Day 9 : Chris' Story

Special Guest Writer: Chris Watson


I’m glad that’s over! Today was such a long day that Andy has decided to pull rank and has ‘delegated’ the bulk of today’s blog to me, so here goes...

Alan decided that we should start an hour earlier than normal to allow for the extra kilometres we needed cover (248 in all) so we woke up at 5am, long before the sun rose. The day started with the group in a good enough mood, especially considering the time. Andy’s toys had successfully been returned to his pram and we were ready to go by 7am. The Betfair riders split into 3 groups: The guys that wanted to stay at the usual pace, those who wanted to take it easy and those who were hoping to be scouted for next year’s tour de France.

I found myself in the middle group and we immediately realised that, if our main challenge yesterday was the rain, today’s would most certainly be the wind. For about 12 of the 13 long hours we were riding, the howling wind was in our faces, making the day absolutely soul destroying for all. On roads where we would usually average between 25 and 30kmph, today we were lucky if we got up to 20kmph. All day it felt as if we were climbing a never ending hill with no beautiful view at the top nor exciting downhill at the end.

Still, a quick stop at the patisserie for a mid morning treat and everyone seemed to feel fairly positive about the rest of the day ahead. I decided that, if all went well, we would be at the accommodation by about 6:30pm.

All did not go well. The previous night and that morning Alan had explained to everyone the importance of disciplined drafting in big groups along the long, flat roads to keep our average speed up. However, get it wrong and accidents can happen. After about 85km we were in a large group battling against the wind and I was directly behind Nick when I clipped the back of his wheel and before I had time to break I had got tangled up and went crashing to the ground. Luckily, the riders behind me managed to swerve around me as I lay at the side of the road. I decided to be brave and picked myself up straight away. Then I remembered that I am not at all brave and realised that my knees had taken the brunt of the crash so I decided to have a sit down. As my fellow riders gathered around to see if I was OK I thought I should try again to stand up, I quickly realised this was a bad idea so I had another sit down and compose myself.

Everyone was quick to make sure I was OK and offered me various supplements/drugs to make me feel better. After a couple of minutes I managed to stand up and inspect the damage to my bike. The front wheel had completely buckled beyond repair so we called for backup. Alan arrived and took my bike away to be repaired whilst Tim generously offered his bike so I could continue riding whilst they went to get me a new front wheel.

The rest of the day was horrible, the wind being totally to blame. We arrived at the accommodation just after 8pm as the sun was beginning to set; all feeling relieved to have arrived but utterly exhausted both mentally and physically. All I wanted to do was collapse in a heap on the floor but I did my best to stick to the routine: stretch, protein shake, food, (very cold) shower, wash clothes. Now I have never been more ready for bed.

Today I experienced the huge highs and lows of Lifecycle; on the one hand I saw the incredible team spirit of the riders and efficiency of the back up team when I fell off, but on the other hand I found out just how hard a day of cycling can be. It’s after 10pm now and we’re getting up in less than 7 hours. There are still a few people out cycling, struggling with injuries, hopefully they’ll arrive soon so they can get at least some sleep before tomorrow.

So after the toughest day of the challenge by far I’ll try and end on a positive note. Tomorrow we arrive in England for the final leg of our journey, back to riding on the correct (as opposed to the right) side of the road and only 3 days to go, safe in the knowledge that it can’t get any worse than today... We hope.