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Ride the Night is a charity bike ride in aid of three womens' cancer charities and covers a 100km route from Windsor to London and back.
Lorna, Liz and two friends departed from Windsor Racecourse about 21.50 on Saturday just as twilight was falling across the start line amidst waves and cheers from all the crowds there to support friends and loved ones. The first 25k went very smoothly and we were impressed with ourselves how quickly we had managed to conquer it!
After a quick pit stop, we set off cheerily on the next stage which was to navigate through London. As there were no road closures on this event we found ourselves among the buses and cars in the middle of London; we seemed to have to stop at every red light and with the number of cyclists the drivers were getting very irate with having to give way to us. The sight of the London Eye all lit up in pink was a welcome sight and a pause for a quick photo. Then on to Westminster Bridge and Houses of Parliament and the second feed-station at Buckingham Palace; alas the Queen wasn’t inviting us in for a drink, but a quick cup of tea and slice of flapjack kept our spirits up as we negotiated our way on to the next stage to exit London. As it was well past midnight we were hoping for a little less traffic on the way out and it was on this stretch we encountered our first hill; which was quite steep and gave us all a good challenge which didn’t stop us but the red lights did.
As we hit the final feed-station around 2am, we were tired but happy as we were on the last leg and on our way home with just 25k between us and our beds! Setting off towards Windsor, spirits were high until we rounded a corner and were hit with the sight of the ‘big one’ - Tite Hill. We could see it looming up in front of us going up at a very steep climb. We set off with our tired legs and determination to conquer it, but not quite managing to get over the top, but coming down the other side more than made up for it; until we saw the sign that we still had another 5k to go. A slight de-tour was in place due to road works and this had added an extra few miles to the route.
Tired, sore and extremely elated we turned into Windsor racecourse amid cheers and clapping from all the supporters who had stayed overnight to see everybody back in. Over the finish line, collected our medal to collapse on the grass with a well-earned glass of bubbly waiting with our families.