of rubber on tarmac & the odd bit of banter in the background - great team - great experience!

We averaged over 16.5 mph this day, compared to around 13.5mph on days 1 & 2. The weather was good & the wind in our favour and the lunch break was aided by a sip of champagne as it was Malcolm's birthday!

Onwards to Roubaix & after a thankfully brief trip along the famous cobbles - They were truely bone-shaking & how the Pros can ride for miles & miles on them i'll never know - I took advantage of the gutters for a while but I have to say that as long as you kept a good pace, I never felt that I was going to fall off.....- we made it to the velodrome for a couple of laps each!

After a steaming shower in the famous showers we caught the bus to Lille to prepare to catch the train - that'll be going in about 2.5 hours!! Given this large window, Terry, Martin & I headed into the town for the meal of the week - Steak, Chips & a glass of red!!

Eurostar to Ashford & Premier Inn for the night! We took the bus to the Pizza Express in Ashford for a great evening with excellent service & yellow jersey for Yogi who's raised nearly £30k for our great causes!

Cycle Slam Stage 5 - Day 2

A change in route for day 2 with a chance to return to the Bollinger House in Ay. So after the early start & a bus ride back to the town square we set off in better weather than Tuesday, but still a hint of rain. Throughout this day & Tuesday we were all surprised how quite France is - not much activity in the towns & villages and the roads were kindly quite too. The trip to Ay was flat-ish & reasonably quick, although I's left my tracker in my saddle bag overnight, so the battery was flat & it was useless for day 2!



No champagne this time, so after some pictures & a snack we headed off from Ay. A little unexpectedly we soon found ourselves climbing quite a hill out of the town, which flattened out for a while & then shot up again - my Endomondo counts it as 600+ feet in elevation. Unfortunately Freddie had issues with a spoke & his back wheel which the Halfords boys fixed & in the meantime another group had become somewhat splintered, so Freddie & Rachael & Terry supported them as the rest off us continued onwards to lunch stop.

I was still struggling abit with my knees & consequently my pace but after a chat with David, he convinced me to push on. I came to the conclusion that at least 50% of this challenge is mental & although I had my moments of self-doubt, I was pleased that I did push myself on & with the brilliant group around me all supported each other - when we reached St Quentin, to make it 200 miles in 2 days, I felt both elated & a little bit emotional!

It was The Grand Hotel in St Quentin, so the only cold bath of the trip was here & of course it was a delight!!

The meal out in the evening was in a local restaurant where the Lasagne caused abit of a stir as it appeared to be covered in strawberry sauce and the salad was interesting too!!

So 2 days done, over half distance & the pleasure of some fantastic slammers to ride with!!

Cycle Slam Stage 5 Day 1

Good first night in Nancy & the best bit was finding out that I'm cycling with my twitter buddies, some other guys who we'll get to know plus Freddie & Rachael Flintoff - result!!

The alarm came early at 5am & after a quick shower the daily routine began with an early breakfast - not easy eating alot at 5:30am - get the bike ready; fill up the drinks bottles; set up the tracker & then wait around for abit until it's time to go!

We began our stage at 7:05 in the dry, not really knowing what either this day or the days ahead would bring. Pretty soon we hit a head wind which never lightened for the whole day but it was a good first stint to the snack break - only dampened by my first bit of knee trouble. A session with Andy the Physio eased my concerns but unfortunately both knees were to trouble me for the whole week which was both frustrating and painful - especially as I'd covered 1,200 miles this year with no issues at all!

We motored on, interrupted by Terry's one & only puncture, across the rolling hills with our leader David Butler soon arranging us into a rolling peleton which got slicker & slicker as the week went on. After the lunch break & some more physio the weather started to turn & the headwind got stronger & we had the pleasure of rain, hail & the occasional clap of thunder to contend with!! Indeed when the headwind became a crosswind, i was struggling to keep my front wheel from turning! Freddie had the best plan, as he & Lawrence were frequently being filmed by Discovery Channel & for a long stretch he rode up close to the camera van, which gave him amble shelter from the elements - not sure Rachael was quite as pleased with him though!!

Having covered just over 100 miles, we reached Chalons & we're all very happy!!

After some more physio of my left knee we headed off to our hotels - disappointingly there was no bath in mine, so i had to have a cold shower & hose my legs with cold water, before doing the afternoon ritual of legs in the air up the wall - I'm sure it did help!!

Back on the buses in the evening for a trip to The Bollinger House which has never before been opened to mere mortals such as a bunch of amateur cyclists - it's ordinarily left to wine experts & aficionados! The evening was great & after the facinating tour we had a excellent meal and a drop or 2 of champagne!

Cycle Slam - Arrival!

