Andy Marrs' London to Brighton bike ride

In May 2012 Honorary Eurodragster.com Staff member Andy Marrs of TSI Timers Europe took part in a London to Brighton bike ride to aid the British Heart Foundation in memory of his father. Thanks in no small part to the generosity of Eurodragster.com readers Andy surpassed his sponsorship targets of £1000 and then £1500. Andy's Just Giving account is still open so if you wish to donate to the BHF you can do so at www.justgiving.com/andymarrs.

This is Andy's account of the trip.

Top tip: if you're driving yourself and leaving your car in London, use Asda's car park in Battersea.

I rang the store a couple of weeks before to ask if we could use their car park and was told no problem, £10 for the night. Bargain. We arrived just before 10 just in time to see the shutter being pulled down on the car park entrance ! I jumped out and ran upstairs to the store and told the security guard that I'd been told the car park would be open, but as he barely spoke English he fetched his supervisor, who turned out to be the guy I spoke to on the phone. Turns out they shut the underground section but open the street level bit at 10:30, and it's free. So off we went and pulled up by the gate and the guy came straight over and open it up. Sorted. The security guy said it's free all weekend, but it's only �10 for 24 hours anyway so for those doing the day ride it might be worth considering.

We got changed, checked the bikes over, and got the kit sorted out that we were taking down. Because of the decent weather there was no point taking waterproofs or full gloves so I could take everything I needed in my pockets. A couple of gel sachets in the top front, glasses case, car keys, spare set of batteries (not needed as it turned out) and a little bag with cash and card for emergencies in the rear, oat bar in each leg pocket of my shorts. So no need for a rucksack thankfully. It was so warm we both opted for shorts and I tied my lightweight trousers to the bike frame just in case it turned chilly during the night, although I needn't have bothered as it stayed mild, we couldn't have asked for better conditions as there was virtually no wind either. The start line is a couple of miles away at most so we headed that way around 10:30.

After a delayed start they set us off in bunches of 40 at 1 minute intervals. As we'd got ourselves pretty close to the start line we went off at 00:41.

Riding through London in the early hours with hundreds of other cyclists is a brilliant experience, but somehow I think the locals trying to get anywhere by car think otherwise. The highway code was observed for a mile or so then as soon as one person broke rank that was it. Red lights were treated as advisory, as were road markings, although people were pretty sensible about it.

I didn't have a clue where we were most of the time so I can't say "When we were at..." so bear with me. My tracking is here if anyone wants to look and maybe work it out:

maps.google.com/?q=http://share.abvio.com/4e9b/13be/4dd8/85f0/Cyclemeter-Cycle-20120527-0042.kml

After a few miles we started a long uphill stretch, several miles of fairly steady climbing with very little respite. Even with that we managed to maintain an average of over 12 mph which was our target pace as we wanted to be in Brighton by 6.When we eventually did hit a decent downhill slope it was a monster, to the point where a Marshall was positioned a hundred yards from the bottom shouting "Watch your speed, main road at the bottom".

We skipped the first rest stop at 12 miles. It just felt too soon to be having a break so we carried on to the middle stop at 29 miles. It was very well organised with water, fruit, oat bars, chocolate biscuits, jaffa cakes, tea, coffee, mechanics and portaloos. We topped up with water, grabbed an oat bar each, popped to the loo and head off again.

Most of the ride was fairly uneventful, but there is something a little bit special about riding through the countryside with only the sound of tyres spinning on tarmac at 3 or 4 in the morning when the people in the houses you're going past are wrapped up in bed. I can't really describe it, but it's pretty cool.

There was a massive downhill stretch at one point, somewhere around the 33 mile point, a good mile or so in length. I hit just 35mph down it and I was riding my brakes ! It was bloody terrifying. I've come close to that sort of speed before, but not at night, and I was very conscious of the fact that any stone, crack in the road, anything, would have sent my flying. Not a particularly nice feeling.

We stopped again at the 43 mile rest stop, again very well organised, and fuelled up for the final stretch.

Devil's Dyke, what a bastard of a hill. There's a pretty steep but manageable hill to start with, but that obviously takes a bit out of you, when 50+ miles has already taken most of it out of you already. Then you have a little respite for a mile or so, then the big one. I reckon I managed 30 yards or so before I was off and walking. My riding partner, who normally eats hills, managed about 50. Very few people made it up that, and there were numerous piles of vomit on the verge to attest to had bad it was. Then we witnessed something nothing short of spectacular.

I heard some quite alarming noises behind me, grunts and wails and loads of AAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHHHs. I turned to see a bloke of about 20 on a knackered old folding bike with wheels no bigger than 14" wobbling all over the place but grinding his way up the hill. To a man we stopped and stared at him, including the lycra boys with their �10k bikes, with everyone willing him on and shouting encouragement. Bugger me if he didn't make it over the top. Now assuming he had done the whole ride, this bloke had ridden 54 miles to that point and fought his way up this beast of a hill and was stood on the sea front when we finished, and he must have started after us !

We stopped at the top and got someone to take a picture of us (above) then headed into Brighton.

It's about a 4 mile descent into Brighton which is great for no better reason than it lets you recover and enjoy the finish. A couple of miles along the seafront under blue skies then through a proper finish line with a couple of dozen locals leaning over the barriers clapping and shouting is a pretty good feeling. As you go through a pretty little thing hands you a medal, a bottle of water and a smile, while a bloke with a mic shouts out some congratulations and thanks for taking part.

After a breather the bikes were loaded onto a lorry and we got on the coach. 2 coaches per lorry with the coaches following the lorry back to Clapham Common. Now the best air conditioning in the world isn't going to cope with 56 very sweaty people so there was a bit of a pong, but it was a smell with a sense of achievement in it J

Bikes collected at the other end we set off for the car, loaded up, changed into some dry clothes, and headed home, stopping along the way for a big fry up !

Total time taken was 5 hrs 13 minutes, with 33 minutes of stop time we were in the saddle for 4 hrs 41 minutes at an average speed of 12.75 mph. I'm very pleased with that, not bad for a fat bloke who hits 45 this year :-)