There is a map of the route available which shows total distance covered together with a height profile.

Paul Fairburn writes…

My wife Jo Fairburn, friend Helen Pearcey and I, decided to take on a challenge this year to raise money for Everyman – the male cancer charity. We were inspired to do it because our son Josh recovered from cancer last year. This was undoubtedly because of the research and hard work done over the years to combat cancer – and we’re keen to see this continue.
We decided to do the ride with Skyline (www.skylineoverseas.co.uk). They organize rides like this all the time, and you can choose which charity you support. On our ride there were dozens of different causes being supported, with 78 riders signed up.
Preparation
Jo and Helen headed to Red Kite to research some bikes last November. The team in the shop were great. I joined Jo and Helen when they went in to pick up their bikes, to get one for me too. Cycling 290 miles to Paris on my mountain bike or my Brompton wouldn’t have been a great idea…
The ladies bought Trek road bikes, and I got myself a Specialized. They served us well, and got us to Paris, which is the main thing.
Training in January wasn’t easy, with all the bad weather. So I bought one of those rollers to do some training in my garage. They work – but it’s not the same as proper cycling. I did catch up on some TV shows in the garage though!
We kept popping back to Red Kite, to buy more gear. Clothes, accessories, gunk cleaner, etc. etc. We became regulars. The staff in the shop have always been great – very helpful and full of useful advice.

Jo and Helen joined Red Kite’s Belles on Bikes – to get some free tips. What a great idea! They picked up some great advice, which they passed on to me.
Our training progressed over the months, as we built up the miles. We weren’t going very fast. “It’s not a race” was Jo’s refrain, when I mentioned speed. The only problem with going “steadily” when cycling to Paris is that you have to catch a ferry in Dover on the first day!
We planned training routes around Warwickshire and Worcestershire, using the Veloroutes website. But lately I’ve discovered www.GPSies.com. This is very good for planning a route, and better than Veloroutes. You can print maps and altitude charts, and download the route in multiple formats for your navigation kit, if you have any.
I used an old windows mobile phone and a free programme called Bikedashboard. But if you’re lucky enough to have an iPhone, there’s an App for that. Obviously.
I pushed myself a bit harder than the ladies, and soon regretted it. I developed ITB Syndrome. That’s painful – on the outside of the knee. One solution to this is to stop exercising for a month; rest; and build up the exercise slowly after that. That was clearly not an option with only a few weeks to go to the 290 mile challenge.
I visited Red Kite again, Mike fitted me with Time ATAC pedals/cleats to keep my legs in the right position. Then I had a course of physiotherapy, and lots of Voltarol (Always read the label). My knees hurt a bit; not enough to stop me training though. Would I make it to the ferry in time on day one?
The first day London-Dover (and then on to the hotel in Calais) is advertised as 95 miles. We trained steadily, increasing our mileage each weekend. But the longest we managed before the actual trip was 70 miles. Would we get to Dover?!
The 4 Day challenge
Day 1
We woke up at 5am on June 2nd and made our way to the Crystal Palace registration point. The weather was good, though the day before had been very wet.

We signed in, put tags on our bikes, put our luggage onto the Skyline van, and waited for the briefing.
The Skyline people are great, and the event was very well organized. The route was marked by fluorescent cardboard triangles. Follow those, and you’re fine. The briefing warned us when to expect water stops and lunch… and hills!
We set off at around 7am, to get out of London before the serious traffic.
Here’s a chart showing the altitude variation over the first day’s ride from London to Dover.

The Skyline team warned us about the nasty hill at about 22 miles. But the hardest were the ones before Dover. The “Downs” is not a name I’d have chosen for them.
The Kent countryside was spectacular in the sunshine, and after 91 miles of pedaling we made it to the rendezvous point in Dover.
We caught the ferry to Calais, and due to the time difference it was about 9.45pm before we docked in Calais. We then had to cycle to our hotel – another 7 miles away. We got to bed around midnight, expecting to start pedaling at 9am the next day.
The total mileage for the first day had been 99 miles, according to my bike computer.

Day 2
The briefing told us to expect more hills on day two. But at least we were only going to cycle 72 miles.
The lunch stops were always pleasant – on Day 2 it was particularly nice. A wooded glade by a small pond.

The next hotel (Ibis) was in Abbeville, and the only thing we had to arrive in time for was dinner at 7.30pm. Easy!
I think this was the day we passed a sign claiming that the temperature was 31 deg C…

Day 3
The route from Abbeville to Beauvais was hillier, I swear, than day 2. But the briefing underplayed it - a lot. The best thing about it was that once we’d hit the peak altitude, the descent to Beauvais was gradual and easy. The road was fast… and so once we’d make it to the highest point it was great!
(You may have realized by now that I’m not a hill-thrasher…)
This shorter day meant plenty of time for a drink and the evening meal. Much more relaxed than the first day’s mad dash.

