Bike to Berlin 2015

BIKE TO BERLIN 2015 – RIDE REPORT
Wreaths were laid where you see an asterisk (*)

1st May; The Cenotaph to Calais; 75 miles 
Police at the Cenotaph* (one of whom took the picture) were cool with 
our plans, and with us parking the van on the central reservation. Our 
first rest stop at Asda, Strood, had no café; so our support driver, Russ
investigated ahead of us and found Morrison’s did, a little off our course;
about an hour behind schedule at that point. Soon after that, we passed
Kevin and Richard, who were cycling to Sydney from London. 
Half way to our second stop at Faversham, I realised that I was
struggling and would need to get in the car, so advised the others
to press on and try and get to Dover for our ferry, booked for 4:20pm.
At Faversham, Russ said he hadn’t seen them; they must have
missed the stop, as the route was unclear on where to turn off the A2.
I loaded the bike in the car and we set off.
Russ said he had taken the initiative to contact our ferry and rebook
onto the later sailing at 6:40. While in the car, I had a call from Andy to
say they had pulled off the A2 as it was too dangerous for cycling and
were making their way to Dover by back roads. I let him know that
Russ had changed the ferry booking anyway and that they had done
the right thing. Our steak meal on the ferry hit the spot, but tanks were
still not full enough; Andy, Dan, Gaz, Russ and I shared a couple of
pizzas across the road from our hotel.
 
2nd May; Calais to Ieper; 59 miles
Set off at 8:30, already half an hour late and, following the route took
us down a very worrying track – not only a very un-maintained road,
but with make shift tents stretching for miles; people just waking up to
another day of misery looked at us and thought – well, who could
know? Zooming out on the Garmin map screen showed that the road  
we had turned off continued on and met up with the route anyway, so
we turned round and rejoined the main road. We soon became accustomed to the straight, smooth roads the continent offers, and used them to improve pace line skills. We met Odile & Patrice Martin at Esquelbec as planned, and decided to press on to the  Wormhout* memorial before returning for lunch at Brasserie Thiriez – which is a micro brewery as well. O & P had brought some amazing baguettes and we gratefully refilled our tanks.                   
About a mile or so outside of Ieper, some crossing train tracks caught
Dan’s front wheel and he fell – directly in front of Andy who, by sheer 
fluke (so he says) managed to steer a way between Dan’s head and 
his rear wheel (which at that point were inches apart). Fortunately,
although Dan’s road rash was fairly spectacular, there was no other
damage and we pressed on, arriving in Ieper in time to begin our brief
battlefield tour (Essex Farm, Yorkshire Trench, Langemark*, Tyne
Cot* and Hooge Crater*).
We needed to be at The Menin Gate by 7:00 pm, as Russ was to
parade the Rickmansworth & West Hyde standard, while Charlie was
to lay a wreath on behalf of Cheltenham TRBL. 
Russ also wanted to lay a wreath, but as standard bearer this may have
caused some problems. 
As it turned out, a young ex-army chap came up to us
holding a poppy cross and asked if he could join in. He explained that
his great uncle had been killed in WW1, and this was the 100th
anniversary. Russ suggested he lay his wreath for him, while I, being
an escort, would lay his cross. So that was how we managed to have
2 wreaths laid at the Menin Gate, and everyone had a task to do
there; 2 wreath bearers, each with 2 escorts.

3rd May Ieper to Mechelen; 84 miles
Slightly earlier start this morning, but still later than planned. First stop
in Oudenaarde is probably the best restaurant in the world for cyclists
(Centrum Ronde van Vlaanderen) – for example, our table had been
signed by Fabian Cancellara, Andy’s hero.

There had been a parade through the town, which delayed Russ getting to the place, but it was to  commemorate the end of WW2. Pressing on
to Aalst, we encountered  some of the more unusual obstacles that our route throws at adventurers such as us - road works that have no clear way round them; a canal with a pedestrian bridge, but no cycling path up and over it; underpasses under railway lines; cobbles. Fortunately, we had agreed that our support car would simply meet up with us at the rest stops, all addresses being pre-planned.
 
4th May; Mechelen to Arnhem; 116 miles
A still earlier start this morning, but still behind time. Both our first and
second rest stops were closed when we arrived, but fortunately Russ
had found another just around the corner from the first – a bakers,
with the best sausage rolls ever. 
A different kind of obstacle this morning – our cycle path took us
across an open mash area, though the path itself was tarmac – but
the area was also open to wild ponies, that were gathered around the
only bit of shade, right next to the path.
Bad news on the way to our next stop – the exhaust fell off our
support car! Good news – Russ managed to get it fixed, after telling
the man at Kwik-fit that he didn’t have the 2 or 3 days it would take to
get the part.
So the man made a call to someone he knew, who managed to weld
the thing back together, for €50. As Russ wasn’t around to sort out
another rest stop, we decided to press on and stop at the next likely
looking place, which had club sandwiches and mozzarella toasties –
and beer. 
Arriving in Arnhem, we caught up the rear of what seemed
like a funeral cortege, but when I asked what it was all about, I was
told they had just had a church service to commemorate WW2, so I
replied what we were doing.
This was just ahead of a weather front, which luckily passed over
during the night.

