Wyatt's Good Friday Epic

Friday 10th April

At 4.45am Friday 10th April, I was ready to go. Everything was set, me and my back pack. I travelled as light as I could but knew the first couple of hours would be the heaviest. On me I had 12 Bananas, 4 X 500ml bottles water, 10 packets of jellied sweets, 20 Tracker bars and 18 individual bags of Dextrose powder to add to my 700ml water bottles. I also carried a pump (attached to the bike) a spare fully charged GPS, 2 inner tubes and a tool kit as well as a spare T-shirt.

Just before I set off I did a brisk ten minutes on the stepping machine to get me warmed up and good to go.

Once I turned the front and back lights on I got going and edged up Northern Approach Road and out towards Sudbury on the A134.
Despite being dark, the morning was perfect. Cool, with a slight breeze and thin layers of moonlight gently lighting the way.

I knew I was in a ride after 15 minutes when I started the climb to Levenheath with all that weight across my back, but once over I felt relief and not feeling too heavy chested or out of my depth early on. Wary of saving GPS battery life (it has 15 hours of life, but I knew I would need it longer!) I kept the backlight off the whole time, although it illuminated enough for to see the turns ahead as it counted me down.

Shortly after Newton golf course I turned right and headed deep into Suffolk countryside as the sun started to rise and looked a beautiful sight. This was the most scenic part of the whole journey. Single track roads through tiny villages where every house was a farm!

I had my first stop for 15 minutes after around 25 miles in the village of Hawkedon. Here I re stocked my water bottles using what I was carrying, as there were no shops or garages of any kind around here. By now it was a beautiful spring morning and the sun was up but I knew sometime in the afternoon rain lay ahead. I just hoped it would be a few short sharp showers mixed in with some cloud and sunshine.

From here I rode on through the villages towards Mildenhall. Somewhere before Mildenhall I must have missed a quick turn, and rather than take me back the GPS just re-routed me. I didn't realise until I got near Mildenhall it had taken me an extra 9 miles! The only upside of this was that I no longer had to navigate the A11 and the main Mildenhall roundabout.
I did just before the town centre have my one and only bike "incident!"
I slowed beside the road to stop for a wee (standard stuff behind a bush!) released my left foot and leant towards it to balance my self once the bike stopped. For whatever reason my backpack shifted to the right and pulled all my weight over to the right. I couldn't get my right foot free in time and I rolled over onto the grass verge, my right leg caught under the bike (just as well it wasn't on fire!) I had to undo my shoe and take my foot out of it still attached to the bike before I could stand it upright and get myself sorted!

Drama over I stopped a couple of miles later at a garage and had some "breakfast" 2 Bananas, a packet of chicken and some sweets.
I managed to find the only garage ever without a water tap! Not a problem I thought as I had a 500ml bottle of water left and I thought I'd get to a garage within the next hour. Once passed the air base, the GPS seemed to get confused around a new road construction, and it took me down a track off the main road.....straight into a rather unsavoury looking gyspy camp! I soon got back to the main road, but had lost another fifteen minutes on the clock.

The road then opened out into incredible open flatness as Suffolk became Cambridgeshire. Warm, sunny and pretty still. I felt good as I rolled along, by no means hammering it but getting a steady 14-18 MPH. After around an hour I became concerned at the lack of shop or garage activity and realised I was low on water. Finally as both bottles neared empty I found a garden centre near the Cambridgeshire / Norfolk border. He was friendly enough and asked me where I was going. I told him Yorkshire and he said "So you'll be taking a few days to get there then?" He must have thought I was being sarcastic when I told him "No I'll be there tonight!" From here I turned into Norfolk and followed fairly flat single carriageway roads towards Wisbeach.

About 10 miles outside I stopped in a field by a rather large house.
I ate once more and figured I'd have a 15 minute power nap. What I didn't realise at the time that this big house was having a rather large bonfire in the front garden. When I woke up I had ash all over me! At this point I also realised I wasn't going to make it back for 8pm. Whilst my riding time was solid, I was stopping for longer and more frequently (at some points I needed to wee every 15-20 minutes!!)

On I went to Wisbeach (another water fill up at a Shell garage)
This was a slow town to get through because of so many traffic lights but at this stage I was 80 miles in. Wisbeach soon led into Lincolnshire, and another very flat part of the country as the clouds began to gather over head. I soon joined the rather busy and tedious A17 / A15 and kept heading north as lorries rumbled by, but I often managed to stay safe in my own mini hard shoulder. To be fair across the day / night no-one got dangerously close. By now, around 1.30 it was clouding over.
I stopped once again for some of my ever repeating food just off a busy roundabout as the first few drops of rain began to fall. As I began again along the busy road, the rain fell harder. Finally after around 17 miles I left the busy carriageway and headed along quiet B roads towards Lincoln.

