Last year I decided to try and do 100 miles.

I’d previously done, 10, 15, 25, 50, and 75, so then next target was the 100, and I decided it would be a good idea to combine it with the hand-over of the Northern CycleChat relay jersey.

In typical male fashion I did the planning well in advance (the night before), and loaded with Lucozade and snack bars, I set off towards York to meet up with Arch. To stay away from the busier A roads, I built up my ride on Google Maps. It was, with hindsight, to be part of my downfall!

20 miles in and I was feeling great. Roads were fairly quite, a strong back wind was blowing me along, and I was doing well for time. The quiet roads I’d picked turned out to be quite hilly, but what the hell, the sun was shining, the air was fresh, and the view was lovely. At one point I didn’t see a car or tractor for nearly 30 mins.

Up and up I went. Then I looked around and couldn’t see any hills bigger than the one I was at the top of. That’s when it happened. The most fun and scary part of the ride! I crested the hill and after briefly noticing the warning sign (the one with the really steep slope on it), I grabbed the bars, put my head down, clenched my cheeks, and headed down the other side.

What a thrill. The previously quite hum of the tyres turned into a roaring whirr and I shot down the hill like a bullet. Within seconds I was doing over 20mph and picking up speed, 25, 30, 35, shouting excitedly at the animals in the fields either side of me, then I hit 40mph! YES!!!! WHAT A BUZZ! It was with an equally inverted buzz that I noticed the shallow, gravelled turn at the bottom of the hill. Panic, hit the brakes, let go of them again before I fly over the bars, and finally slow down just in time for the turn. The best 30 seconds of fun I’ve had in a long while!

The rest of the ride into York was plain sailing and having completed 53 miles I finally arrived at the Minster to meet up with Arch. (Cue hand-over photo).

Arch took me to a lovely little cafe on the other side of the Minster where we sat outside and enjoyed great food and conversation, before she helped me head out of town on the Fulford Road.

I said goodbye and set about doing the next 50 miles. Unfortunately I was now heading into the strong wind that had helped to push me along in the morning, and at around 70 miles I had to stop and take a lie down in a field because my knees were beginning to hurt.

The next 10 miles were hard work and I had to stop more frequently to rest the knees, but I was determined to continue as far as I could. This is where the last minute Google map planning tripped me up! I’d thought I was joining the A645 into Goole from a side road, however in reality it was a dead-end and I had to go around for 4 miles to get back to where I wanted to be.

I struggled on through Goole towards Howden, but once I got to Howden I couldn’t carry on. I’d completed 94 miles but just couldn’t squeeze those extra 6 miles in. If I’d tried I’m sure I would have done myself a serious injury, so I resigned myself to getting my 100 miler done another time and called in the Cavalry (my bruvva wiv da big van!).

Finally got home around 9:30pm. Hugged the missus, jumped into a warm bath, climbed out, and slept for England.

What a day!

(I plan to try again this year – maybe drafting some of the East Yorkshire CC Crew)