A great day on Sunday with Sam's 16th birthday & Luke's 2nd match for South Dorset cricket! 35 overs as wicketkeeper is immense at his age & a great catch & super awareness & anticipation is becoming the hallmark of our young chap! He batted we too, but overall the team fell 11 runs short..

After Sam's birthday tea, we all headed off to Ringwood to send me on my way on the bus to Heathrow! After one false start I got away, but my idea of a kip on the bus was dashed by a full on chatty driver who happened to know some people I know in the motor trade! It was great for Linsey & Sam & Jack & Luke to wave me off xx

I made the Premier Inn at T5 by about 10:45 & managed to meet up with fellow Slammer Simon Russell for a beer & a chat before a few hours sleep & the early bus to the terminal.

We got the 6:09 bus to T5 & soon checked in our bags & bikes for those who brought them with them! Met up with Martin & Terry & Paul & everyone else and after a relaxing breakfast courtesy of Martin & Terry we taxied away a out 8:30 for a smooth flight to Luxembourg. With bags collected we loaded onto the bus, waited a while for the excess baggage to be loaded into a taxi (!) & got on our way to Nancy - beautiful weather, for a change!!

So we're at the hotel now - swoped rooms already & ended up with Simon, which is great, had a spot of lunch, unloaded & checked the bikes & refitted everything ready for tomorrow! We've just had our intro briefing - breakfast at 5:30 every morning for 7am starts - every day!!! - tight schedule, apparently!! Got my tracker too, so you'll be able to follow on the main website & I'll also have my Endomondo on too for those with the details! Dinner at 8pm tonight & we'll have the groups confirmed plus our core rider - hopefully we'll be with who we want to be with!!

It's nearly time & getting excited & a little bit of trepidation too!!

Looking forward to dinner tonight - bumped into Lawrence & Lee & Graeme so far - be great to see them all + Freddie this evening!!

Forecast for tomorrow is switching between rainy & sunny - so we'll have to wait & see - either way it'll be a great day!!!

Cheers!

Cycle Slam D-4

Good session on the turbo tonight using Sam's bike - thanks's Sam! Odd to be on ordinary pedals & no cleats!!

Testing doing the blog from my mobile tonight instead of my laptop - practice for next week!

I found a weather app last night for France - wish I hadn't as it shows rain all next week :( except Monday! Hopefully it'll cheer up before then!

Forgot to say yesterday but Luke's had a better offer for Friday 18th, if you can believe it!! A trip to Lords with 20 classmates from school to see day 2 of The Test between England & West Indies & then they get to play a game of Quick Cricket on the pitch in the lunch interval!! - wow - can't blame him really! Good luck Luke!!

One more day at work, a lovely family weekend including Sam's birthday & then it's time!!

Andy

Cycle Slam D-5

5 Days before we leave for Nancy!! The momentum is building: viewing the http://www.dallaglioflintoff2012.com/ website, it's been great to see the amazing tracking technology at work each day & following all the riders progress through stages 1, 2 & 3 - what's been achieved so far is tremendous, especially by the core riders - such determination & drive is phenomenal - I only hope that we can replicate it all on Stage 5!

The weekend past saw my last couple of training rides on my Boardman: I did 42 miles on Saturday on my own & then went out with Sam & Jack for a very nice ride on Sunday - just 24 miles because we wanted to get back & changed to get out to Luke's first South Dorset cricket match that day. I took my bike upto Twickenham this afternoon to be loaded onto the lorry that'll take the bikes to Nancy. I also picked up my 2 Slam Cycling shirts, at last - they fit fine & the waterproof is a good fit too.

Last week, I was luck enough to get an airing on Forest FM - a local radio station based in Verwood. A lovely chap called Stephen Long, who is married to Marie, who used to work with Linsey - invited me onto his afternoon show - it was great fun & when we played back the tape - even I was surprised how well it sounded! Thanks Stephen & www.forestfm.co.uk - a lovely, genuine & local bunch of people who support the local community!

The rain is back in abundance, so my planned outing on my mountain bike was curtailed tonight..we'll see how the rest of the week goes.. I may have to borrow Sam's racer & pop it on the turbo......

Needless to say & due to a lot of hard graft & team effort - Luke's team won his match on Sunday - it was his first 'if you're out, you're out' 35 over cricket match & as ever he rose to the occasion - his wicket keeping gave rise to a number of positive & generous comments from the spectators; he got a wicket with his first delivery & batted well, although was unluckily run out...but you can't be exceptional at everything in one game!! As ever, Linsey supported us all with a delicious picnic & continues to be a tremendous support for the whole cycle slam build up & training - there are certain people in life you can't do things without and Linsey's my one :) Thanks Linsey xx

It's nearly time!!

Andy