Sunday's Dash

Sunday 6am found your adventurer climbing out of bed staggering to the shower in search of hot water to bring myself out of a deep sleep after sharing a bottle of red with my sister on Saturday evening.

I had received a phone call at 7pm asking me to compete in the annual London to Southend bike ride, a 100km dash to the coast, and promises of fish and chips and a couple of beers by the seaside. What a way to spend a Sunday so yes, yes, yes was my reply. Which is why I was staggering to the shower at that ridiculous hour on a Sunday.

The London to Southend is a smaller version of the annual London to Brighton bike ride which has as many as 35,000 riders, of course with that amount of riders there is also a great deal of congestion. So not for the serious bike riders. However with only 5,000 participants ambling through the Essex country side one can certainly get some velocity into the riding.

The ride has a staggered start from 7am to ?? well we left at 9.30am though the east end of London and off to the Essex country side. A little cloud cover and a fresh breeze kept the temperature down so almost perfect riding condition and for the first hour my two friend and I slid along passing all, looking good and hoping for a time of around 3hrs. Then my chain came off, so I had to pull over, this is what happens when you borrow a bike which has not been used for a while. It took me a couple of minuets to put the chain back on and get going, but that was enough I never saw my two friends again until the finishing line.

My friends completed the ride in 3 hrs and 31/4hrs which are very respectful times, I completed in 4hrs having to stop twice more to put my chain back on and on a further three occasions to purchase food and drink.

My reason for telling you this is because I'm surprisingly proud of my achievement. It is the first bike run/race I have ever completed. No more can my friend Renato rib me for not completing a race, because now I have, and without falling off my bike once! I even have a medal to prove it.

So it was off to the pub for cockles (wonderful) fish and chips and the odd bottle of cyder what a wonderful way to spend a Sunday.

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