# My little Jaunt



## mythste (17 Jul 2015)

So! Some of you may know that 2 weeks ago I undertook a Newcastle to Liverpool ride for Charity, I thought I'd put a little piece together about my experiences - its as much for me as it is for you so if it sounds a little indulgent then apologies in advance!

So, day 0!

21 of us arrived in newcastle with a whole array of bikes (and it turns out, abilities as well) from an absolutely gorgeous Cube which I'm ashamed to say I didn't grab the model number of, but I know it was circa £5k to a 20kg+ BSO ridden by a very brave lad indeed... This was a company arranged event so I only knew one or two of the people participating. Stayed sensible, had 2 beers with dinner and got my head down for an early night.

Day 1 - Newcastle City Centre to Scotch Corner

Pre Flight Checks






Wrong Side of the Country for me, but pretty none the less





I don't think any of us really knew what to expect. There where a couple of guys with decent riding experience and even though i'm a relatively new cyclist I'm comfortable putting myself in that bracket. We had a route planned and we 21 left along the tyne to travel into the unknown. We did have a route planned but out of 21 only 3 (yes, 3!) had any sort of navigation. We did have 2 support vehicles who tried their utmost to checkpoint as best they could but it was relatively in vein and before long we were in 3 groups. Amazingly all with one navman each. I opted to head up the rear, realising the naivety of some of the riders. However, what I didn't account for was that the rear would bomb it off in one direction oblivious to my shouting that they'd missed the turning. Queue 2 mile detour chasing them down, one by fecking one. 
Terrain was good, hills were forgiving and wind was on our backs. beautiful scenery and managed to catch my highest ever top speed (46mph) on the C2C road. Lovely. Made it to lunch in Bishops Auckland relatively hassle free and ready to take on the world!

Pulling into the first pitstop





Leaving the first pitstop





Relatively uneventful for the rest of the journey apart from realising that the overnight stay in scotch corner was on a massive dual carriage way that we came up on the wrong side of. Gingerly traversed the grassy verge for a little chef dinner and 3 beers. Best stay sensible for the dales tomorrow.

Group 1 rolls in!





Day 2 - Scotch Corner to Burnley

Well, I felt fine! The same couldn't be said for some of our under-prepared fellas. Thought we'd take it slow to start as we knew the dales would be killer. My goodness are there some long, gruelling climbs into the dales! I'm sure they're but a sinch for a lot of you hardcore riders but I was seriously starting to feel it about 10 miles in. And when we got into the dales? My goodness, the worst headwind the whole way, I think I went 20 miles without getting out of my bottom 3 gears.

I look happier on the way down...





I'm ashamed to say I left the slow group to try and chase down the leaders bang in the middle of the dales which meant I was on my own that whole 20 miles on my own. Damn near killed me! Got to the half way point at Kettlewell feeling seriously beat up and so grateful that I knew the rest of the route was relatively fast and flat roads... Apart from this bit. God damn it google maps.

Glad none of us were wearing red...





Got into Burnley. Bloody Hills everywhere. Pint count: 5. surely tomorrow can't be harder than that.

Day - 3 Burnely to Liverpool

OUCH!

Right knee decides it doesn't really fancy moving today and I realise that I appear to pedal quite heavily in favour of my right leg. Time to be a left footed cyclist for a day. Still some pretty gnarly climbs coming out of burnley and I start to believe that I might actually make it. Over the 3 days we've split up into 4 groups of similar ability and all opt for slightly different routes. The 4 hardcore roadies go off along the major A roads, eager to make it to Liverpool and catch trains etc home, I find myself in the second fastest group and we opt for more scenic B roads, and boy am I glad we did. I'd noticed somebody with a gratuitous can of GT85 spraying their hubs and chains, I politely asked if anyone had touched my bike to which 3 guys looked nervously at each other and said "I don't think so mate!"... coming down a pretty long descent I squeezed my brakes. Nothing. The back brake is dragging just enough to stop me gaining more speed but a motorway junction is coming up and I'm about 200 meters away from certain death, I've unclipped and I'm ready to bail completely into a hedge. I start putting my feet on the floor and it scrubs a surprsing amount of speed off, enough so that with forarms burning I can pull myself to a stop. Just. Of course I'm the only one with disk brakes and of course hey squirted oil on them. Support vehicle disappears off for new pads and I commence road side surgery. an hour behind the pack, I'm just chuffed when I realise they work again.

Relief!





