The Twin Towns Challenge blog

Regular updates on our preparations, sponsorship, and everything else that goes into a 1,000 mile charity ride across Europe.

Day One

Day1 Pic2Evening Picture After Day 1 Cycling Day1 Group Picture
Ready For The Off At Franklin Gardens
 
Northampton – Portsmouth Day 1 Saturday 25th July 2009-07-25
 
 Tonight we have an overnight ferry to Caen in preparation for day 2 to Le Mans.
The Journey from Northampton was 126 miles taking us a total 8 hours and 4 minutes averaging 16mph.
Thanks to all family and friends who showed up at 7.30 on a bright sunny Saturday morning to send us of on our way and also the Police who escorted us out of town. We would also like to thank Mark Goodman and Glen Marriot from the Autistic Society for their kind and inspiring speeches, which gave all the riders a good sense of purpose of what we were about to undertake.
The 12 full time riders were joined for today by Paul Manning (Olympic Gold Medallist), Duncan, Tommo, Brian and Ian.
The route took us directly South, through Buckingham, Pangbourne, New Arlesford and many beautiful villages where we quite lucky to only pickup 3 punctures on route. Luckily the last puncture of the day was right outside a pub!! We are proud to report that we refrained from alcohol as we had 60 miles to go.
We were met by 3 members of the Royal Navy cycling team who escorted us for the last 15 miles including a nice cheeky hill to finish off. We were then led directly into HMS Excellent where we showered and gorged ourselves on hot pasta kindly laid on by the Navy. Another thanks to the rider’s wife’s and children who turned up to pinch some of our pasta!!!!
 
Rider of the Day was Dave Williams, Well done Dave from all the riders.

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 25th, 2009 at 8:11 pm by wayneb and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

3 Responses to “Day One”

  1. Emma-Jane Says:
    July 25th, 2009 at 9:14 pm

    Well done boys! 1 day down and only 7 to go … have a restful night on the ferry and good luck with the journey to Le Mans.

    Lots of love to Stuart from his admiring family :-)

    Go boys Go!

    p.s. I am sure that you will average 18 miles if Stu shaves off his beard :-) xx

  2. Mark and Alison Goodman Says:
    July 26th, 2009 at 5:02 pm

    Glad the first day went well – hope it has been drier with you today than here!! Keep up the good work.
    All good wishes to you

  3. Jo Says:
    July 27th, 2009 at 8:38 pm

    More day one photos here – http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/jo.oleary/TwinTownsChallengeLeavingNorthampton#

    Good luck everyone!

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