Westbury Wheelers up for The Big Challenge

Four members of Westbury Wheelers cycling club will be taking part as a team in The Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 100 on Sunday 2nd August – a 100 mile cycle ride through central London and the Surrey countryside.

Taking its cue from the London Marathon, around 25,000 amateur cyclists take on the challenge on the same closed roads as professional riders including Bradley Wiggins and Mark Cavendish.

They will cycle along the route of the 2012 Olympic course in an event which will be broadcast live on TV.

British Cycling invited cycling clubs to enter The Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 100 Inter Club Challenge and Westbury Wheelers were given one of the 400 places from the 1,000 teams which applied. The four-man team members are Allen Laker (66), Damian Churchill (41), Gary Bendle (45) and Ian Bartlett (50).

Two other club members – Sharon Gover and Ian Jacques – will also be taking part after being selected through a ballot process for individual cyclists.

The Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 100 is now in its third year and starts in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and heads out on closed roads on the A12, through Limehouse Link Tunnel, along The Embankment, Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly, Kensington, Kingston Upon Thames and Hampton Court before heading out into the Surrey hills.

Here riders have to negotiate the three main hills of Newland Corner, Leith Hill and the infamous Box Hill before heading back towards Central London, through Wimbledon where there is another nasty little hill, past the House of Commons, The Cenotaph, Trafalgar Square and on to the finish line on The Mall.

To accommodate the 25,000 riders, there are six coloured holding areas which lead to two start lines with the first two waves departing at 6am and last two waves at 9am.  The first riders will be finishing their 100 miles on The Mall shortly after 10am and the last riders about 5.30pm.

It is an early start for Westbury Wheelers who have a start time of 6.24am; a load time of 5.18am to 5.48am; a 4.20am seven mile ride to start; and a 3.20am breakfast.

“I’ve participated in the last two events finishing the first one in 5hrs 06mins 10sec,” said Allen.  “Although my average speed was quicker the second time round the course was foreshortened to 85 miles for the safety of cyclists due to forecasted heavy rain and thunderstorms, missing out Leith Hill and Box Hill.

“The aim of the team is to perform well against other teams, beat my previous time and hopefully go under 5 hours which means averaging over 20mph and set a bench mark for possible future entries.

“The team is looking good although the lead up hasn’t gone too smoothly.  Gary suffered a broken collar bone and was unable to work and ride for over six weeks, losing some basic fitness but has shown on recent rides that he has now regained most of it.

“I’ve had a couple of debilitating illnesses this year that left me feeling drained of energy but now appear to be fully recovered. Ian decided to celebrate his wedding anniversary by booking a holiday in Venice and Lake Garda then remembered that he was entered for this.  Fortunately he is due to arrive back in Gatwick around 2pm (if not delayed) but has to first return to Westbury before joining the team in London later that evening.

“Damian is a dark horse as he had not been able to ride with the club for some time until last weekend when he showed that he was strong on hills and good for 80 miles, he has not ridden 100 miles before.

“I don’t think the Sky Team have to contend with such problems!”

Later in the day the professionals road racers which includes Bradley Wiggins and Mark Cavendish take to the roads starting at 1330 from Horse Guards Parade.  They follow the same route out of London but do three loops of Ranmore Common, go up Leith Hill and Box Hill before heading back to London finishing on the Mall around 6pm.

The previous day, on Saturday 1st August everyone is welcome to participate in the summer’s biggest and best festival of cycling which includes a 10 mile traffic free route in central London.

80,000 plus people of all ages and abilities riding all forms of bikes (including balance bikes and penny farthings) experience an unforgettable day of cycling in the capital, on roads that are normally crowded with traffic.

Starting at 6pm there are also a series of criterium races taking place around St James’s Park kicking off with many of the world’s top women cyclists going head to head, followed by the next generation of cyclists racing each other.

Before the ladies race the 10th Brompton World Championship takes place for the first time in central London.  Up to 500 riders make a dash to unfold their bikes before sprinting off to do eight laps of St James’s Park showcasing their city style suits, jackets, collared shirts and neck ties…………no lycra allowed.