The rest of the journey was relatively pleasant, There are some stunning roads through that way, most notably through Ormskirk and Skipton (or thereabouts, I was too busy dealing with ago-knee) Apparently you could tell I was in pain during lunch at Euxton...

I'm fine, honest!





And finally, home. Pint count: 2. Couldn't deal with it, needed bed! I'd do it again tomorrow if someone gave me the opportunity. If you ever get the chance to go on a little ride like this, especially if you have the luxury of support I implore you, GO!



If anyone feels like donating, the cause is always open, It was in aid of Childrens Heart Unit Foundation in Newcastle and I think we've recently passed the £10K mark. Banging'.

www.justgiving.com/stephenharcusturner


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## ScotiaLass (17 Jul 2015)

Well done!


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## Pat "5mph" (17 Jul 2015)

Enjoyed reading your report, well done for the effort, and thanks for sharing ... and for the picture of the field with bulls


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## lee1980sim (17 Jul 2015)

Now if only more companies did things like this charities and staff morale could be a lot better


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## raleighnut (18 Jul 2015)




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## pablo666 (18 Jul 2015)

Very well done!


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## mythste (18 Jul 2015)

lee1980sim said:


> Now if only more companies did things like this charities and staff morale could be a lot better



To be fair, we did organise it ourselves, the company (o2) just helped with sponsorship and organising the time off!


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## lee1980sim (18 Jul 2015)

mythste said:


> To be fair, we did organise it ourselves, the company (o2) just helped with sponsorship and organising the time off!


Well at least they did something, I've all on getting my employer to leave me room to access the cycle area lol, well done anyway I suppose the planning for next year has begun lol


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## mythste (18 Jul 2015)

Pat "5mph" said:


> Enjoyed reading your report, well done for the effort, and thanks for sharing ... and for the picture of the field with bulls



You'll notice we didn't remove our helmets...


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## steve50 (20 Jul 2015)

Well done, quite an achievement considering you don't class yourself as hardcore.


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## mythste (20 Jul 2015)

steve50 said:


> Well done, quite an achievement considering you don't class yourself as hardcore.



Not in a cycling sense anyway...


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## welsh dragon (20 Jul 2015)

Well done. Nice write up.


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## pclay (20 Jul 2015)

Looks like you had an eventful ride. Can't image why someone would spray gt85 on your brakes though.


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## mythste (20 Jul 2015)

pclay said:


> Looks like you had an eventful ride. Can't image why someone would spray gt85 on your brakes though.



I certainly don't think it was intentional! I think they were trying to "lube" the gears. Everyone else had rim brakes so although they got the same treatment, they suffered no ill!


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## puffinbilly (20 Jul 2015)

Good write up - where did you stay in Newcastle (just cannot recognise it from the photo) - I presume the highest speed was down Crawleyside into Stanhope? Some steep climbs around that area but some excellent cycling - really enjoyed your journey.


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## mythste (21 Jul 2015)

puffinbilly said:


> Good write up - where did you stay in Newcastle (just cannot recognise it from the photo) - I presume the highest speed was down Crawleyside into Stanhope? Some steep climbs around that area but some excellent cycling - really enjoyed your journey.



We stayed in the travel lodge pretty much on the water front. Perfectly pleasant! I'm afraid I couldnt tell you exactly where The top speed was, apart from it was about halway between Newcastle and Bishops Aukland


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## Keith Oates (22 Jul 2015)

A good write up and photos of a interesting trip, well done.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## Globalti (23 Jul 2015)

First few pictures I thought you'd brought along a swarm of bees attached to your chin then I realised it was a Simon Geschke Giant Alpecin caffeine-grown beard, to help with aerodynamics.

Some did get lost didn't they! How did those guys end up trogging through a field of cows with road bikes?

Congrats anyway! Neurofen is your friend next time that knee plays up.


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## mythste (23 Jul 2015)

Globalti said:


> First few pictures I thought you'd brought along a swarm of bees attached to your chin then I realised it was a Simon Geschke Giant Alpecin caffeine-grown beard, to help with aerodynamics.
> 
> Some did get lost didn't they! How did those guys end up trogging through a field of cows with road bikes?
> 
> Congrats anyway! Neurofen is your friend next time that knee plays up.



I'm surprised it got this far without someone mentioning my Aero-Beard! 

I was one of those guys! Google maps recognised it as a bridleway or something. We were in the middle of nowhere and the trail was only a mile or so, seemed silly to go back!


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