My first Martlets ride was more about fine food and illuminations than it was about being on my bike. And as for no panniers - sorry Dellzeqq but we had panniers and a crate!
As part of Team Tim our raison d'etre was to make the Badlands sparkle (it becomes nothing but an unlit track with roadbumps, potholes and of course those restriction-making Bollards! With this in mind both Marna (part of Team Tim 2010) and I (newbie!) were kindly invited to dinner Chez Hall for 9.30pm. This was all so unFNRttC. I mean the Halls were in civvies!
We all sat down to Pasta Aux Saumon followed by home-made apricot and banana crumble. Delish! Conversation included the universe, cooking, IT, Badlands lighting strategy, LED options and why TimH Jr would want to miss out on the hilarious event where we would apparently be haring up and down a track, falling into pot holes then lighting them up, shouting "Bollards" to wallabies, "hole" to the peacocks all the while whilst working out the route of the track to try and avoid lighting up some private drive or entrance to a field.
Eventually (and brilliantly) TimH jr relented and without a cleet or a soupcon of lycra, got on his bike and rode out with us (sometimes he held onto the handlebars, sometimes he didnt)! We arrived just before midnight and methodically put out our assortment of laminated signs, "To the Beach", arrows, lights, LED balloons and wands.
As we had just lit the final set of bollards and began heading back to the junction with the main road, a flurry of cycling lights swept towards us. All I could call out was "Friday Night Ride?" to which Adrian called out my name! We all wished them a good night and headed back to the junction. MrsTimH and Marna lit up the junction with balloons, lights and fabulous christmas tree lights around Marna's bike - and (thanks to Marna's brilliant sound level voice operated flashing magic t-shirt that she lent me) I lit up myself!!
TimH had LED pompoms and TimHjr had LED batons, Marna had wands, so as we spotted cyclists coming down from DeckerTims roundabout, we all pointed and called "Left" with the Halls practicing their Gatwick version of
Marshalling. By the time they arrived at the turning quite a lot of them said "Is it left? Are you sure?!"!! (Although someone did actually go past TimH which was bazaar) - so I yelped in a rather uncool fashion and they did scoop leftwards behind him!
TimH wandered up to the roundabout manned by Deckertim to offer him rock cake. Marna kept an eye out on bicycle lights and encouraged two cyclists to stop so that she could give them replacement batteries. And in the continued spirit of hospitality - MrsTimH served tea, coffee and home-made rock cakes!
Every once in a while a Marshall/fellow FNRttCer would arrive, say hello and move down the lane. TimH went up to see DeckerTim again and eventually, as predicted by MrsTimH, we saw TimH running towards us! Clearly the end of the ride had arrived (so to speak!)
Teef and Titus came by and said hello, admiring our well lit turning. Whilst they were chatting to us the two support vans drove in and past us. TimH said "oh I dont think they are supposed to come down here". "Too true" I said. "There are bollards at the end of the track." At which point Teef and Titus shot off like rockets to bring down the vans and which had to do a few pointed turns to come back out to the main road. Oooops!
Then Dellzeqq arrived - somewhat bemused to see the vans coming out of the lane!! He explained that he would be escorting them the long way round (using the main road) and reiterated that if we had any issues or mechanicals while we were clearing Badlands we were to call him on his mobile and he would come back. His ceaseless concern, level of care to us all and attention to detail right until the ride is completely completed (whereupon he can be found falling asleep infront of a few tinnies at the seaside), is truly awesome.
Team Tim went down the lane retrieving all our illuminations, TimHjr headed home - he had done us all proud - we met up with Flying Dodo and Des as we all headed to the Refreshments School. More Food? Excellent! But the enthusiasm and cheery smiles from the volunteers along with the excellent catering stays in the mind. Very generous indeed. And Hey! I had done two miles of cycling since I left home at 7.30pm! (Calorie intake to calorie burning ratio is shot to pieces!) On leaving, TimH found some urgent fettling to be done to a Martlets bicycle so I headed out into the night as Olav took up wayfaring a roundabout. Not too far away I found Turners Hill. Luckily I found myself at the top of it soon after! Then down a hill. Onwards, onwards. And then the fog. Thicker and thicker. It was becoming quite eerie. Actually I was beginning to be really spooked. Completely on my own, visibility practically zero, I triple checked all my rear lights were on "Just keep pedalling" I said to myself. It was so bad that only my legs could tell me whether I was going uphill, downhill or along the flat. And no-one around apart from a few speedy cars. Thankfully, about 10 minutes later a friendly voice rode by "Hello Mice". DeckerTim to the rescue. Even more thankfully, he accompanied me all the way to Lindfield where the mist was clearing and the sun was coming up.
Stopped for a chat with Adrian, User10571, Suzy, TheClaud and a few other FNRttCers. Then we all headed off again. My legs were beginning to wake up. With calories to burn I found myself pushing ahead. I kept going until I found Arallsopp and McWobble wayfaring near Ditchling and stopped to say hello. They both reminded me that if I keep turning the pedals I will climb that Beacon thing. With newfound enthusiasm I took them at their word and just kept pedalling. Unbelievably I did just that all the way to the top and didn't stop until the entrance to the Ditchling Beacon car park. Fantastic! Only 98 more "Greatest Cycling Climbs" to go! Visibility, however, (as the photos show) sucked. Absolutely nothing. The Martlets peeps just kept coming, some on foot, some on wheels but they all just stuck with it. Brillliant! What an achievement. Their supporters and volunteers were full of enthusiasm and encouragement - some even with bumper packets of Twix (thank you very much for that!)
And then on to the Madeira for table moving antics, a bucket of tea and some sunshine. I saw PBP 1885. Epic!
To all you Martlets cyclists - congratulations and well done on your incredible cycling achievement and of course fundraising extravaganza.
To all you volunteers - thank you for the cheering, the catering and standing around all night and indeed driving a van.
Thank you too to the Mechanics and Bicycle Support Van.
It was a feet indeed. The comment from CharlieB that a resident of the Hospice is a friend of his saddens me a great deal and I realise that every resident is a friend or relation of someone. I hope that the FNRttC
Martlets raises a large amount of money for you - especially in these economic climes - and some much earned publicity. Whatever the final total turns out to be, it was down to an enormous effort and achievement of your sponsored cyclists and your volunteers. And it was all down to Dellzeqq without whom none of this would have happened. The FNRttCers are fabulous and I am very lucky to have been included in this event - although all I did was accept an invitation to Dinner!
Needless to say, when I wasn't eating, I took some pics and with any luck this is the
link to my pics
M
Edited to put correct link to pics in.
