We did it! Well done TEAM PUIG! 57miles (93km) in ca. 8 hours
The alarm went off at 5:00am and I felt so tired because I slept 3 hours ONLY.
I live 40 min bike ride from Clapham Common away; luckily I managed to leave my bike at my colleagues’ house in Clapham the day before. Oh, I was so happy that my other colleague was passing by, so I had a Taxi ride to the meeting point.
06:00am ready to meet the rest of the TEAM
Last preparation: Hat strap detachable ginger fur sideburns and of course the Olympic gold medal. As a homage to the hero of British cycling ‘Bradley Wiggins’ (the man with enormous sideburns) and his win last year in the Tour de France (wearing the iconic yellow jersey) …
Our themed group outfit was:
‘Tour de Brighton’ 2013, Team Puig, Homage to Wiggins
‘Tour de Brighton’ – Slope Guide
Getting out of London was crazy; traffic jam everywhere with thousands of bikes on the road. All cars had to be patient as the cyclist sometimes took over both sides of the road. There was lots of police and a few times the Ambulance had to squeeze through. Unfortunately there were a few bad accidents.
Downhill was fun, fast and dangerous on the same time. I felt cyclist passing me very close and I had the breaks on just a little bit (most of the time). Downhill on 30mph with people even faster, I had to watch out very carefully when I was overtaking a person not to bump into someone that was overtaking me; I grabbed my handlebar so tight to feel in control of the situation.
Next day my legs were absolutely fine just my shoulders were sore and now I know why ;-).
Lunch break: fun meeting other competitors in very fancy dresses
Oh and we were all up for a burger… Mmmmh so good and I felt ready to go on cycling but…
… I forgot the Beacon aka. “the killer” and with the big lunch I had, you can immagine how I felt!
Nearly 90% of this steep hill I managed to cycle up until I got so hot (I forgot to take off my raincoat and jacket). I actually realised the beautiful view… my colleague passed by and I decided to take lovely pictures and we had a short break.
Last stop before the Finish line.
Amazing weather! The sun was out and we all met at a pub close to the pier to celebrate our challenge
All of my colleagues had a road bike or racing bike. Personally I don’t own a bike but I was very lucky to borrow my friend’s mountain bike for the race.
Although I have to say that I felt quite slow on the flat part compared to a road bike and it was more tiring, my advantage was up the hills. Number “1” in both gears! Fast leg movement but slowly getting up- the hill. Other cyclist were walking while I took it slowly and steady up the hill. I just wanted to know how far I can get. That was my challenge! I managed each hill just the last few meters on the Beacon I stepped down, enjoyed the view, took pictured and walked up with my colleagues.
Everyone was happy, relaxed and proud that we finished the race.
Actually most of us were not really racing; we stayed in small teams and waited a few times of each other. A really good idea was to take the radio handset so we were able to communicate with each group and arranged to meet up on the way.
It was great fun but everything comes down to the team spirit as it wouldn’t be the same on my own. I’m glad we experienced the bike ride together and supported each other. It showed me that no mather how much you have trained or even without any training, everyone finished it. Together it felt like half of the pain but twice as much happiness because it was …
The TEAM & ME