On Sunday I set off at 0600 from Grandes Rocques and headed clockwise round the coast. Just over 8 hours later I left Grandes Rocques and headed clock wise to the pub!
As I cycled upto Grandes Rocques I wondered who was going to be there to cycle wit me. As I got closer I saw the tell tale twinkle of a bike light, YES!! I had company, it was Rob from work a keen cyclist and cancer survivor and the official "sat nav" thing bloke. (Click here for stats)
The first lap was probably the most enjoyable, beautiful sunrise as we got into town, and all round the Island I think we saw 3 cars in total.
On the 2nd lap it seemed like very other cyclist on the Island was going the opposite way to us, and we did see a few people more than once! The wind was hitting us side on pretty much from the Imp, to Grandes Rocques but when you turned the corner just after Port Soif the wind was head on, this must have been the worst part of the whole lap. After turning left by the Mallard, it was nice cycling until you hit the Imperial again. At the end of the 2nd lap we nipped back to mine for a water bottle refill, and some much needed food. We only stopped for about 10 minutes but the rest was well worth it.
Lap 3 has sort of disappeared into a blur, as it was no different to the first 2 apart from at the end we both commented that it was starting to hurt now! Then there we were onto the last lap.
This was probably the most eventful lap, as Rob and I lost each other, Rob went for a pit stop at Bordeaux, I carried on thinking he would catch me up quite quickly. After a while I thought it was strange Rob hadn't come by. Got into town, still no Rob, then my phone rang. "Oh Rob's not sure where I am" I thought, no it was Martin wondering where I was and how I was doing. I arranged to meet Martin for the last leg, but still no Rob. "OK I thought I'll get to the top of Val de Terres and then give him a ring" As I was walking up my phone rang again, this time it was Rob, I explained where I would wait for him and on I went. When Rob caught up with me, it turned out he didn't think I could have been that far ahead after Bordeaux so had turned back to try and find me!! Cheeky get :-)
As we headed North from the Imperial, Martin came round the corner, bless him he had bought water, jelly babies and other goodies with him, and he cycled the last leg with us. We passed Grandes Rocques and headed straight to the Hoummet Tavern. We got into the car park, stepped off our bikes and both just looked at each other, we'd done it!! Martin then did the honours and got the beer.
Thanks Rob for supporting me that day, and cheers Martin for the last 20 minutes and the next 3 pints.
After the beer I had to head up to the Aero Club for my safety briefing for the skydive I was hoping to do Tuesday night. Unfortunately........no wait that can wait for the next post.
Remember folks this is all for charity so if you could spare a couple of quid please go to www.justgiving.com/dean-cooper/ and help to make a difference. Thanks for stopping by.
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