punkypossum
Donut Devil
- Location
- My own little planet...
We all survived Amsterdame!!! 
Only two people ended up in the support car for part of the journey, all other injuries were mainly cuts, bruises and severe road rash. I escaped unharmed and somehow the training must have paid off, as it was far less hard then I expected and I was in the lead group of my bunch (Team Rocket) for the whole 4 days. Day 2 was a bit of a killer tho, negotiating city centre traffic in Rotterdam, Amsterdam and The Hague slowed things down considerably - getting 60 people split into 3 teams through traffic lights takes forever! Plus various road closures that the GPS had not picked up on meant we cycled into a headwind for several miles 3 times, only to have to turn round and go back. It took us 12 hours to do 70 miles, by the end of it people were falling off their bikes left right and centre for no apparent reason at all, just sheer exhaustion. The weather was horrendous, apart from the first day, we had rainstorms, hail, gale force winds, you name it... My short sleeved jersey never saw the light of day, instead we all looked like a bunch of drowned rats covered in multiple layers and splayed in mud and covered in bruises, nettle stings and bramble scratches - nobody had mentioned the route contained single track and fields full of freshly laid cowpats!!! No major mechanical problems either, but most people had really decent bikes. The only supermarket full susser ended up with a seized rear hub on day one, but apart from that in the whole group we only had 3 punctures and one ruined tyre, plus a couple of cranks coming loose - not bad going me thinks. Simon did really well, no problems at all, although he urgently needs a wash, covered in mud and worse from top to bottom. And I have decided I actually like hills, the first and the last day included a few and were far more fun, got a bit bored on the endless stretches of straight road in Holland. And I realised my saddle really starts hurting my sit bones after 50 miles, but hey, they coped...
We never got more than 5 hours sleep, did no partying (apart from 4 hard core characters), had triple dinners whenever possible, got soaked and bruised and absolutely loved it!!! Want to do it again next year! Oh, and smashed the target and raised about £33,000 for Marie Curie
Was really nice to meet up with Mickle, Spandex, Arch and Helen for a quick pre-ride drink as well! At least I know what you guys look like now, and thanks for adjusting the brakes (again
)!!!
Now starting to come down from the buzz and suffering from post-ride depression, return to normality not pleasant at all! And next week I will have to start chasing people for their sponsorship money, argh!
But it was all worth it, come on Amsterdame 09!!!!
Only two people ended up in the support car for part of the journey, all other injuries were mainly cuts, bruises and severe road rash. I escaped unharmed and somehow the training must have paid off, as it was far less hard then I expected and I was in the lead group of my bunch (Team Rocket) for the whole 4 days. Day 2 was a bit of a killer tho, negotiating city centre traffic in Rotterdam, Amsterdam and The Hague slowed things down considerably - getting 60 people split into 3 teams through traffic lights takes forever! Plus various road closures that the GPS had not picked up on meant we cycled into a headwind for several miles 3 times, only to have to turn round and go back. It took us 12 hours to do 70 miles, by the end of it people were falling off their bikes left right and centre for no apparent reason at all, just sheer exhaustion. The weather was horrendous, apart from the first day, we had rainstorms, hail, gale force winds, you name it... My short sleeved jersey never saw the light of day, instead we all looked like a bunch of drowned rats covered in multiple layers and splayed in mud and covered in bruises, nettle stings and bramble scratches - nobody had mentioned the route contained single track and fields full of freshly laid cowpats!!! No major mechanical problems either, but most people had really decent bikes. The only supermarket full susser ended up with a seized rear hub on day one, but apart from that in the whole group we only had 3 punctures and one ruined tyre, plus a couple of cranks coming loose - not bad going me thinks. Simon did really well, no problems at all, although he urgently needs a wash, covered in mud and worse from top to bottom. And I have decided I actually like hills, the first and the last day included a few and were far more fun, got a bit bored on the endless stretches of straight road in Holland. And I realised my saddle really starts hurting my sit bones after 50 miles, but hey, they coped...We never got more than 5 hours sleep, did no partying (apart from 4 hard core characters), had triple dinners whenever possible, got soaked and bruised and absolutely loved it!!! Want to do it again next year! Oh, and smashed the target and raised about £33,000 for Marie Curie
Was really nice to meet up with Mickle, Spandex, Arch and Helen for a quick pre-ride drink as well! At least I know what you guys look like now, and thanks for adjusting the brakes (again
)!!!Now starting to come down from the buzz and suffering from post-ride depression, return to normality not pleasant at all! And next week I will have to start chasing people for their sponsorship money, argh!
But it was all worth it, come on Amsterdame 09!!!!
.
