The end of the road, and the day after...

Day 14 - Saturday 18/09/2010 - Ronda to Gibraltar - 63 Miles

The day started slightly later than normal for all of us, not because we 'only' had 63 miles to travel, but the hotel did not start breakfast until 8:30, so we packed the van before breakfast to try and make up some time, we needed to be at Gibraltar by 3pm as Andrew had made arrangements for us to be greeted at the border by some Gibraltarian government officials.

Cleaning of the bikes after yesterday's storm

With the bad weather yesterday we first had to clean up our bikes, they were covered in dust / sand and overnight my chain had started to rust!! A wipe down and generous application of chain lubrication later, we set off as a whole group, but did take a quick detour into central Ronda to take in the incredible views of the surrounding area, as the sky was clear and the forecast was sunny.

Views of Ronda

We carried on out of town and almost immediately hit some hills, which turned into mountains, there were some challenging climbs and the sun was already hot, I was in a group with Tim S, Guy and Hannah, occasionally joined by Barnaby, who tended to catch us on climbs and then lose us on descents. The going was quite challenging, in all we climbed 1400 meters over 2 mountain ranges in 30 miles, but the views were amazing as we could see for miles and miles each time we reached a summit and there were massive birds of pray gliding on thermals above us. The descent was great fun, but quite hairy, as we were going quite fast and some of the corners were very tight, especially if there was traffic going the other way.

The final ever rest stop

After the first and last ever rest stop, we had about 2 and a half hours to cover the 30 miles to Gibraltar. Andrew G had left early with Jamie as he did not want to be late, plus he was really suffering from the team cold, as an asthmatic it was affecting him very badly and he'd been off form for the past couple of days. There was a reasonable but not too severe climb and then we were finally out of the mountains and on a long winding and undulating (we so love that term now) descent down towards the coast, not that we could see it. Eventually we got to the low country, we knew this because the humidity had picked up significantly and the vegetation was much more luscious.

Tim S, Guy and I were working as a team to pull Hannah along, two in front and one behind, switching places as the leader needed a rest, although Tim was taking most of the effort. I fond out later he had the same problem I had a few days ago, feeling grumpy for no apparent reason, so he was focusing on working hard to keep the pace up in the hope the mood would pass. Our peloton was working well, we were cruising at between 17 and 24 mph depending on the gradient catching and passing other groups, but then a grasshopper flew into Hannah's top and we had to stop to let it escape. We got going again, picking up Barnaby and Dave P but not once did we see a sign to Gibraltar, even though we knew we were within 10 miles of it.

Finally we crested a ridge and saw the sea, what a sense of elation, we could see the end in sight, although the Garmin told us it was 8 miles to the hotel, we continued on, following the route, which took us alongside lots of oil refinery's and storage depots, not very impressive, and still no signs for Gibraltar, but eventually we hit the coast, we were cycling alongside the beach and we could see the rock!!

We can see the sea !!

First view of the rock

It was now 2:45, we were expected by 3pm and still had 2 miles to go, Tim S, Guy, Hannah and I carried along the coast road and finally saw the border crossing, arriving at 2:55. Tim, Mike and Jamie were waiting, Andrew G was also there talking with officials and then most of the rest turned up. There was lots of hugging and congratulations as we realised we had done it.

Gathering at the Spanish side of the border

After a bit if waiting around, we crossed the border, showing our passports to both the Spanish and British officials, once onto British territory we regrouped with the van, plus a police car and motorcycle. We then followed the motorcycle through Gibraltar, Tim asked that Guy R and I rode a the front with him as we had been the ones (along with Justin) who had started this whole initiative. It was at this time that things got very emotional for me, I patted Tim on the shoulder and said it was amazing, he said he could feel Marey looking down at us with pride and all three of us had goosebumps even though it was really warm. It's hard to put into words how I felt, but it was a combination of pride, satisfaction and awe at what we had achieved in such a short space of time.

