It was the Essex Countryside Cycle last Sunday – a charity cycling event to raise funds for Little Havens Children’s Hospice. There were three routes – 10 mile, 25 mile and 60 mile. I had tweeted about it a few weeks back and then Chrissie Flitter (@ChrissieBeads on twitter) tweeted that she had signed up to take part in the 25 mile event.
I thought I wouldn’t be able to take part but at the last minute found I could so I registered on the day and took part with Chrissie. The forecast wasn’t good and it rained on the way to the start at the University in Chelmsford but just before we started the rain stopped and we even glimpsed the sun by the end. There was a bit of a breeze – but you can’t have everything
The ride was fun. We were one of the first away shortly after 8am and despite almost doing the 60 mile event by nearly missing the turn for the 25 mile route we did the full 25 mile route without stopping and crossed the finish line first of the 25 milers in just under 2 hours.
The route was good – with a little bit of off road (200m) – which wasn’t too good on a road bike – but otherwise it kept off the main roads (apart from exiting and entering Chelmsford). You can open a full garmin connect gps plot of the route by clicking the image below.
Once we were adorned with our medals and given our goodie bags we were grabbed by a nice young lady with a camera who took our photo and our details and lo – we appeared on the Havens website page about the day. Copy of the photo included below.
All in all it was very enjoyable. It was great to cycle with Chrissie and to chat. We had a few things in common and found lots to talk about and a ride like this goes by so quickly in such circumstances. I was back home by 10.45. Next year maybe I’ll do the 60 mile route. I’m also doing the London to Southend in a couple of weeks time.
Chrissie has a fundraising page for the event where you can still donate if you feel so inclined. You can find it here. Only needs £5 to reach her target 🙂
andrew kenyon photography 