The Magnificent Seven Tackle the Trans Pennine Trail
This weekend 7 cyclists headed off from Deeside and their aim was to reach the North Sea by Sunday. This was all in aid of Alzheimer's Research. My role in this was to drive a 16 seater mini bus and support them on route and bring them home on Sunday. DHL had kindly given the services of a truck and driver to bring the bikes back.
Friday 16th September 2011
9.30am and the riders were ready to roll, pictures taken they headed off. My role was to track them on Google latitude and to meet at pre arranged points to see if they needed anything. I was carrying energy drinks, water and enough bicycle spares to support the peleton of the tour de France. I met them at Fiddlers ferry and they seemed in good spirits and off they toddled again. I was not to meet them again until they reached the first overnight stop just outside Glossop. That is unless I got a call saying spares were required. The overnight stop was at a youth hostel, now it's been a hell of a long time since I saw the inside of one of those. I reached the Youth Hostel at approximately 6pm and their ETA was 7pm. I checked them all in and got the room keys in advance and sussed out the secure area for the bikes and settled back to wait. 7pm passed and according to Google they were still 18 miles away. Google updated slowly (maybe they were out of signal) and I was like a mother hen waiting. The poor eejits did not arrive until 9pm wet and weary. They had covered that last few mile in pitch darkness and were understandable knackered having covered 71 miles on less than favourable trails and in atrocious weather. There was talk of mutiny at this point with the recreational riders doubting whether they could continue tomorrow. They got cleaned up and I drove them into Glossop and they devoured a meal in the local Indian restaurant. I dreaded the morning when they had to clamber back onto their bikes again.
Saturday 17th September
They were all up and ready for a hearty cooked breakfast @ 7.30am and the despondency of the night before had disappeared and they were raring for road (56 miles). Off they headed and I was to meet them in Barnsley and in Doncaster en route to the next over nighter in Selby. This run was much better than the day before.as the weather was kinder and once they had climbed out of Glossop the route was much less demanding. Again I was not required for emergencies and passed the day tracking them and being close to them just in case. At this stage I was getting used to the big tank I was driving. They arrived in Selby in much better time and in much better shape and we had a good night relaxing and having a few pints. They were now ready for the final push.
Sunday 18th September
This run was from Selby to Hornsea a leisurely 53 miles and the weather was being kind with blue skies and warm sunshine. I met them in some small town on the Humber (North Ferriby) and we had a lovely lunch in a pub and refreshed they headed off to Hornsea. As the route after Hull was off the beaten track I headed straight to Hornsea to await their arrival. At the very end of the trip the heavens opened and the poor misfortunes got to the finish line in torrential rain. Battered and bruised but elated at the completion of this epic 180 mile trip. DHL turned up and collected the bikes and I loaded the riders into the mini bus and drove them home. We arrived back in Deeside at 9pm and I was home to take my place in the APAT league at 9.30.
Hats off to them for the ride and they collected £2,500 for the charity...
