Intro

A couple of years ago, my nephew Ben was born with Cystic Fibrosis, one of the UK's most common life-threatening inherited diseases which affects over 9000 people in the UK, including five new babies every week. It affects the internal organs, especially the lungs and digestive system, clogging them with thick sticky mucus which makes it hard to breathe and digest food.

To raise funds for the CF Trust, I took on the Nightrider 2012 challenge, a 100km cycle ride through London at night! and raised over £1600.


I'm now tackling the Oxford to Cambridge bike ride in September 2013, this time for the British Heart Foundation, another charity that means a lot to me.


I'd be very grateful if you would sponsor me for this challenge at http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/rew. All funds raised go to charity.


Wednesday, 6 June 2012

The Route

With three days to go, I've been looking in detail at the final route for the event on Saturday (subject to last minute changes for roadworks etc.)...

   http://goo.gl/maps/FW4A

When I loaded the route into http://bikeroutetoaster.com (the fantastic website I've been using to plan routes), it suggests the distance is 105.96km, so I think I've been had!!

I can understand that the route needs to be 100km even if you don't go in and out of the five rest stops, but an extra 1km for each break is adding quite a bit to the total!

The general picture is as follows:


I start at Alexandra Palace in the north (where the bike is drawn on the picture above, although I'll be heading in the other direction to that image as we go anti-clockwise round the route), passing the following places amongst many others:
  • Leg 1: Hampstead Heath, Camden Lock, London Zoo, Regent's Park, Piccadilly Circus, West End, Waterloo Bridge, London Eye.
  • Stop 1: Imperial War Museum.
  • Leg 2: The Oval, Westminster Bridge, Big Ben, Parliament, White Hall (past Downing Street), Trafalgar Square, Hyde Park, Royal Albert Hall, Chelsea Bridge, Battersea Power Station.
  • Stop 2: Crystal Palace.
  • Leg 3: South London, Greenwich Park, National Maritime Museum.
  • Stop 3: Potters Fields.
  • Leg 4: Tower Bridge, Tower of London, St Paul's Cathedral, Barbican, City of London, Canary Wharf.
  • Stop 4: Mile End Stadium.
  • Leg 5: Victoria Park, Emirates Stadium, Finsbury Park.
  • Finish: Alexandra Palace again!
The southern part of the route doesn't include as many sights, but is a just long hard slog down to Crystal Palace and back up to the river.

We cross the river 4 times, the last of which is Tower Bridge which I'm quite looking forward too as it should be dawn by then.

The height profile generally isn't too bad:



The highest peak is quite soon after the start (hopefully after enough time to warm up), climbing up to Whitestone Pond in Hampstead.  The second peak is at the half way stop where we climb up to Crystal Palace.  These will both take a bit of a concerted effort, but the rest doesn't look too bad though.

So, I have one more training ride this evening, then I'm in rest mode until Saturday.  I'd better get some sleep before then!
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)