Four Go Down The Thames: Day 3 Photos

Foster at Staines Thames Footpath

Four Go Down The Thames: Day 2 Photos

River Hotel at Oxford

Four Go Down The Thames: Day 1 Photos

Braker Boys at Kemble Train Station

Four Go Down The Thames: Day 4, ...and relax!

The hotel at Canary Wharf was great and very comfortable.  After a sumptuous lie-in, and a hefty full English breakfast, we prepare for our final journey back to Waterloo.  However, this wasn’t all on bikes.  We took the Thames Clipper service all the way back to the London Eye, travelling through central London in style!

Four Go Down The Thames: Day 3, The End is Nigh

I started the day feeling surprisingly fresh, mentally at least.  We made another early start, aiming to get to the Thames Barrier before the final day of the Premier League finishes. 

Today we actually left on time, and made very good pace from Slough to Staines. 

Four Go Down The Thames: Day 2

Knowing that we had a lot of cycling to get through today, we attempted to make an early start.  I had had a somewhat disturbed night’s sleep, being woken by Foster to tell me I was snoring! 

We spent a little time in the morning finding a bike shop for Foster to replace his spare inner tube, having got a puncture yesterday afternoon.  Then it was onto the towpath out of Oxford all the way to Abingdon, and was just great with some great views of the river through the city.

Four Go Down The Thames: Day 1, The Adventure Begins

I hadn’t slept well.  It may have been nerves.  It may have been a million and one things going through my head such as have I packed and repacked enough times?  Have I done enough planning, preparation, and training?  Have I got the train times right?  Will I get there on time?  Will I even finish?  Then again, it may well have been the large amount of pasta I’d consumed the night before to ‘carb up’.  The day started off being rudely awoken by a text message from Shum at 4:30am.  Oh the hilarities of such a practical joke!

Why Cycle?

Paterson:I’ve cycled for as long as I can remember from the days where you used to sweat but you would be able to get away without smelling like a festival goer.  However my relationship with cycling gradually drifted away due to the introduction of four wheels, university, and alcohol!.

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What's in a name? (pt2)

Now I can't make you do it, you gotta look at the guy next to you, look into his eyes. Now I think you are going to see a guy who will go that inch with you, you are going to see a guy who will sacrifice himself for this team because he knows when it comes down to it, you are gonna do the same thing for him.
That's a team, gentlemen and either we heal now, as a team, or we will die as individuals.
That's football guys.
That's all it is.
Now, whattaya gonna do?
-Any Given Sunday

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What's in a name? (pt1)

The charity thing, the bicycle thing, the route thing and all those kind of things were all in the bag. It was Phil's original idea and planning, but once we had bought into the idea, the rest like training, bikes, equipment, etc, were not issues, with one exception.

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The Route

As you know, we're cyling the entire length of the River Thames.  We'll be starting off in Kemble, just outside Cirencester in Gloucestershire, and ending at the Thames Barrier in east London.

Our route will follow the river as much as possible; there is a national trail along the entire route. However, the Thames Path National Trail is not a long distance route for cyclists, and most of it is a public footpath. The majority of the ride will therefore be on roads. In London, some boroughs allow cycling on the Thames Path, but it is a disjointed picture.

That said, the route has been carefully planned to ensure that every bend in the river is accounted for, giving good distances between each way point, stop-off point, and the start and finish points. We aim to start on a Friday, meaning that riding through Central London will be on Sunday, which will be less busy. The trip will be done over three days

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The Great River Thames Charity Bike Ride

You may be wondering why we have decided to ride our bikes along the River Thames. I can’t speak for the others, but this is a short story on how the idea for this ride was conceived and my own reasons for wanting to do this.

It was in the long hot summer of 2010 that the idea for a charity bike ride started to formulate. I had done a couple of 5km and 10km charity runs before and found them to be a good challenge, but I wanted to do something different. I still wanted to raise money for charity, but perhaps this time the challenge would involve sitting down. Then it struck me; how about a bike ride?


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