Today saw the undertaking of my biggest challenge to date,

I woke up at around 3am on sunday morning and swiftly headed off in the car thanks to a great dad who offered to take me instead of having to get the ole coach and on the way we basically had to stop in a few places as the fog was incredibly dangerous and you couldnt see anything at all and I hoped that this would clear up by the time we got there which was around 6am by the time we arrived.

Once arriving in Oxford I got my gear sorted and headed to the main shopping street where the ride was starting from and checked in and was in the first group so we were lucky enough to have a big starting banner that we got to ride through and cheer which was fun and off we went!

On departing Oxford and heading out into the countryside and up into the first stream of hills that lay ahead the problems began to arrise,the fog became so thick that it got to the stage where you actually couldnt see the road that was just in front of your front wheel and despite everyone using powerful led lights you couldnt see someone ahead of you until you were on their back wheel and to make it worse the cars who strangely enough were going at full speed down these blind country roads couldnt see us either which made it very dangerous so a group of us decided that it would be safer to ride in a box formation so that we could combine our lights and make it easier for people to see us which meant riding at a slower pace but it worked well and cars and farm equipment that was randomly coming out at that time of the morning was able to see us and give way but didnt take away the fact that we couldnt feel our toes from the cold that the fog brought.

It wasnt until we had done around a good 40 miles that the fog started to thin out and we could see properly which is when we decided that whoever came last out of our group was to be the one to buy the drinks at the end village so needless to say this is when everyone accelerated away and tried to best each other which added a fun side to the whole ride overall.

The route was extremely hilly rather enough to give Ditchling Beacon a run for its money from what ive been told about that one in some places which meant that no matter how fast you went or how many people you passed or passed you by give it a few miles and you would meet them all again on the climbs which sometimes dropped down to a minimal 3mph as we struggled up them but the factor that made this all the more difficult was that the fog brought with it a lot of dew meaning that the roads were saturated in a lot of places so what was happening was the back wheel was just spinning on the hills and not gripping in making it awkward to climb but eventually we got past the most of them easily enough until it came to the big one,and what a monster this hill was,more of a mountain to be fair it was ridiculous and this is where you could tell that the good ole organisers at the British Heart Foundation just like their partners at the Prince's Trust and other charity's got to have their giggles at the thought of us combating this part of the route.

Coming out of a small village we were led up into a forest and confronted with a hill that just kept going up and up and up into the forest until you basically couldnt see the top anymore which after doing near 70 miles at this point was enough to make you cry if you had been that sort of person xD and enough to drain the last reminants of morale from anyone else but up we went going down and down through the gears until we ran out and had to just grit it and hope for the best and right as we were approaching the summit a few riders had the unfortunate mishap of having the chain slip and come off from shifting back up too quick which also happened to me but no matter we we had made it up and after a few seconds of maintenance we were off again and what a delight it was.

The downhill part was a insanely steep road bringing us back out into civilization allowing us to get incredibly fast speeds and at one point my Shimano Flightdeck clocked 42MPH on our ride down into a nearby town which also had a refreshment station there which sometimes its better if you dont look at it and see what speed your doing as it freaks you out a bit! but this also meant that one rider who was passing a lady walking with a horse which suddenly bolted as he went past startled him and he went flying off his bike and across the road scattering his gear everywhere which he was thankfully ok but didnt make a nice viewing for the rest of us knowing we could be next.

We had 80 miles behind us by now and were in Cambridgeshire and the British Heart foundation had put up signs every mile for the last 10 miles which was great for the morale as all you were thinking about was getting to the next sign and the next one etc but each mile felt like 10 and at this stage most people had used all their glucose drinks and any edible energy snacks they had and were just thinking of the hot food waiting at the end to get them home as well as the fact that it didnt hurt to cycle anymore as you couldnt feel your legs anyway so it wasnt so bad,As we entered the town of Cambridge itself we had to make a few last turns and then we were directed down a long road leading into a big field which was the finishing run up and we could hear the radio announced and the cheers of the supporters and the music playing as we arrived and were handed our medals and photographs were taken whilsts we had a quick interview with the radio presenter which was fun and then off we went to indulge in the delights of the end village ranging from feet and leg massages,hot food and also being able to watch the stunt shows.

So there you go that was my review of the Oxford to Cambridge 90 mile cycle in aid of the British Heart Foundation,it was a fantastic day despite the starting weather and would definitly do it again.


Total time taken: 6 hours 2 mins
Miles covered: 90 Miles
Top speed: 42MPH
Weather:Dangerously thick fog for the first 40 miles then turned out nice and sunny
Would I do it again?: I sure would