23rd Novemeber 2008

Heck. We did it! Day one. 63km, (41 miles) Mainly off road and very flat. We did it in legs of 12-15km each. After the first stop my bike died - chain jammed (-yes, Cuban B.O.D!) so I rode Claude's bike until the next stop. (Claude was one of the team from classic tours who had organised the whole event) The third leg - until lunch - was good, I really got going and was one of the first to arrive. Lunch was a picnic of cheese and ham sandwiches. Then the next leg was via the muddy puddles (lakes!) I went through a couple but mainly walked around in an effort to keep my shoes alive until the end of the week. We stopped for water by the hospital, and the next leg we were back on tarmac and Caz ad I did really well - until we turned the corner and were heading straight into the wind; a really STRONG wind! No available bushed for peeing at the next stop so I had to hold on - and hence sprinted a lot of the last 11km leg until I found a suitable spot! Then I rode with Olive until we got to the coaches that were going to transfer us to our hotel. We went through several small villages and all the people were very friendly. I saw dogs on the roof at one place! Lots of horse-drawn traps around. We got on the coach and then drove for an hour or so to Cienfeugos. We had 15 minutes to explore the square, then back on the coach to the hotel. The hotel has to be seen to be believed. Stalinist Russian concrete, primary-coloured monstrosity of a building, but with fantastic views. Just had a shower and the towel rail fell off in my hand - at least it was hot water.
on route....


It was really off road in places!

Waiting for the off....


Caz in action!

Frankie looking for the sudocreme!





more pictures to follow......






This is the road to big major hospital in the region!....


...and this is the hospital


Olive feeling very proud (and muddy!) for having gone straight through all the puddles!




On the coach to Cienfeugos...

Mags and Jules

Sarah, Frankie, Mags and Jules

22nd November 2008

Finally made it to Havana, and got greeted by Fern (Brittan) and all the girls from week one cheering as we went down to the baggage claim. (Fern Brittan has done several women for women cycle rides - Cuba was her fourth (I think) - and they had completed the event the week previous to us arriving. They were waiting in departures at Havana as we came through arrivals, and you are separated from each other by a perspex partition (friendly!) They all cheered as we came through, which seeing as we had endured a hellishly long journey and were all scared to death with the anticipation of everything was enough to make you well up! I asked Fern how her bum was (of all the things to ask a public figure when you run into one! - but she said it was fine) and Maggie forgot that Fern wasn't her best friend! Maggie ran up to Fern and greeted her (through the perspex) very enthusiastically saying Hi Fern, how are you? How was it? And totally forgot the reason she knew Fern was via a one-way medium known as TV - and that therefore Fern didn't know her at all!

We stayed at the Occidental Mirimar Hotel where we will also be staying for the last two nights of the trip. Had a buffet dinner - fish and rice, and then to bed. Slept until about 2am local time (7am UK) then dozed on and off. (Caz and I spent half the week waking at 2am!)

Currently on the coach waiting to go to the bay of pigs.

Later.....

I am sitting on the steps to the pool, and have just watched some of the girls enjoy a salsa lesson while sipping a rum punch. Lovely! Got the bikes fitted today, I have bar ends and Ali's handle bar bag, and Allie the elephant also now in place! All seems good to me. Caz isn't so sure, but then she didn't train on the bike of doom! Look at the state of this handwriting...that'll be the rum then!......







When I went to upload the photos from this day, I realised I mentioned nothing in my journal about the museum. Or the hotel. The hotel was affectionately christened (maybe by those on the trip more used to 5* accommodation than myself!) as communist Butlins. It consisted of very basic cabin - style accommodation (If you were lucky you got a living room as well as a bedroom, and if you were really lucky you got hot running water!) The pool and restaurant / bar area were all together centrally. Next to the hotel was the museum commemorating the bay of pigs invasion - of which the Cubans are very (rightly) proud, so we visited with guide Enyo during the day, while waiting to get fitted for our bikes. I should mention, these photos (I am not very good at thei blogging malarkey yet) are the wrong way round - the pool you can see taken from a high window is in Havana at the Mirimar hotel, working your way up to the coach trip to the Bay of Pigs, then the bike. The shots below show the museum and 'communist butlins' hotel. I have to say I thought the hotel was fine - if this was as basic as it was going to get we'd be just fine! More pics can be seen here thanks to the wonders of the web!

sorry.......

