Preparation is the name of the game, agreed a group of friends from London when they decided in January 2004 to take on the London to Brighton Bike Ride that June. But the best-laid schemes . . . “The night before the event,” says Tom Moore, “we had a little get-together; a few bottles of wine and beers and an hour’s sleep. Six o’clock the next morning there was only time for a quick shower before we had to hit the road.”
The plan, hatched in the hazy first hours of 2004, to tackle the 56-mile (90km) route, was intended partly as a fitness goal and also to redefine each rider’s relationship with his two-wheeler. Moore, a 37-year-old double-glazing installer, was reminiscing about his 200-miles-weekly peak form. Dave Bushell, 41, wanted to push himself beyond his family’s cosy annual cycling jaunt in Belgium. For Nicole Harvey-Hatch, 29, a New Zealander, the ride marked her first stretch in the saddle since a serious accident ended a promising eight-year junior racing career competing at national level.
“I was hit by a car while training when I was 21, and I was concussed. I had to have a broken leg pinned back together and I didn’t walk for ten weeks. I took on some coaching later, but have never ridden seriously since and was still really nervous. My father Ray, who grew up here, did the ride many times, so it meant a lot to me on two counts.”
Harvey-Hatch took to the road on a mountain bike, while Moore and Bushell hit the road on racers. Bushell stresses the importance of good gear: “Shell out for a decent pair of cycling shorts, if you don’t want to chafe.”
Training schedules and challenging group runs were meticulously planned but never happened. Instead, with six weeks to go, Bushell began to rack up 25 to 40 miles a week, making training runs out of attending business appointments in Central London; Harvey-Hatch made the hilly routes to work at a Croydon travel agency a thrice-weekly workout; and Moore did “no training at all”. Still, a test run in May, joining the Stroke Association’s 32-mile Thames Bridges Bike Ride (www.stroke.org.uk), left all three feeling comfortably on course. “It’s not as if we started from nothing, though. Tom and I both do physically demanding work,” says Bushell, who is the director of an events production company, “plus I was playing tennis twice a week on top of cycling.”
Advertisement
As for diet, they chose the classic athlete’s staple, energy-sustaining pasta — the night before, anyway. Bushell laughs: “You can take this more seriously than we did, but the great thing about the London to Brighton is that anyone who can ride a bike can do it.”
When June 20 arrived, Bushell, Moore and Harvey-Hatch, and 27,000 other cyclists, rolled from Clapham Common, South London. It was a beautiful summer’s day, and the group took a leisurely pace. “The atmosphere was so friendly,” recalls Moore, who had raised his hungover spirits with an Afro wig. “There was real camaraderie among a mindblowing volume of cyclists. People cheered you along, from little old ladies knitting in their back gardens to children offer ing drinks.” Distraction was provided by a pair of Elvis lookalikes, riding Chopper bikes and blasting out Presley classics, and a brass band accompanied a picnic lunch at Turners Hill, just past the halfway mark.
“The first half is a pretty leisurely cruise; flat except for three little hills, and great fun,” says Harvey-Hatch. But the smiles faded at 40 miles, when the spectre of the infamous Ditchling Beacon, a steep one-mile hill-climb just before Brighton, loomed.
Bushell says: “As we hit the foot of the hill, rain started hammering down and my body just ran out of energy. Each push of the pedals was a muscle-screaming effort.”
“I’d heard horror stories about this monster hill,” says Harvey-Hatch. “And I was determined to get over it without stopping. Making it was the high point of the day for me.”
Advertisement
While the fastest competitor finished the ride in three-and-a-half hours, Moore, Bushell and Harvey-Hatch completed it in a more leisurely six-and-a-half hours. The long downhill cruise into Brighton and the last seafront stretch to rapturous applause made for an uplifting finale. As they dismounted, the pain dissolved into euphoria. “I felt I could keep going for another 20 miles,” says Bushell. Instead of which, he proposed: “Pint, anyone?”
SADDLING UP
THE RIDE Since it began in 1980, the London to Brighton Bike Ride has attracted more than 550,000 cyclists of all ages and is now the biggest bike ride in Europe. The British Heart Foundation’s biggest fundraiser, it has raised more than £26 million for the charity.
Download entry forms for this year’s event, on Sunday, June 19, from www.bhf.org.uk, or www.cycle-rides.co.uk/ brighton.htm, or call 09068 616077. The deadline for applications is March 1.
Advertisement
KIT Both mountain and road bikes are suitable for the 56-mile road ride, and dependable-quality models start at about £250. Cycling shorts pay back their costs (from £25) in comfort. Helmets (from £35 for a good one) and eye protection (from £5) are crucial. Water bottles are a must, as is sunscreen (particularly on the back of the neck) and — this being English summer — a waterproof.
TRAINING “The fairly young and fit can get by for this ride on a couple of hours a week for five to six weeks beforehand,” says Philip Ingham, of British Cycling. “If you’re less active, or older, it’s worth putting together a basic training schedule for two or three months before the event to build fitness, tweak the bike and practise eating and drinking on the move, building up to include a 30-mile ride a week in the last few weeks.” Local cycling clubs can help with training plans; 1,000 clubs are listed at www.britishcycling.org.uk
Advertisement
DIET A one-off event like this means that you can get away without strategic eating, though a balanced diet will help. During the event bananas, dried fruit and nuts and energy and cereal bars are ideal snacks. Sports drinks boost carbohydrates and electrolytes, and you should drink 75cl to 1l of water an hour to prevent dehydration.