Day 4
This was the highlight. The big finish!
The day started with a long hill we hadn’t been warned about… and it did involve the most traffic and lots of potholes, but at least it was the shortest distance; 53 miles.
We all enjoyed a leisurely lunch stop, so that the fastest and slowest riders weren’t strung out too far. We rendezvous’d at the Bois De Bologne, and then rode together to the Eiffel Tower.
The best thing about riding in convoy in Paris is the way we could ignore red lights and bully our way round those huge scary roundabouts. Like the one round the Arc de Triomphe! Sheer weight of numbers got us respect.

If you’ve considered doing the London to Paris Challenge, our advice is to do it. You’ll have a great time as long as you train for the hills. I’m the wrong side of 50, and I can do it… so give it a go. And consider raising money for Everyman (www.everyman-campaign.org) while you do.
Thanks to Red Kite for all the help and advice. And thanks to my physiotherapist for keeping my legs working…

Red Kite Cycles is delighted to be supporting National Bike Week with a range of activities.

On Tuesday 22 June we are repeating out popular evening bike ride just for women, leaving the shop at 6:30 for about an hour and a half.  Our Belles on Bikes ride around the local lanes is for any women regardless of their ability or experience. With staff and experienced cyclists on hand to advise you on how to get the best out of your bike and enjoy your cycling it’s an opportunity not to be missed.

Wednesday 23 June is late night opening until 8:00pm.  Our staff will be on hand to discuss our wide range of bikes and accessories for all types of cycling. There will be an opportunity to test ride some of our bikes and learn about the Cycle to Work Scheme which could save up to 49% on the cost of a new bike. And the coffee is free!

On Friday 25 June the Velocity Health and Fitness Cycling Club regular ride will be leaving from the Village Hotel at the Green Business Park at 6:30.  This will be for about an hour along the local lanes finishing back at the hotel where there is ample bike parking.

The elite wave  is really the only time you would have to worry about bunch riding. There will probably be a lot of people on the course even if it is an age group non-drafting race, but they tend to stagger the race starts quite well so that it shouldn’t be too bad in terms of crowding and having lots of people around. They will probably find a lot of people not quite sticking to the drafting rules (I believe it is around 10m but this will be made clear to them on race day at the briefing) and getting too close for too long (i.e when they aren’t overtaking) but I would always advise them to try to be as careful as possible with this as if you are caught by a marshall there is a chance they would be immediately disqualified or at minimum face a time penalty (added on to their total time at the end) and t’s always better to finish knowing you didn’t ‘get away with something’ even if others do it.

Other than this I would say just to treat the road as if it is theirs - by that I mean don’t worry about other people around them trying to pass etc. If someone wants to pass you and you are in the way, it is their job to let you know so you can move over, not your job to ride on the side of the road the whole time in case you are in the way. It is much better to take the shortest route, and therefore the racing line so look for this round the corners - and there are a few places where you can take advantage of this at Blenheim.

Blenheim isn’t massively hilly but it s a fairly ‘bumpy’ course so I would advise controlling the pace throughout the first half of the bike and then building through the second half - particularly as the run also has a decent hill in it that has to be climbed twice. Going out too hard on the bike could spell disaster onto the run, but a more controlled approach and building throughout the race means they will probably finish much stronger than they imagine they will.

It is always good to use other people to pace off on the bike - obviously I don’t mean draft off them - but after the first few kilometres on the bike, once they start to settle into their own pace, have a look around, see who is near and who is riding roughly the same pace, or maybe just a little faster and try to stay the same distance from them. It always helps to have a target and someone to work off so this is a technique that a lot of pro long distance athletes use.

It’s really important to remember to drink on the bike - you get a lot more dehydrated than you think during the race and your run leg can suffer hugely if you haven’t taken on enough fluids on the bike so for a short distance race I would advise trying to get through around 600ml on the bike in average conditions (high teens, low winds) but in higher temperatures up to a litre may be necessary. As my race is drafting I tend to need slightly less so I drink around 500ml on the bike in ‘normal’ conditions during a sprint race like Blenheim, but in an Olympic Distance race I’d drink more than double that - at least a litre even in cold conditions and up to 1.5l in hot weather - half energy drink, half water. I don’t tend to use gels on sprint distance races but a lot of people do so if they are used to this then definitely carry on with it on race day. If they haven’t used gels before, during the race is not the right time for a trial!