The police were waiting for us

Tim on the runway

Following the police motorbike

Behind me

And in front

We got to the reception area where we were met by the Minister of the Interior, plus some ladies from the Gibraltar arm of Cancer Research UK. We were treated to a meal of paella followed by banoffee, with as much liquid refreshment as we wanted. Some of the boys had not had any alcohol for a few weeks and were finally able to let their hair down, although everyone was very well behaved.

Pam, Norm, Ian, Steven, Roger and Derek turned up a bit later, they also got a police escort, arriving just as David L phoned Ian to see where they were. Ian decided to have a little fun and said they were still 20 miles out, only for the group to walk through the door 1 minute later!!

Last in was Caroline, she is the slowest rider in the group, but has carried on without complaint and in many ways has been an inspiration to the rest of us. However, she was not wearing her Inspired Living cycle shirt, the only reception she got at the boarder was from a gruff officer telling her to get out of the way and to wait in another queue!! Somehow she managed to find her way to the reception area, more by luck than anything else as we had not known where it would be, but she spotted David L outside as she was passing by. As she walked into the reception hall there was a great cheer from everyone and she was overwhelmed with hugs and kisses from all corners.

Caroline arrives, explaining why she's not wearing the IL shirt

After the meal, I sent a number of texts out to friends and family, getting some very nice replies, it was all slowly sinking in that we had completed the challenge, after 2 weeks of eat, cycle, sleep, now it was a case of getting ready to go home to our families and back to work. I had some quiet time to myself slowly trying to absorb what we had done, relax and unwind.

We then left for the hotel, this time we did not need the Garmins as some of the CRUK ladies took us on a short cut to the hotel, we had to walk the bikes up steps and along footpaths but it was not too far. As soon as we got there, we emptied everything out of the van, ready to reload it with the bikes. We had to take the pedals off and rotate the handlebars so they wrapped around the frame and were as narrow as possible. As usual, Mike was the load master and things went pretty smoothly, although a number of us rookies had to get assistance from experts such as Pete on which way to turn the spanners to loosen the pedals.

Packing the bikes into the van

Bikes all packed, I checked into my room and went for a quick swim in the cold (thanks for not warning me Scott) hotel pool, I then met up with Tim F, Scott, Barnaby, Norm, David L and Pam for a taxi tour to the top of the rock. The views were impressive, as was the fact that you could see Africa, this whole experience has made the world seem a much smaller place for me.

Barbary apes

Africa away to the left

I'm sure I'll have many more reflections later, it has been an amazing experience for me whether it is life changing only time will tell, but for now I have to say this has been an awesome two weeks. As a group, we are very diverse set of people, but we have all got on incredibly well, no one has had a bad word to say about anyone else, I am not aware of anyone loosing their temper (other than with some idiot drivers). We have gelled together, are almost always in good humour, have looked after each other both on and off the road. The only down side was the cold we all seemed to suffer from, but there's no way we could have prevented that.

David (centre) about to drive back to the UK

Final view of the rock

The planning and preparation we have been doing for well over a year has really paid off, in combination with the support from our sponsors in providing the van and supplies, we only needed to ride, eat and sleep. Not that this was a simple task, but we are so proud that apart from a few scratches and bruises, no one got hurt and barring Tim's off road excursion down a gully which broke his seat post bracket (but that's why we had a spare bike), we only had to cope with punctures and other minor mechanical issues.

Mike did some quick calculations, including the Winos and Glory Hunters, we had cycled around 50,000 km and on current estimates had raised £1 for every kilometre, this is the sort of sum that can really make a difference for CRUK and is something we can be very proud of.

As far as I'm concerned, my bike has been brilliant, the only thing I've had to do is spray some lubrication on the chain, no punctures, no new brake pads, nothing. It was serviced by Mark and the team at Peter Hansfords a month before the ride, he told me nothing should go wrong and how right he was.

The Garmin has paid for itself many times over, any mistakes were down to us misreading things and not only did it make navigation easy, most especially though busy towns, it gave you the confidence to focus on your riding. Those without such devices very quickly made sure they knew who had Garmins so they did not get lost.

