My experience of the Nightrider 2011 charity bike ride

I signed up for this event last August, and finally rode it on Saturday June 11th this year. The Nightrider is a 100km charity bike ride around London at night. This year there were 1000 riders taking part. The groups of cyclists were being set off from 11pm onwards in groups of 50 at 6 minute intervals. I would be in the 11:18pm group.

There were two start points. You could start at either Crystal Palace or Alexandra Palace. I opted to start at Crystal Palace.

I was riding the event to raise awareness and funds for Arthritis Research UK as I have friends and family who are affected by this condition. I had to raise a minimum of £175 in order to take part in the event. At the time of writing I have raised £275, so I've exceeded the target. My aim is to raise £300, so I still have some more fund raising to go.

I would be staying over in London at my friend Don's. He lives in Chatham, Kent, which is a 45 minute drive from Crystal Palace. The plan was for me to leave Kettering at around midday on the Saturday and get to Don's for around 2 - 2:30pm. I arrived at just after 3pm thanks to a massive queue for the Dartford Crossing.

I spent the afternoon / evening relaxing, as I had a long night ahead. Don and his son Tom would be meeting me at various points around the course to cheer me on, and would meet me at the finish to take me back to Don's.

I arrived at Crystal Palace in plenty of time. I was already wearing my cycling kit, as well as a hi-viz waistcoat with my number attached to it..I got the bike and myself ready, and checked everything over to make sure it all worked. Even though I had already done this earlier in the week, I still wanted to do a last minute check of the equipment.

I could see lots of other cyclists getting ready. There was a vast range of ages taking part. There were all sorts of bikes too, from tandems to tourers to urban hybrids to racing bikes. All types of bike were well represented.

I chatted away with Tom and Don until my start time arrived. As each group was set off into the night, there was a massive cheer from everyone. The atmosphere was excellent. Everyone was very friendly, and I got talking to lots of other cyclists as I waited for my start time.

As the 11:12pm starters set off, I made my way to the start area to be set off. Eventually 11:18pm arrived. With another cheer from the crowd (including Don and Tom) I set off into the night with my allocated group of 50 cyclists.

The route is marked throughout the entire length of the course with yellow signs on which is an arrow indicating the direction of travel. Mostly these were easy to spot, but at times were tricky to find, or were a bit misleading. This could have been down to people moving them earlier in the day for mischief, or maybe they were just not always very well positioned. I would recommend that all signs are placed in the same position at all junctions i.e. to the left. Sometimes they were positioned in the middle of a junction or to the right of the junction, so quite often you would be looking around for the sign as you approached a junction.

Not long after leaving Crystal Palace I cycled past Don and Tom who had stopped nearby to give me another shout of encouragement. The first control stop for refreshments was Tower Bridge, but I didn't bother stopping, I decided to just keep riding. It was about midnight and was still very busy.

Throughout the event I rode with many different groups and riders, everyone was very friendly. I missed a few of the direction signs, but thankfully I hadn't gone too far before I realised. In the dark it was not always easy to spot the signs, and this is where riding in a group is so much more beneficial, as there are many more eyes to look out for direction signs. With a background in Audax (long distance) cycling, I never assumed the rider at the front had seen the signs, and I would shout out the direction as soon as I knew which way to go.

I was amazed by how busy London was. Throughout the ride, the streets of London were almost permanently busy, particularly in the city centre. Even at 4am, the city centre was heaving. It was full of revellers, taxis, cars, rickshaws and buses. Often the revellers would just walk into the road right in front of you, as they were clearly the worse for wear. It was not always easy finding a safe line through the traffic and people, and I had a few near misses with some of the traffic, including a few near misses with taxis.

It was moments like that where I wasn't sure how an inexperienced cyclist would cope. Riding in busy traffic during the day is one thing, but at night where there are greater numbers of drunk revellers, rickshaws and taxis must be very daunting indeed.

It was wonderful seeing the London Eye looking resplendent in the small hours, it truly looked spectacular. Riding through Canary Wharf was the same. All the buildings looked lovely lit up by the night lights.

At one part of the ride, we rode past a smart looking gentleman standing next to a Mercedes. As we rode past he informed us that the woman in the back of the car was not wearing any knickers, and would we like to get in.

I was glad of the coffee at the half way point, as this perked me up. It was 2:45am, and a hot drink was in order.

I met Don and Tom at the next control which was the Museum, which also looked amazing at night. As I rode into the control I had a quick bite to eat, and set off with another group of cyclists who were leaving.