Its been a while hasn't it! My apologies, readers. Life got in the way somewhat.

However I gather that many of you are still waiting for the blow by blow account of how we got on in Cuba; so here it is. This is verbatum as written in my daily journal. At times when I was writing I was exhausted and tired and emotional - so it's not a great witty repast all the time. It is however, a true account of my experience. Any thoughts I add in now will be in italics

21st November 08
Waiting......

Left home at 2am, arrived at Heathrow just gone 4am. Found Maggie, Julie and Caz and met Sarah. Sarah was hanging around in the queue for booking looking lost and lonely, so we adopted her
Waited for baggage drop.
waited for plane
waited for take off
waited to land in Paris for a stop off - the flight here had the quickest tea service in the world - they gave me my cup and then took it practically straight back off me as we juddered to a halt in charles de Gaulle
Waited in the queue for the bag check (more on the bags later)
waited for the bus shuttle
waited in a queue for drinks
waited to board
waited to take off.

By 17.20 (UK) 18.20 (France) and 12.20 (Cuba) we were waiting to land - and had 6 hours to go.

Bags. I need to stress this one. I had the SMALLEST bag of the group of 78 (puffs out chest) Caz's weighed in at 23kg - mine at 12kg. Caz was rather amazed, having never travelled with me and having assumed I would be a girly girl packng hair straighteners, six pairs of heels, and outfit for every possible occassion plus a few spare etc.....but no. And yes I am proud and yes I will continue to brag about this for some considerable time! See pictorial evidence below!



more to follow....

And we're back!

More in full later, just to say we did it (every flipping hilly inch of it!) and it was simply amazing.

When I have time I'll type my journal up onto here and put in some pics...

Ruth


Highlights of the week that Fern Brittan did can be seen here:
http://www.itv.com/Lifestyle/ThisMorning/features/FerninCuba123/default.html

6 days to go and counting……

……counting down, counting down days and counting down participants. Sadly, only three of the four original fundraising females will be heading out to Cuba next Friday.

Some of you will know by now that in the last fortnight Alison has been diagnosed with breast cancer, and has to remain behind to start treatment. We are going to miss her gliding effortlessly up hills in front of us (quite how she made it through that ride in howling gales while her body is facing it’s biggest fight ever I don’t know) but we are going to go and do it for her, sending pictures and texts of the detail of the horror of each new hill / mossy bite / sore spot / sleepless night….. so she can sit at home supping tea and think of us!

We have spent a year planning this together, I dread to think how many texts Ali and I have swapped in the last 13 months over fundraising / training / fundraising / kit / fundraising / training / fundraising….and it is a cruel blow that right at the final post we don’t all get a chance to share in what will be a wonderful experience together. However, breast cancer affects one in nine women in Britain today, and touches the lives of one in three, and it would seem Alison is the ninth woman.

Action for charity, the trip organisers, have said they will 'hold' Alison's place, and as soon as she is well enough she will be able to go on whichever trip is on at the time (trips planned so far are Cuba March 09 and Jordan October 09), and they have also agreed that they will hold a second place for me so I can go along with her! Yay! So the fundraising is NOT over; the cycle (pun intended) will start all over again once I return, And as a silver lining in this cloud it means I raise an extra £3000 for an exceptionally good cause.

Alison, we love you, we will miss you in Cuba, and we know you will shout at us if we cop out and get on the land rover! I am sure all the readers (and there are some I believe) will join me in praying, thinking, crossing limbs – whatever it is you do – and sending lots of love for you and your family at this time.

Ruth

P.S. You know I do think there would have been easier get-outs of spending ten days solid with me.....she could just have SAID something!


P.P.S, can I encourage those of you who are yet to buy Christmas cards to consider doing so from here, and in doing so support the Royal Marsden Hospital who will be providing Alison's care.

out with the old...