In many ways it's a shame this is coming to an end, for the past two weeks we have rolled into various towns, taken over hotels and been a tight group, in Gibraltar we are very small fish in a big pond and we are about to go our own separate ways, but we have accomplished what we set out to achieve, something I was not at all sure about two week ago.

I've just got home to a lovely reception, I was given a lift home by the Rafferty family, we turned up to see my house decorated with bunting and signs welcoming me home, what a great way to end this journey.

Friends and family waiting for me, plus Guy and Hannah

It's great to be home

Many thanks to all of you who have read this, I hope you found it informative and entertaining at least to some degree. I may post other entries, but right now I don't know when that will be (:O).

Mission Complete

Yey, everyone has arrived in Gibraltar and a few cyclists even cycled up the big rock; the others got a taxi up!!! There is no wifi access but an update will be posted when it becomes available.
WELL DONE EVERYONE!!! :)

Day 13 and it's Friday....

Day 13 - Friday 17/09/2010 - Fuente Palmera to Ronda - 83 Miles

The day started off with celebrations, it was Scott's birthday and some of the team had decided to give him a present by making one or two improvements to his bike, now known as "Badger".

Badger unmasked !!

A beauty to behold when
on the road

I left with Scott and Roger at around 8:30, after about half the group had already departed. We road an easy pace, talking about various things but after a comfort break, Roger asked if we would mind if he pressed on alone - either our conversation or our pace was not enough for him, or maybe both (:O). We were happy for him to go ahead and in a few minutes he was a blip on the horizon, maybe our pace was a bit slow, but we were enjoying passing the time of day, the sun was out, the roads were not too steep, all was good in the world.....

Then we got to the hills, they were not too severe, but in the distance we could see mountains and over the mountains were some dark clouds, but that all looked a long way off as we continued to the first stop. When we were a mile or so out from the stop, I got a call from Hannah to say they had parked the van a bit further on due to road works, we had no trouble finding them but were suprised to discover we were the first there. David had been trying to call the others, but no one other than me had answered, he did finally get through to Mike who said he was in a nearby bar with a number of others.

Scott and I were there, but the rest prefered the cafe !!

Scott and I carried on, we were now getting closer to the mountains and the roads got steeper, there was a long straight climb which took us to the crest of a particular slope and just after it was a play park, were we stopped while Scott did some exercises on the parallel bars and picked some flowers for Hannah and Pam.

Just as we were about to leave, the van turned up offering to top up our water and then Steven, Norm, Pam, Roger and Ian arrived. Scott took the opportunity to present his flowers and we then set off as a bigger group.

Hannah gets her flower

We were now well into the mountains, hitting some steep switchback climbs. Steve is an absolute mountain goat, his bike is probably twice the weight of mine, he has no toe clips, but that does not seem to hold him back at all, he left us all for dust.

We climbed about 650 meters in around 5 miles of hard climbing, getting to the town where the lunch stop was planned, it had just started to rain and many of the roads were blocked with fiesta marquees. We called the van who told us they had had to park outside the town, we then had to navigate through some very treacherous cobbled streets to get back to the main road and found the van.

Quick lunch, Hannah is about to put on her tights it's getting so cold

By now the rain had picked up and there was a cool breeze, we put on rain tops and ate a quick lunch, getting some wonderful views of lightening storms, which  we calculated to be only 3 or 4 miles away, so David made sure we did not stand too near to the van unless we needed to get something.

Not wanting to get too cold, it was a quick stop and we set off down the mountain for the last 22 miles to the hotel.

The first decent was horrible, the rain was pouring down and the temperature had plummeted, it felt like it was freezing !! When you are going downhill there's very little you can do other than point the bike in the right direction, with the wet roads we had to keep speeds down, especially on the corners but the straight parts were the worst as the wind chill really built up and I started shivering, causing the front wheel to wobble, I really had to focus to keep things straight.

