The Kirks

So, after the successes (and excesses) of the previous trip last year from Brussels to Paris, a similar but not identical group has reformed to tackle the somewhat harder ride from Liege to Paris.  The full list of idiots who have agreed to do this are Guy Boyce Cam, Geoff Connell, Ed Currie, Tony Flinn, Ewan Kirk, John Lane, Andy McGuinness, JJ McNeil, Peter McNeil, Martin Mitchell, Godric Smith, Layton Tamberlin, Tim Tyndall and Dik Veenman.  As was the case last year, Mick Mahindra is driving the car, bringing the bags, and being the support vehicle.  If it all gets truly horrible somewhere in the Ardennes then there’s maybe space for two people to get a lift from Mick…Looking at the route, I can foresee fights breaking out somewhere round about the 100km mark on day one as people treat the two places in Mick’s car rather like the last helicopter out of Saigon.

It’s rapidly becoming traditional for us all to meet at St Pancras, drink champagne and then everybody buys huge amounts of food to “eat on the journey”.  Oh and more champagne to “drink on the journey”.  The tradition was fully complied with and we staggered onto the train weighed down with huge amounts of food.  This is the downside of setting off on a trip where there’s heavy exercise ahead.  One feels that it gives you a licence to eat just about anything you want.  Last year I came back weighing more than I left despite using up some huge amount of calories every day. 

Oh and although we’re all very familiar with telling our children “don’t eat their sandwiches right away”, we had a quick laugh at the announcements in the “comedy” French accent and then we all scarfed down our food before we reached Ebbsfleet.  I’m slightly confused as to what Ebbsfleet is.  Is it a place?  A road junction?  What’s the point of it?  Nobody ever seems to get on there.  I suspect it’s to make the Eurostar “accessible” for people who live outside Zone One in London but if you live outside Zone One, it’s a damn sight easier to get to St Pancras than it is to get to Ebbsfleet.  Maybe this is enough ranting about Ebbsfleet…

Anyway, the journey to Brussels was pretty uneventful.  Some reading, some sleeping, some talking of rubbish.  Sort of the usual.  We had 20 minutes to make the Liege train after the Eurostar arrived.  We found the platform but had to spread out like some sort of spy ring because you’re only allowed 4 bikes in total on a Belgian train (who knew eh?) and we had 7 bikes.  No problem getting on and the train pulled out of Brussels Midi on its way to Liege…only to stop at Brussels Central, sit there for 20 minutes and then we were all thrown off because there was a “probleme technique”.  So much grumbling, getting on the train, getting off the train and finally we managed to work out that the next train to Liege was a slow train that stops everywhere.  Some running around, some hanging around on the platform and eventually we got the train.   Annoying after it all going so smoothly up to then.

Long long ride to Liege which is a bit of a horrible town.  The railway station is nice.  Designed by a spanish architect.  The Hotel we’re in is…umm…not very good but it is bang in the middle of what passes for the red light district in Liege.  Not the most salubrious part of town. 

Absolutely knackered.  Straight to bed.  Early start tomorrow.  John Lane wanted us to leave at 6am but we’ve managed to get it back to a 7.30 am start.  It’s going to be an awfully ugly day tomorrow with some really tough hills and nearly 100 miles of cycling.

The training continues.  This route was surprisingly hilly since it was heading out into the fens which are normally flat and annoyingly windy.  A nice day for it though.

Obviously a picture of a sandwich doesn’t quite record the event properly.  So here’s some professionally taken ones.

I entered for the Peterborough 100 (100 miles, 168km) which is run by Action Medical Research.  Not entirely sure what they do but I’m sure it’s a good cause.  For me it was all about training for the upcoming Liege Paris trip which is about a month away now.

John Lane picked me up at 5.45am (ugh) and we drove up to the start.  Met Andy McGuinness there and basically set off right away.  It was incredibly cold in the morning and since it was forecast to be warmer later, there was a bit of compromise about the clothing which turned out to be a mistake first thing.  At one point I was cycling with my hands down my shorts just to try to heat them up.

Predictably enough, John and Andy dropped me after about 30km so I was on my own for most of the trip.  I always find the 2nd quarter of cycle routes particularly difficult and this one was no different.  It had got a bit hotter but it had got a lot more hilly.  The countryside is beautiful near Peterborough.  Rolling farmland and quaint little villages built from the local Midland stone.  The villages were nice but the “rolling” made for a lot of pain since you’d think that you’d got to the top of a hill only to see another downhill stretch followed by yet another uphill stretch.  Really horrible.  However, it is classic “English Countryside” filled with little villages called stupid things like Batterston cum Trouserwyke and Little Snogton etc.  Also, it was quite noticeable that there were no jet contrails in the sky.  Thank you Eyjafjallojoekull.

There were a lot of feeding stations on the way which enabled me to keep my caffeine intake  up and my intake of crap sandwiches.  I was too knackered to do much except take a picture of my crap sandwich.  Despite the sandwiches being a bit crap, the whole event was very well organised indeed. 

The rest of the ride was a bit better.  These events are full of men and women in ill advised lycra which leaves little to the imagination and is probably the least flattering clothing in the world.  The rather depressing thing is one gets passed by tubby men and women and some men with beer bellies large enough to look like they’re in the terminal stage of some a strange fertility experiment where they’re attempting to give birth to octuplets.  More hill climb practicing for me I think. 

So the last section was a lot better since I got on the wheel of a few groups which were doing 30km/h+ and as long as I drafted them I could keep up.  It’s a nice feeling cycling in a larger group especially when other people are doing the work at the front.

Rolled into finish line after just under 7 hours on the bike.  168km at an average of 24.3km/h.  1339m of climbing and 5607 calories expended (although the Garmin is notoriously generous on its calorie estimate.  Probably could have done another 30k or 40k but not another 140k like Chris does when he does his 300km rides.  Map of the route and the stats.

The first day Liege Paris is about the same distance but 2000m+ climbing.  Oh dear.

This ride was very easy after yesterday.  Beautiful sunny day, quiet roads, just gently spinning along.  There’s definitely something mad with the Garmin estimate of calories used though.  According to the Garmin, this ride was 1000 calories!  That’s completely bonkers.  I’d be surprised if it was a third of that.