26 August 2021
Below is special report by Will and Amber of the gruelling Great Racing Welfare Cycle
Will’s Diary:
Day one of the Great Racing Welfare Cycle saw everyone meeting at Carlisle race course on Tuesday morning. From the moment I arrived the atmosphere was electric! A combination of the race course team, racing welfare staff and the team from PIE had a great welcome for us music blaring, some good hearty breakfast to fuel us up for day one, and a great supply of energy products to keep us going on the bikes.
The first day was definitely the toughest for me as less than 30 miles in I suffered a fairly high speed crash when I chose to admire the lovely view of the Yorkshire hills just at the point where the road narrowed. It really felt like being in the Tour De France, bikes everywhere riders everywhere. We were all very lucky to just walk away with minor cuts and bruises and a bit of road rash. The Pie guides were again fantastic at patching everyone up and getting the bikes back to a safe ridable condition (some minor tweaking required later). I became good friends with Kev the medic as I needed the dressing on the road rash on my shin cleaned and changed daily, again great to have the support behind us.
The big climb of day one was Called Fleet Moss, a 5.4km climb maxing out with a gradient of over 20%. This was a monster of a climb!! Very quickly all of our local Cotswold hills seemed like mole hills by comparison! At the point the gears on my bike were really not loving life, continually skipping and jumping making it very difficult to get into a rhythm. As I ground my way up the climb, I passed cyclist after cyclist that had opted for the get off and push tactic. At this point I was really thinking I had bitten off more than I could chew!! I am still not sure how I made it to the top without walking but somehow, I made it, we then enjoyed a beautiful fast sweeping decent reaching speeds of over 40 mph!!
Day two saw us set of from Skipton heading south. This was another day with a great deal of climbing. Two of the four climbs being within the first 40kms of the days 140km route. We had some fantastic views at the top of some of the climbs despite the British summer rain doing its best to hide them. A highlight for me was atop Cragg Vale (the longest continual assent in England) there was beautiful lake. Then a speedy decent down to our lunch stop.
After lunch we headed for some city riding in Manchester. This was great fun stopping off for a rest stop at the National Cycling Centre and Velodrome. It was great to see some of the next generation of cyclists honing their skills on the small bmx train circuit. After leaving the Velodrome our guide did manage to get us rather lost in Manchester so we seemed to spend a while in the city trying to find our way out but I am told we cycled past Wayne Rooneys old house….. not sure I believe the guide on that one.
Day three was an easier day, starting from Middlewich and heading for Worcester. There were no standout big climbs this day just nice rolling hills where we were able to keep up our speed. We did however find ourselves on a canal tow path which to get off and back on route involved carrying our bikes down a rather steep flight of steps!! We were greeted in Worcester with a treat. The sun was shining the music playing and the team had beers ready for us and even better than that there was a sports therapist to give our aching legs the much needed rub downs!!
Day four was very much a day of two parts for me, we left Worcester and headed for the Malvern Hills. Some great climbing in the morning followed by some lovely sweeping roads. We tipped our toe into Wales coming very close to Chepstow Racecourse. As we were crossing the bridge back into England, we could see some very nasty weather rolling in…. and sure, enough the heavens opened! I’m sure everyone would agree with me that the last 40km into our overnight stop in Bristol were among the most difficult of this challenge.
Day five, After a good night’s sleep and a fantastic feeding from the team at the Bristol. Airport Hilton we were ready to set off on our fifth and final day of the challenge. Unfortunately, the weather was really not on our side. When we left the hotel it was raining steadily and we travelled south into Somerset it got worse, by the time we were descending Cheddar Gorge it was monsoonal!! You could hardly see the road, standing water everywhere!!
Fortunately, at lunchtime the weather had picked up and we were able to shed our waterproofs and head for out final destination of Newton Abbot. It was beautiful cycling around Exeter, Exmouth and Topsham. We then followed the coast right round to Teignmouth where we caught a small boat and with our bikes crossed the river before heading to the home straight!! There was an amazing atmosphere as we rolled into Newton Abbot. We were all delighted to have completed the challenge!! It really was fantastic being part of such a great team and raising so much money for Racing Welfare.
Amber;
Will pretty much covered all the cycle, and as he mentioned there were some brutal climbs. Fleet Moss has to be the hardest hill I have ever climbed, and I am thrilled that I managed to make it to the top without getting off, like many of the others. It was that steep in places, my friend Flo managed to fall off twice because she ran out of pedal and the bike went no where! I also am definitely not as brave as Will and did not make 40mph on the descents, and was petrified on the steep downhills, and times I got cramp in my hands from hanging on to the brakes too tightly! Day 2 also had some horrendous climbs, with Cragg Vale, the longest ascent in England, being one of the last ones of the morning on tired legs! Day 3 and 4 didn’t have the ‘profile’ climbs of the first 3 days, but definitely still had some mighty inclines and rolling hills. These two days were a mental drag for me, knowing that we were halfway there but still had quite a long way to go. Day 5 was the worst of the weather, by the first 25 miles I was a drowned rat. Although, it brightened up throughout the day and spirits were high knowing that we had nearly completely this monstrous challenge.
However, despite the awful weather and tough climbs it was great fun. It was an interesting way to see much of the UK, through beautiful countryside, stopping in at the Velodrome, cycling through Manchester (although there are no hills in the city, it definitely was not as enjoyable cycling through there than the countryside!), seeing the Marcus Rashford graffiti, over the Severn Bridge, Iron Bridge and the Suspension Bridge, and much more. The views were breath taking in places.
Pie, the cycling event company, were fantastic, along with Racing Welfare. The support we had on the ride was second to none and made a hard task very enjoyable. I have never eaten so much food in my life - a buffet breakfast, morning coffee stop, lunch, afternoon stop, post ride snacks and then a three course meal every evening – it was amazing! We raised a fantastic amount of money for Racing Welfare, who definitely do not get the credit they deserve as a charity. It was a fantastic challenge, and now I have let my legs recover I cannot wait to do another one.
To donate to Amber – https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/amber-cartlidge11?fbclid=IwAR0IPxIr2dJnhEIhCn8316OQZzrq7DNvysRyHxEKDvITcQ3vHyO2COJpNOg
To donate to Will - https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/William-Biggart?fbclid=IwAR2H0Qh22s0DEj6kOd6U1ISGfDuvpY4pPH00WgzXJpMv39YFvdT3zou2Yu0