We eventually got to the main road, I dug the lights out of my saddle bag as the rain was even heavier and visibility was getting poor. We kept together as a group, fortunately there were more climbs than descents, which allowed us to keep reasonably warm, but we were now plugging away in what have become a battle of attrition. By now I was totally soaked, the only good thing about my super lightweight vented shoes was that the water drained out quickly, although it also had no problem getting in in the first place.

Finally the rain eased off, Scott and I kept up with Steven, who seemed on a mission to get to the hotel as soon as possible, he dragged us along on the flat at 27 or 28 mph until we got into the edge of town, when I took over to exploiting the power of the Garmin satnav, almost immediately I took us on a wrong turn, but we quickly recovered and finally got to the hotel, with Norm, Pam, Derek and Ian turning up a couple of minutes later. We were all soaked and cold, but glad to have got to the hotel in one piece.

Soaked through, but happy

The rest of the soggy gang

Ian worked out we had climbed over a mile today, combined with the weather this was probably the hardest day of the ride.

This evening we went out for a meal as a group, at the end we presented Scott with a birthday cake.

Tomorrow it's Gibraltar and almost the end of our journey, but we still have a few more miles to cover and mountains to climb....

What a difference a day makes

Day 12 - Thursday 16/09/2010 - Dos Torres to Fuente Palmera - 78 Miles

Before writing about today, I'll finish off last night, we ate at the hotel, where the food was excellent, but Tim F made a bit of a boo-boo in ordering Paella for 5 people, he thought he was ordering them as starters but it turned out we got full portions, so the T-bone steak I had for the main course was just a bit to much. Given the Spanish tend not to start taking orders until well after 9, I left the table at around midnight, some others (not mentioning Tim S and Guy by name) did not get to bed until nearly 1am.

Starter ??

Main course ??

Anyway, this morning we woke up to find it was raining, in some ways this was a good thing, as it meant the temperatures would be lower, but it also made the roads somewhat treacherous, especially in Dos Torres, which had cobbled streets with what looked like marble tiles on the edges.

As today's ride was only 78 miles (many of us never thought we would say that), some of the group planned to start later to give the rain time to clear, but I decided it would be better to get off earlier to avoid the heat when the sun came out, as there was bound to be a lot of humidity as well.

Brown bear was ready to go, so we rode very carefully out of town an onto the main roads, it was raining very lightly, but the roads were wet, so instead of riding close behind each other, we kept half a dozen bike lengths apart to try to keep out of each others spray, as we did not want to get dirty - much use that  did !!!

Sorry nice sponsors - I will wash it properly soon (O:)

After a while, we came across Dave P, Jamie, Pete, Barnaby and Roger on a long climb, we carried on past them, picking up Roger. It started to dry out and we were able to start slipstreaming, I led for a bit and then Roger took over, he was immense, dragging us along for around 8 miles at 24 mph!!

Roger dragging us along at 24 mph

The first stop was originally at 30 miles, but Mike Spencer had passed it during his 200km ride and found nothing there, so he had suggested a service station a mile or so on. We saw the service station, but it was on the other side of the highway and we could not see a way over, so we carried on to Cordoba.

To get to Cordoba, we had to do some steady climbs (undulations as Brown bear continues to call them), but this time there was a payback, 6 miles of downhill!! The road surface was brand new, so new that the lines had not been painted and the workmen were still there, at one stage directing us t the left side of the road. I was in the tuck position, staying as low and streamlined as possible to maintain my speed, travelling through the road works a 35mph, way above the 40kph limit and not being passed by any cars.

There was one slightly hairy moment when I came across a new layer of asphalt that was slightly higher than the surface I was on, so I had to hop the bike to jump it over the join and limit any bumps that might damage the tyre or wheel.

After a while I could not hold the tuck any longer, so I sat up but still was going well over 30 mph. I'm afraid there are no photos of this as I was focused on keeping the bike in the right direction.

Any doing what he does best !!