So B.O.D (the bike formally known as Thing) has gone. To the great bike repair shop in the sky (otherwise known as Frome tip).

This morning has seen me walking shiny new bike (needs a name me thinks - suggestions please!) to school, where the caretaker Mr. Richie fitted a shiny new trailer bike that I was buying off him - Jack and I then made it home, took the trailer off, put both bikes on the car and headed to Halfords to have remaining child seat gubbins taken off Thing and put onto Shiny new bike. Now I am all set to get Sam from school, with Jack on the crossbar seat...and it is POURING with rain!

So I promised I'd fill you in on last weekends epic journey. Well to start with Ali and I had to go to the bike shop to get a new tyre and inner tube as shiny new bike had been delivered with gaping holes. Then we gathered at Caz's; The intrpid trio ready for the off.

Caz has a great new toy on her bike; she has fancy new clipless pedals and shoes. As I was just doing a couple of laps checking shiny new bike, she was demonstrating these: the shoes clip into the pedals, and then you can pull as well as push with each stroke. To remove your foot you twist it sideways and it pops out in a flash! "Easy as pie!" said Caz, who twisted her right foot out of the pedal, and then lent left. And yes, ended up in a heap on the ground.

Hmmmm. Not a great start to our epic ride!

As we headed to Shoreham airport (within a mile of leaving!) the weather started getting bad. Windy, rainy, cold, rainy, blostery, rainy, icy, rainy, cold... By the time we had gone another mile we were discussing whether we would be able to finish. By the time we had gone a nother mile we were SOAKING wet and freezing cold!

We managed a soggy 20 miles before stopping for lunch at Bolney. We walked into the coldest pub in the world look like the most bedraggled crew you have ever seen. And yes, it really was the coldest pub in the world. We would have been warmer and drier had we spent 20 minute swimming in iced water. An hour later, we ventured out of the pub into the still appalling weather, and getting back on those bikes was practically torture. The next stretch of the journey we did about a mile (or half?) actually ON the A23. The cycle route takes you up the pavement on the side. This was just hell! Into the wind, cars whizzing past at 60/70mph, the wind and rain lashing into your face, the rain stinging where it hits you, unable to see clearly with or without glasses, and by this point my bum was SORE. Ed had assured me that sticking with the posh saddle on my new bike was worthwhile, but by gum, getting used to a whole new riding position and new saddle on a long ride in these conditions was NOT a good plan.

We plodded bravely on, discussing how in decent weahter it would actually be a very pretty route, and trying to convince ourselves we could do it. Then we hit Handcross hill. Handcross Hill goes on and on and on and on. And on. Oh, and On. Just when you think you have got to the top, you round the corner and look! A bit more up!

It finished us off. By this point the light was going and whereas we had made pretty good time before lunch covering 20 miles in 2.5 hours (please appreciate this is pretty good time for us, but rubbish for 'normal' cyclists), since lunch we had managed only 5 (up) miles in nearly an hour. The light was going, we all ached and hurt and were cold and wet as never before. We stopped in the pub, and rang for our knight in shining armour - otherwise known as Mike - to rescue us.

Once in the pub we automatically drifted towards the roaring log fire, and stood there like muppets for about 10 minutes before we were defrosted enough to even think about ordering drinks. Kit was removed, shoes were removed and put to dry by the fire, and three hot chocolates were ordered. Twice.

On Sunday, we decided to drive back to Lancing, and on the A23 we all agreed that the stretch we had done on there was very UP indeed!

Some time I will draw a picture of the three of us on this trip. Alison seemingly gliding effortlessly in front, hardly breaking a sweat, and me panting, spinning legs furiously, red in the face, puffed out, exhausted, sweating like a pig, struggling behind. Caz was somewhere in the middle I think.

Two weeks to go.....

Sorry, Ruth can't come to the blog right now.

Still defrosting and drying out after doing this route in the pouring rain and howling gales yesterday. Yes we were supposed to go to Redill, and back Sunday. No we didn't make it. Total ascent 925 foot. Total descent -449 foot. Yes we are exhausted. 'Nuff said.



More later.....