As for swimming in open water, the most important thing is not to panic, particularly at the start when there will be a lot of people around and it can end up a little bit like a washing machine!! Just stay calm an concentrate on your own stroke - I find you don’t even need to try ’sighting’ in the first hundred metres or so as you just follow all the splash and you can’t really go wrong!! If they are particular nervous about being stuck in the middle of a big group in the water and possibly getting knocked around a bit (which is perfectly normal and if you just ignore it as best you can and try to get on with doing your own thing it isn’t a problem) then starting as close to the edge of the group as possible is probably the best idea.
The swim at Blenheim has always been fairly straight forward in the years I have done it - straight up for around 500m (along a lane rope too so it’s pretty difficult to go the wrong way!) and then a sharp left turn around a large turn bouy into the shore. Taking th inside line around the buoy is a good idea as it’s the shortest route, but your chances of being bashed around are higher s if this is a worry, take it nice and wide and keep out of the ruck. I really think the most important thing is to not panic in open water - it’s a bit mad but just try to enjoy it and settle into your own rhythm!

The likelihood they will have to do a lot of ’sighting’ is slim, but if they are in the situation where following the splash isn’t quite enough then they should always look at both the bouy ahead and also a fixed object that is directly behind it. Try to find something at the start (like a big tree or building) but if the bouy is too far away at this point then the first time you look at the bout during the race is the time to check out the background for something to use. If you only look at the bouy for sighting then it will always look like you are heading in a straight line even if you are wildly off course, so having something else to line it up with is really useful.

The transition onto the bike at Blenheim is up a pretty long hill so just relax and take it steady up there as otherwise you will be cooked by the time you get onto your bike!!

The most important thing is really to just enjoy yourself - what’s the point otherwise hey? - but also to focus on doing your own things right (racing line, fluids, pacing etc) and not get too caught up in what others are doing.

I hope that helps - not sure if this is the sort of advice they are after but hopefully something in there is of use!!

As for my first race, it was a pretty long time ago now but I do remember I made all sorts of mistakes!! It was a pool swim in May 2005 and my first mistake was to completely forget my number belt so I had to run back into transition to get it! That wasted a lot of time! I then ran past my racking position in transition so had to go back to find my bike. Onto the bike and my positioning was pretty awful on the road and I was rubbish at judging distance for the drafting - I was warned by the marshalls once to keep my distance too so was lucky not to come away with a time penalty. I was very unsure of the dismount and ended up getting off my bike about 10m early as I didn’t want to be penalised by riding over the dismount line! As you can see - lots of mistakes, and lots of room for improvement but I still really enjoyed it and was ready for the challenge of an open water race. I can honestly say I have never forgotten my number belt again, nor have I messed up my dismount so badly! I rarely race non-drafting so I’m not sure how my skills at judging distance are but I have on odd occasion (twice in 5 years isn’t too terrible though) ran past my bike in transition. To combat this I normally practice running into transition on race morning and use external markers (such a tree or an advertising banner) to know where my bike is. I like to think I am a fairly established athlete these days but I still struggle with some of the technical elements of triathlon even now and there is nearly always something that I could have done better in any race. A common one for me is fumbling my helmet clasp in T1 when I am trying to get it fixed quickly. I’ll keep working on these small things and striving to get as many things right as I can in every race - ‘ticking the boxes’ as my coach calls it, but let’s be honest, nobodies perfect right?!

They  decided to do this after Jo and Paul’s son Josh was diagnosed with testicular cancer last year.  He is now  well thanks to the care given by his superb medical team and the research that underpins their work.

When they first came in to the shop in October 2009 they very limited cycling experience, but hard work, determination and some help from Mike  mean that they are now well equipped and  fit enough to complete the ride over three and a half days.

Just discovered your website, it’s great!  What you don’t mention is what fantastic friendly staff you have.  Craig was really friendly when i took my first uncertain steps into your very male oriented shop.  I really needn’t have worried,  he put at ease straight away, and really knew his stuff, when he helped me choose my first bike (well, since i was about 10…..yes, a very long time ago).

Nick, is always very helpful and patient, even with my somewhat ‘dippy’ work colleges and always manages to keep calm, however busy the shop is.  All the other staff i have come across seem, polite, knowledgeable and happy in their work.

And last but not least, a big thank you to Mike and Sarah for the Belles on Bikes rides on Tuesday evening.  What a great idea.  Not only do you get helpful advice from Mike and Sarah’s many years of cycling, you’ve got the confidence that one of them will sort your bike out should there be a problem, and you get to meet some really nice ladies.

I can’t recommend these rides enough, keep fit, meet new people and have a chat.  For any single ladies like me, who haven’t got a husband to go out cycling with, its the only chance i have to get out on my bike other than the daily commute to work.  Can’t wait for next week!

Keep up the good work everybody

Bye for now

Elaine

From 30th March 2010 every Tuesday evening at 18:30 you can join the Belles for their ladies only rides (and social chatter).

View the online Rides Calendar to find out when we’re out riding.