Once down the hill, we turned into Cordoba and looked for the lunch stop, it was around 12:45 and there was no van, we found a plaza and Brown bear found another puncture!! We called the van to let them know where we were, they were still at the first stop so Roger went to get some fruit while I helped Andy with his puncture.

Norm, Pam, Ian and Scott turned up and got directions to a local cafe, we could not go with them as Andy had not quite finished his repairs, we set off a couple of minutes later but were unable to find them and did not know any of their phone numbers, so we decided to carry on, stopping at a garage to top up on water.

While we were there I got a call from Hannah saying the van was now at the lunch stop and checking where we were. I said we were carrying on and would see them at the hotel.

The run to the hotel was only 27 miles, we were riding alongside a river, so it was relatively flat and we were ruising along at just over 20mph, the scenery was nice and we passed a number of cotton fields, not something I've seen before.

We turned off the main road about 5 miles out and hit some rather nasty hills. Up until now it had been overcast but now the sun was beginning to break through and we got hit with the heat and humidity, Roger and I took it easy but Brown bear seemed to revel in it, charging up the hills as if his life depended on it.

Once over the hills we rode into town and found the hotel at around 3:15, we checked in and then went to the bar for lunch and drinks while we waited for the van or other to arrive.

At around 4:30, Norm, Pam, Ian, Scott and Steven, who had joined the group at lunch time following a relaxing morning after the 200km ride with Mike, arrived, by now the sun was fuly out and temperatures were well into the high 30's. The van turned up half an hour later, with the rest of the coming in over the next hour or so.

This is the hotel I'd arranged, thanks to the assistance of my friends as La Quinta Club, where my family and I go on holiday each year. There were a few towns where the travel agents the organizing team were using had been unable to find accommodation, I asked Laura and Angel if they could help and they were able to use their contacts to find this hotel. As such, I was a little worried in case there were problems with the hotel, but it's fine, not as grand as the one at Dos Torres, but the rooms are clean and the staff friendly.

The hotel, adorned with Inspired Living laundry

Only two more days to go and we will be in Gibraltar. Each time I look at a map to see where we are, I find it hard to believe what we have (or are about to) achieved. It really does show that ordinary people can do extraordinary things, and the support being given to us by everyone really helps push us on.

1000 miles, over 40 degrees and I feel fine !!

Day 11 - Wednesday 15/09/2010 - Ciudad Real to Dos Torres - 93 Miles

At the start of the day, everyone left early, as we knew this was going to be another long and hot day and did not want to get too spread out as that would make it almost impossible for the van to support everyone, especially as they could not get into the shops until 10am.

I was out last with Guy, Tim S, Tim F, Joe, Rob, Neil, Andy H, Andrew G, Andy B, Barnaby and Jamie, we left at around 8:30 with the early birds leaving no more than 20 minutes before us. As has been the case for the past few days, the roads were undulating, steady climbs and descents.

The peleton on the road again

For some reason I was in a tetchy mood, the group was going too fast or too slow, it was splitting up or whatever, so although I was riding okay, I was not really enjoying myself that much, a first for this trip. I knew I was in a mood, but there was not much I was able to do to get out of it so I dropped to the back of the group and basically kept myself to myself so I did not cause issues for anyone else. I've no idea why this was, maybe I'd spent too much time recently in smaller groups, maybe the cold had something to do with it, but I just had to hope it would pass in time.

I might have been in a bad mood, but Barnaby was a man possessed, in the early days he was hanging around the back of the group. Since he took the kitchen sink out of his bag, removed his mudguards and pumped up his tyres, he's been getting faster and faster. Today he was leading the group and taking us up to speeds of 24mph and more, even worse than that, he's been spotted using the big front cog (we thought he only used it as a chain guard) so now there should be no holding him back.

We got to the first stop at around 10:25 and were not surprised to find the van was not there, so we carried on along a very poor quality road, it was proper asphalt, but it looked like it had been laid on marbles, we were bouncing all over the place and getting shaken to pieces, not much fun at all, but at least this seemed to shake me out of my mood.

