“Are we nearly there yet?” Sunday 8th September seemed along time ago back in the Spring. After quickly pressing a few keys I had entered the Manx Telecom End2End. I alos forced my sister into it and I kindly entered Andy Cross - an any-event newby in to it as well. Come to think of it neither of them thanked me for it. The weekend quickly zoomed around and our Isle again started to fill up with bikes with less horsepower than normal. The Tuesday before the event I picked up my too-small borrowed bike, struggled into the tight clipped in shoes and road off-road for the first time in over 30 years. The, near one hour practice, on Douglas prom filled me with enough confidence to dream of a podium finish. I was all set. The night before the event we gathered at our race HQ - Andy’s Inglewood Hotel on the Queens Prom. Coffees and delicious home made cakes were scoffed as I met my sister and her boyfriend who had travelled from across. OS maps were studied, I stared intently at them, gently nodding my head with a serious look on my face, it was the first OS map I had ever seen and had loads of lines closely drawn next to each other. Andy had been thrilling me with the same stories about his training, nutrition, tyre pressures, colour of his handlebar grips etc etc for eight months. He also kept repeating that he wasn’t nervous in a manic voice. After staying good night, I left them to meet up for breakfast at the Inglewood at 6.30am. I slept well dreaming of stepping up on to the podium and practicing my winners speech. Waking up before by alarm and drawing open the curtains, I couldn’t see anything, it was pitch black and 2.17am. Get back to sleep, get back to sleep “I would just like to thank.......” Eventually it was time to get going. I met up with the rest of Team IOM Hearing Solutions at the Inglewood and after a breakfast of porridge, a banana and energy gels we loaded the bikes into the Cake and Coffee vanbus. Andy drove whilst regaling me with his tyre pressure and handlebar grip colours in between quickly shouting “I”M NOT NERVOUS!” Pip, his lucky Blonde wife, had home-baked the four us high energy flap-jacks to eat on the bleak exposed wind-swept route. As we pulled into the car park at Bride I had just finished eating my eighth and last piece. Although Andy was not nervous he had got us close to the start line, all prepared and raring to go with a mere 2 hours 23 minutes until the start time. As it started to get light I told Andy to get back in and wait in the vanbus. He kept saying he still wasn’t nervous as he became fixated with staring at his watch. WIth an hour to go we got ourselves unloaded. My sister, Verity, took off a couple of layers which took her down to 12. Andy was frantically going from bike to toilet block to vanbus to toilet block to bike to toilet block. Pat, Verity’s boyfriend and a keen MTBist was sat on a bike that was worth more than my Hearing Solutions Smart car. Non-nervous Andy was desperate to get to the start line so our Team peddled off. Pat gave me some last minute tips “Rear brake on the left, front one on the right although NEVER, EVER use that one.” I learnt how to change gear on the way to the Lighthouse. An array of different sized cyclists awaited us as we patiently queued up. Having competed in a number of endurance events I love the atmosphere at the start line - everyone is friendly, helpful and all encouraging - it is so uplifting to be part of. Today was starting to feel special. Pat told us that we should all stick together and get into the flow of the event - fine by me. WIth the Elite setting off first - apparently an admin error resulted in me not starting with them - and then it was great to cheer the juniors off, I couldn’t get in that group either. It was now our turn - 1,700 of us approached the start line. Quick hugs and handshakes and we were all about to finally start. Andy kept telling me how unnervous he was. As the four of us rolled over the timing pad - Pat made his break for the win with a mere 74.98km to go, my sister rode on the side the cars drive towards you, I was desperately trying to remember which side brake lever to NEVER, EVER touch and Andy was admiring his handle grips before he shouted that he had to go back to the vanbus. Within a mile the four of us were spilt. I had wee to think of what to do. Somehow, I found Andy and then my sister, who said her legs were aching - we were nearly at four miles - as we rode on the heavily supported roads out of Bride. This was an epic! Every house had people waving Manx flags, cheering and urging us on - I saw a few of my patients shouting out encouragement to us all. I felt immensely proud of all our enthusiastic local support and chatting to riders who had come from across they found it really uplifting - as it was from all ages. Brilliant stuff! Through the crowds at Jurby and on towards Ballaugh - all was going swimmingly until a sign was pointing upwards showing us where the route went. Off and up road we went. Not to stand out I decide to join the others and push my bike up a steep bit. The camaraderie was great - every rider and all ages of supporters urging every one