It was past three o clock now, dark skies overhead and raining hard. I could see the rain falling off my helmet. My gloves were soaked, and if I kept my feet still to free wheel, the one nearest the ground was soaked with water as it splashed up.

It was truly miserable now.

I had a spare T-shirt but didn't see the point in changing it. I'd have got colder stopping to strip! What would have been better would have been my winter jacket, but I had swapped it for my spring short sleeved one and had left that behind! On I went stopping a couple of times for water and the toilet (well bush or field!) Finally around 5.30 as the rain bounced down I stopped just outside Lincoln city centre at a childrens playground where I took shelter from the rain on a covered bench.

Here I made a brief video to show how wet it was, and here I realised what a nasty catch 22 I had for the duration of the rain. I needed to stop to eat and rest for a few minutes, but within a few minutes of stopping I was shivering uncontrollably! So I knew I couldn't rest long and had to get going ASAP
 
The weather made me more determined than ever, but as I was so wet and cold I really did wonder whether I would make it! At this point I had done 135 miles with 65 more to go. It also depressed me slightly, knowing that I would be back late evening and would be riding in the dark again!

After ten minutes I set off and dropped down into the city, passed the city station and cathedral towards the outskirts of town. Here I knew I had a bit of a climb. Looking back it wasn't as bad as I thought. I was just worried how I'd handle it after 12 hours plus of riding. I dropped to the middle chain for the first time all day and eased my way up the long and steady incline.

There was then a beautiful view across the tops of Lincolnshire and back down towards the city as I headed across through the slowly decreasing rain towards Gainsborough, some 25 miles away.  

I finally cleared Gainsborough just before 8pm and stopped to eat some more sweets, drink and switch my lights back on. It was all country lanes, and quiet B roads as I made my way across the tops, where there was more up than down as I slowly edged towards Doncaster. Despite the darkness, I didn't feel unsafe and what little traffic there was easily saw my lights and moved out. 

Finally after 9pm I started the gentle descent into Doncaster. I rode right through the centre of town passing all the revellers on their way out as I maintained a good pace through the noise. I had to navigate two busy roundabouts and a large steep bridge before climbing out of the town.

I stopped one final time at a garage just before 10pm. I had less than 25 miles to go. From here I knew it would be an emotional battle. It was dark. I was frozen and still soaked even though the rain had almost stopped. I only had 24 miles to go but most of it was uphill, and I couldn't see much.
I was also very tired and yawned for the first time as I left that garage, so I knew I was getting a bit jaded. It was quite demoralising seeing one village become another as the mileage coverage seemed to grind to a halt despite still moving along at a decent pace. I needed that final city to appear.
 
It didn't help when I passed the WELCOME TO WAKEFIELD sign. Reading the small print it said "The district of WAKEFIELD" I still had 8 miles to go!
I crossed the A1 and headed over the tops of the A638. FINALLY the country road gave way to street lighting and I dropped into Wakefield.
I was 4 miles from home and the finish. By now I didn't care about the uphill climb to get me out of the city and onto the A61. I was nearly finished. I pedalled hard up the hill and over the tops to my home address finally arriving at 11.50pm

I was pleased with my stats, even though in the end I just wanted to finish regardless of time and average speed. I spent 15 hours and 30 minutes riding with a total journey time of just over 19 hours. My average speed was lower than I hoped at just over 13 mph, but then there were some busy towns and cities to get through (plus I left the GPS recording for one of my breaks when I'd stopped). I burned over 11,000 calories and arrived nearly 4 hours later than I'd planned. I didn't care! It wasn't a race and my ride time was still around the 15 hours I'd hoped for.

Amazingly I didn't suffer any cramps or strains, and felt fine walking and moving once I finally got inside. My thighs did ache a bit and I could feel my bum! but generally I was in great shape! The next day my bum was tender to say the least, I was actually feeling great and could move and function just fine. Surprisingly despite not taking too much food I actually had quite a bit left over. In hindsight I should have taken the crusty rolls that I had been craving all day!

The bike itself gave me no trouble whatsoever and really things couldn't have gone much better (apart from the weather). I was very pleased all in all and am now in the process of planning and putting together something MUCH bigger in the summer............

Cheers

Wyatt