5th May Arnhem to Gutersloh; 126 miles
A bright, clear blue sky, with lots of open water to ride beside makes
for a flat, scenic ride. With a following breeze, we made good time –
and had set off 40 minutes earlier than our scheduled start, to steal 
time for our longest day’s ride. However, two punctures later and we 
were back behind schedule, even before the first stop. I had made contact
with TRBL Munster, who had arranged a reception in Elke Taylor’s back
garden – and what a spread they had put on! We were awe-struck with the
amount of food they had made, and with lashings of tea, coffee and soft drinks it was tougher to tear ourselves away for the last stretch to Gutersloh than pretty much any other part of the ride
(though I do speak for myself).

 
There was a long, flat stretch to Gutersloh, where we cruised for 22 –
23 mph, averaging for the whole stretch 19.6. We all managed to get
to our hotel, where TRBL Gutersloh were waiting for us, with Russ
there and the car fixed, at 9.06 pm.
 
6th May; Gutersloh to Peine
One of the toughest climbs today – if not the toughest of the ride, and
later in the afternoon, Dan was struggling as much as I was on the
first day. I reminded him that the option was there if he needed it, but
with Gaz to support, they opted to slow their pace down, recover their
mojo and let us press on at our pace. There was a thunderstorm after
this, which made us take cover in a little copse (there was a huge
electricity pylon right overhead, so that was OK). Stopping to take a
picture of the rainbow 5 miles or so short of Peine, they caught us
back up so we all came into Peine (no, not ‘Pain’!) together. Dan
wasn’t able to eat very much at dinner and, putting this together with
his flagging earlier, suggested he might have ‘bonked’. After dinner, he Googled this and found he had all the symptoms, suggesting to Andy and Gaz that he might wake up in a coma. He decided to spend the next day in the car, so recovering enough to make the last day into Berlin on his bike.
 
7th May; Peine to Tangermunde; 90 miles
A shorter day than we had become used to, only 90 miles. Even so,
we had learned that dallying early in the day lost time that can’t be
made up, so we pressed on to or first rest stop, the Autostadt VW
exhibition, where we wandered around the Audi building before having
lunch in one of their café’s.
Next stop, Eiscafe for an ice cream in Gardelegen, just ahead of
another weather front. Andy’s STRAVA placing jumped to 14th – out of
130,000 other world-wide endurance cyclists. He was well chuffed.
Dinner in a medieval tavern, where they offer 5 ltr – yes, 5 LITRE
steins of beer.
 
8th May; Tangermunde to Berlin; 79 miles
Our last day on a bike and it was, as usual, behind schedule from the
start. But with another stretch of flat, woodland path, we soon made
up for the delay – until we came to a junction that I remembered from
2010. Then, we took the cycle path that ended in the middle of
nowhere. So, against all reason other than a fading memory, we
pressed on for a few hundred yards and found a cycle path on the left,
which we joined. The results from the election were coming in over the
wifi as we had lunch, and we discovered that Charlie is a dead ringer
for the new Member for Paisley and Renfrewshire South.

Can you spot the difference? There were a few other ‘where’s the cycle path gone’ moments but taking the requisite sanity check led us to; a. miss out our last  planned rest stop and b. skip laying a wreath at the Berlin CWGC, as we knew they closed Neue Wache at 6.00 pm – and there we were, with  7.5 km of traffic to fight our way through with only 50 minutes to get  there. So we pressed on and laid the remaining wreaths at the memorial to All Victims of War and Terror; I delivered The Exhoration in English, Andy replied with his German translation (as written on the wreath card), then Russ dipped the Rickmansworth & West Hyde Branch Standard. As we finished, several things happened soon after each other; the security guard began ushering people out; we all began taking photos

 and I was approached by a tall, short haired German guy, who wanted to know what we were up to. I replied we were TRBL, a veteran’s organization. He came back to me outside, saying ‘Thank you for liberating us’. He’s the chap on the right, next to Russ.
                  
The riders were; Dan ‘Bonker’ Harris, Andy ‘Iron Man’ Deeks, Gaz ‘Le
Domestique’ Madeley, Charlie ‘Thunderbird 4’ Barnard and myself, 
Paul ‘Directier Sportif’ Harding (taking the picture, above). 
Russ ‘The Rock’ Mansfield drove the van, loaned by Tim Gowing.