on. We were into the hills and towards the top I savoured the stunning views - this was one of the main reasons that I had entered to see our beautiful Isle from parts that I would never normally see. I wasn’t to be disappointed - the views were breathtaking. After nearly 20 miles my sister asked “Are we nearly there yet?” For the first time. She had been struggling up some of the hills and she hadn’t realised that she had a smaller ring on the front that she could change down to. It had taken a lot out of her. Andy was riding nervelessly - loving the feeling of being in his first ever event after celebrating his 50th in May. We peddled on to the first food station. As we were time critical we just had enough time to take some group photos, some selfies, redo the group photos as we were not best pleased with the first set, eat some energy bars, 37 cola bottle sweets, devour some more gels, have another wee, chat with the marshalls, high five the supporters and set off again. A brisk 17 minute pit stop. A new PB. On the ride over to St Johns I saw a few local friends - Liz C looked fresh and fast - with great running support from her husband Steve and Claire was definitely going to finish. We were all in this together and our collective goal was that magical finish line way, way away in the distance. Just before St Johns I stopped next to a local rider who had a cut lip, shin and his hip was sore from when he had taken a tumble. He was ok although he said St John’s was far enough for him - I offered to ride with him, he politely declined as he was the oldest rider in the race at 71!!!! What an achievement to ride so far, so quickly - we shock hands after he had peddled safely into St Johns. Some bloke- I owe this man a coffee/beer! At St John’s Pip and Alice threw jam sandwiches, with the crusts cut off, into our grubby gobs. A flask of tea was taken and we were ready for the next section - and what a section it was. Quickly off road, we were straight into a monster climb - a strength sapping leg squashing route. My sister was digging deep and my mumbled offer of "If you really want I’ll push your bike?" was met with bursting enthusiasm. We trudged onward and upwards and with just over 6 miles to go and with Andy looking strong he left our walking peleton and headed off to conquer the finishing line. Through Arisan Plantation where we met up with Chris Quayle, who had kindly lent me his bike and Kath his fiancée, in the middle of the forest. it was great to see them and they gave us the boost to carry on. I went past a marshall and overheard her say “all that is left are a few stragglers” This spurred me on to putting both feet onto the pedals. We were in another stunning part of the Isle - we rode next to a river at the foot of a deep verdant valley, the dappled sun shone down on us, the birds sang and looking over my shoulder I could see down to the sea - this was a special moment. I looked at my sister, we have always been really close and I knew that this was a memorable experience for both of us, a unique moment that we would always treasure. Smiling as we shared this unique moment. She stared up, our eyes locked on each other and she said:- “I really, really need a poo.” With a hand full of dock leaves she went into the woods, if it’s good enough for bears...... I waited about 500 metres plus ahead, up wind. We eventually ventured on through the last food station and climbed up and up to the Sloc and to one of the toughest parts of the course. Descending was precarious and I apologised to a group of marshalls for not falling off and giving them a good laugh. Their witty reply was “You’ve not got to the bottom yet!’ Just a 150 metres later, as I sailed through the air looking up at the sky and my cartwheeling bike, I somehow abruptly stopped myself sliding down the mountainside with my testicles on an exposed root. Gingerly, I made it to the bottom, Verity and I whooped and hollowed, although mine was in a higher pitch as we quickly freewheeled through grassy fields. The Howe road to Cregnesh again saw me double pushing even though we could tantalisingly hear the music at the finish line. Finally, I eased myself back on to my saddle and we rode, together up to the finishing shoot. My eyes lit up as there was an open can of Guinness being waved at me - rehydration is key after any endurance race and it had never tasted so good. It was euphoric seeing all of the magnificent IOM Hearing Solutions Team complete this challenge. Andy was on an utter high, celebrating with his family - he was the least nervous that I had seen him in weeks, just wonderful to witness. Pat was freezing after hanging around for 3 hours, since he had finished, waiting for us. Me, I was just immensely proud - proud of my sister, our Team, the organisers, the marshalls and especially the people of the Isle of Man that made the End2End such a memorable event. I look forward to seeing even more on the start line next year. Thank you, Guy Wolstencorft Team IOM Hearing Solutions Manx Telecom End2End Finisher 2013 in 1,126th place!
Posted on: Fri, 13 Sep 2013 15:11:34 +0000
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