I was quite surprised by how poor many of the road surfaces are in London. For a major city which is hosting the next Olympics and trying to encourage greater cycle use (in part thanks to Boris Johnson and the Barclays sponsored bike scheme), I was disappointed that so many of the roads were in such disrepair. My initial worries at the start of the ride of getting lost or nodding off and falling off my bike were replaced by the possibility of getting an impact puncture from hitting a pot hole at speed.

As we rode past Big Ben we were lucky enough to hear it chime 4am. This part of the ride took us past Westminster. By this time dawn was breaking and it was getting light. I rode past a group of cyclists who were lost, and who informed us they had ridden round in a circle and didn't know which way to go. I told them they were on route and should follow me if they wanted. They didn't take me up on the offer.

As I neared the finish at Crystal Palace, Don and Tom drove past and shouted more encouragement. Just before the finish, there is a long drag up to Crystal Palace, but nothing overly taxing. Many of the other cyclists were suffering however, and I soon rode past several of them.

I eventually rode into Crystal Palace and the finish. It felt great to have ridden such a brilliant event. Not everyone can claim to have cycled 100km around London at night. It's certainly a fantastic event, and one which I would recommend to any cyclist who is confident riding in busy traffic and feels comfortable riding with other cyclists in the dark.

Gonk and Dork go to a bicycle race

Dominic's bit (Dork)

The latest edition of the Lincoln GP was Sunday 8th May. I've been to watch this bike race several times in the past and have always really enjoyed it. I first watched it in 2004 when David O'Loughlin won it for Team Recycling. It's changed slightly over the last few years, but in its current incarnation it consists of 11 laps each of 8 miles around the city. In previous years it started from the Yarborough sports centre, this year it started from Breedon Drive, just off Burton Road.

As a spectator's event, this race is difficult to beat. You can stand and watch anywhere along the course, and while Vicky and I walked from the start at Breedon Drive over to the Castle Square, we took up several vantage points as the cyclists came past. The cobbled climb of Michaelgate is always packed. This is a steep, leg sapping 1 in 6 climb up to the Castle Square. You can get a great view of the cyclists as they ride up the climb, as they're obviously not riding at full race pace. It never fails to surprise me how quickly they can ride up this steep climb.

I had my daughter Holly with me, and so eventually myself, Vicky and Holly all made it to the Castle Square, where we took it in turns cheering on the riders at the top of the climb on Michaelgate, and looking round the shops in the Castle Square in between laps.

The field consisted of 160 riders, representing over 30 different teams, including international teams and riders. I was particularly excited at the prospect of seeing Magnus Backstedt, a former winner of the extremely tough Paris-Roubaix (nicknamed The Hell of the North). He was riding for Team UK Youth. Each time he rode past me, I shouted out his name. He's quite simply a legend!

In the end, it was Scott Thwaites from Endura Racing who took the honours at the finish, and a very well deserved win it was too. Chapeau Scott!

Here is the full list of winners, and here are some photos I took of the race.

Vicky's bit (Gonk)

This was the first cycling race I have ever watched. If I'm honest I thought it would be a bit boring - but I actually really enjoyed it! Luckily I did not have the issue of where to park - as the start line was only 2 minutes walk from my house! As the race started and the cyclists came speeding out of Breedon Drive, there was a group of about 20 of us there to cheer them on their way. My friend Rob joined us for the first 45 minutes of the race too.

From Breedon Drive, we walked along Burton road to the roundabout just in time to catch the cyclists about to complete lap 1. We then walked briskly down Yarborough hill to the top of Long Leys road, which is a fairly steep climb about halfway through each lap.

I was sat on the edge of a traffic island so I could take some good photographs, and as the riders came up the hill they were maneuvering in and out of the traffic cones which were right in front of me. One of the Irish cyclists was headed straight towards me but veered off to the right at the last second. I know he would never have hit me, but I let out a bit of a yelp!

This is where Rob left us, and me, Dom and Holly walked up to the Bailgate. Again, our timing was great as we made it there in time to see the riders pass on on lap 3. We then made a very important stop to the ice-cream parlour :-)

From here we made our way through Castle Square towards the Drury Lane/Michaelgate area. I was amazed to see how quickly the cyclists were making their way up this steep, cobbled climb - I hate walking up it myself on my way home from town!

In between laps we walked around the few Bailgate shops that were open and alternated our viewing location between Castle Square, Michaelgate and Drury Lane. We also bumped into several more friends we knew - Pip, Jethro, Vicki and Glen - and enjoyed watching several laps with them too.

As the final lap got underway, we made our way to the finishing line in Castle Square, which was packed! I didn't see Scott Thwaites cross the finishing line but I heard a roar of cheering erupt from the crowd.

I really enjoyed the Lincoln Grand Prix and would definitely watch it next year if I get the chance to.