We came to a small village that had a corner shop with two bikes parked outside, it was Mike and Steve on their 200km ride who were topping up on supplies. There was also a small park with some benches and a fountain, that quickly turned into a foot bath!!

Having downed some cold drinks purchased from the shop, we were just about ready to leave when the van turned up, stopping to check we were okay before they drove on to the lunch stop. We continued on the bumpy road, although it had got somewhat smoother, all the time the temperature was rising and some started to find the conditions tougher, we got to a winding decent with sweeping turns and at the end was a steady climb, I was at the front and shot down, carrying my speed up the climb and before I knew it I had left everyone behind, I'd not done this intentionally, I was just going at a speed that felt comfortable to me. I carried on as I felt really good, not pushing too hard, just trying to keep a steady pace. After a few minutes I was joined by Neil and we worked together to keep a steady pace. A mile or so out of the lunch stop, we were caught by Andy G, who I half expected to blast past, but he stayed with us until we got to the van.

Hannah - top chef !!

Lunch today was a barbeque, it seems some of the group had been asking for one and today was the day, although with temperatures of over 40 degrees you hardly needed coals to cook the burgers!! We again met up with Mike and Steven, who had now done 100km (60 miles) of their ride and were taking advantage of the last piece of support we could offer before the final 130km (78 miles) of the day - they only needed to do a total of 200km, but the nearest hotel was 30km away.

The rest of the group came in over the next half hour or so, Andy H was in a bad way, his body is just not meant for this sort of thing, he's 6 foot 7 inches tall and all muscle but that means he has to take in lots of energy and in these temperatures he was overheating. We sat him in the shade and gave him lots of fluids to help cool him down as we knew he was going to carry on, being 21 and a semi professional sportsman, giving up on physical challenges in not in his psyche, but he was realising the need to keep a little back.

Caroline enjoying BBQ trout, Andy is not so keen

As it turned out, the BBQ food was great and really hit the spot. After lunch I set off with Tim F, as some of the others were having coffees and we did not want to hang around too long knowing we had 30 miles to go and the heat of the day was still ahead.

A couple of miles out of town we came across Andy B, Andrew G and Roger as Andy B had a puncture. Andrew G was suffering from the team cold, so we suggested he and Roger carried on while Tim and I kept Andy B company, not least because I had the best pump (:O).

It was really hot and there was no shade, so we worked as quick as we could to get the puncture repaired and then pushed on, we were making good time riding one behind the other when Tim got too close and hit Andy's rear wheel with his front wheel, causing him to veer right and career into the ditch!! Fortunately Tim was able to stay on his bike, otherwise it could have been quite serious, there was some damage to the seat post, but nothing that prevented us from carrying on but then Andy B got another puncture about 20 miles from home !!!

While fixing this puncture, we were passed by Neil and Rob and a few minutes later by Joe, Guy, Barnaby and Andy H - who was still nowhere near 100% - and a few minutes later the van turned up so we were able to fill up on water before carrying on.

A little later, Andy B had left us behind, but we came upon a village with a bar so decided to get some cold drinks before the final push to the hotel. Before we got into the bar, a truck driver called us over to get us to push his mates truck into the road, as the clutch was burnt out. Fortunately Neil and Rob had already stopped at the bar, so with Neil helping out, the truck was soon on it's way. The barman was very friendly, pushing ice into our water bottles and then letting us put them in the chiller cabinet while we drank our Cokes and Fantas.

1000 miles - yay !!

On the road again, we started to count down the 1000 miles those of us who had been tracking our mileage each had a slightly different distance, but we agreed to use Tim S as the benchmark and at the appointed moment, we found a lay-by where we took some photos and did the 1000 mile dance !!

Tim F and I had lost an hour by helping Andy B with his punctures, but what a payoff we got for doing that - a great team experience

It was then a few more miles to the hotel, and what a hotel, it looks like a grand town hall and has very high quality rooms - how Derek managed to find this we don't know, nor do we really care but it's great and I'll be having a jacuzzi bath tonight !!

Amazing hotel