My name is Chris Wright and I work as a consultant anaesthetist at Broomfield hospital. Being a gasman puts me in charge of everything gaseous on the ride particularly Co2. I first became heavily interested in cycling when my now wife bought me a road bike as an engagement present. Since then I put in enough miles and hours to justify the purchase of some high pedigree Italian carbon to sit on. Ah ….. the miles are much easier now. I agreed to do this ride in a moment of weakness in the clubhouse after a round of golf with Kevin Kiff ..... surely ten days golf would have been easier.
Despite this I am looking forward to the ride. It will be a great achievement and should be fun with the team we have. Most importantly its for a fantastic cause close to our hearts.
I will have fantastic support from my family Caroline Beth Archie and Laurence with frequent telephone calls and texts, which will help during the hard times. Happy pedalling Chris
Day 5
Written by Chris
Thursday, 10 July 2008 19:10
150 miles into a head wind ----- GREAT FUN Just to add to this intermittent rain
Also the first puncture of the trip. Not bad after 2200 miles in total
Nice ride on the sustrans route to Inverness Quick lunch pot noodles again this time with chilli sauce . Ben as always is looking after us. Always a smilling face and a joke. No rub downs thankfully. But we are getting desperate now.
Onwards and upwards to the NORTH
The stretches at the front are now 5km rather than 10. We are all a little weaker than when we started.
Then it really started- wind – rain - and very big hills.
It was during a climb that Kevin started to laugh hysterically ,
We started to shout at the hills and the weather saying you cannot hurt us anymore
I didn’t have all my wet weather gear and at the bottom of a hill I decided to put on my wet weather shorts. When I stopped I forgot to uncleat my feet and promptly fell over still attached to my bike.
As you can imagine with the mental state of my riding colleagues, sympathy was not high on the agenda, laughter and giggling was all I heard until Kevin chirped in with
Get up you look like a piece of road kill, the crows will have your eyes.
This made me feel much better
After another hour of very heavy rain we decided to get in the van and dry off
Cycled the last 10 miles into John of Groats.----- What a place.
As I climbed off thr bike outside our establishment I was greeted by very drunk young man who said “ Are yee f***** on yer bike yet PAL
I answer nervously- Yes just a little – do you now where my friends are. He pointed to the bar where there whole population of JOG seemed to be in a state of drunkenness. We had fun though and celebrated our arrival appropriately Next morning Traditional photo at the sign post and quickly heading South.
Day 4
Written by Chris
Thursday, 10 July 2008 19:00
Glad to leave the hotel Police arrived as we were getting ready to talk to the night fighters But It did give us an opportunity to ask for directions to the forth road bridge Difficult cycle through Edinburgh as there is lots of road works for the new tram lines to mess us up. Eventually found our way to the bridge which proooved to be quite a nervous crossing with a strong side wind. Strangely Kevin had the urge to jump, and we had the urge to push him, his knee was bothering him --- bless him.
Very hard ride into a head wind up to Perth and then we got onto the sustrans route all the way to Aviemore
Lovely conditions very quiet roads company a little dubious
What we did have to look forward to was our little treat of the hotel in Aviemore A little better than the premier inn
Very sore bottom but more worryingly my Achilles tendons had become very very sore and creaky nothing that a few whiskeys wouldn’t solve
Day 3
Written by Chris
Wednesday, 09 July 2008 07:44
Onward to Edinburgh Left gainford going north we got lost within 5 minutes we only had to find the biggest hills in the area – more difficult than you think. We eventually found our way north into the North Penines Park. Where you can imagine there are a few hills. This park carried on for approx 80 miles up down and round about . Scotland still seemed a long way away. Climbs included 1 x 1400 ft 1 x 1600ft 2 x 1700ft 1 x 1500ft 3 x 1000ft These don’t include the little swines in and out of each village usually 15- 20%
Our legs are getting like tree trunks a suggestion of full body fasciotomies was muted However not taken up
We then had the momentous occasion when we crossed the border into Scotland Big Moment It had taken us 21.5 hrs ride time to get from Chelmsford to Scotland – we were pretty proud of that.
The emotional high soon disappeared when the Scottish version of hills appeared. We eventually got in the van at around 2000hrs for our short drive to the hotel in Edinburgh.
Once in the van I thought I would just give the hotel a ring to make sure they were ready for us. The conversation went like this.
Ring Ring…….. Hello premier inn edinburugh Hi we are on our way –can we have your postcode so we can enter it on to the sat nav Yes sure thing sir it is EH33 2AY Thanks we will see you soon.
Aprrox 20mins later we find ourselves in not too pleasant housing estate in Trenannt a suburub of Edinburgh
Conversation in the van between tired riders seemed to be getting a little strained- this cant be right, I will ring the hotel again. Hello sir Weare at the postcode but we cant see the hotel. I described what I could see
Oh no sir I have given you my home postcode
You’ve done what- ( obviously others words were being said by my co cyclists. This then descended into a giggling mess
We now had the proper postcode To save time I placed our food order over the phone
A little while later my phone rings Sorry sir the restaurant has now closed
So we now have no food and don’t arrive into the hotel till about 2200
The hotel did buy us a Chinese which made Kevin sick
The end of a very long day. Off to bed Woken up at 0430 by drunken brawl outside our room. The end of a perfect day…..
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Day 1
Written by Chris
Sunday, 06 July 2008 00:00
OUCH!
Arrived safely at 21.15, 252Km in 8 hours 22 minutes, shower food then bed, will update tomorrow.
Thanks for the send off, it was lovely to see you all at the start.
Day one Felt a little nervous after waking, just like before a big exam, farewell to my wife Caroline and then took children to school drop off whilst listening to Kevins’ radio interview. Fantastic send off from everyone at the hospital. Then the miles started. Good days cycling we all felt good intermittent egg sandwiches and energy gels seem to do the trick. Good feed a bear and bed. Where shall we go today- visit the cathedral in Lincoln ---- No we will go to Darlington. Happy days – Love to all at home – Chris ( daddy)
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And their off!!
Last Updated on Saturday, 20 September 2008 10:10
Day 2
Written by Chris
Saturday, 05 July 2008 05:46
Good Morning Bloggers Very good day yesterday, despite the rain. We are now very north approx level with middlesborough. We had a supporting wind and managed 30kms/h for the day. Body seems to be holding up a little sore in some areas, where you would expect especially. Support from Ben working very well, egg, tuna , peanut butter sandwiches are a treat, yesterday we discovered pot noodles , what luxury. Bikes holding up well but matt wearing his 2nd pair of shoes which his dogs had chewed before he left, he describes them just like slippers.
A big thank you for all the support from home the messages on the website are very encouraging.
Love to all in Tolleshunt D”arcy Have fun today Enjoy the cricket tomorrow beth and Laurence , say hi to prince Caspian Archie Get some rest Caroline if you can Bye for now
My name is Chris Wright and I work as a consultant anaesthetist at Broomfield hospital. Being a gasman puts me in charge of everything gaseous on the ride particularly Co2.
