10th Allenheads Bike Challenge on the 15 July 2007...

A personal reflection - Keith Miller, ICT Manager - Springboard Sunderland

The 10th annual bike ride began for me at 6.00am with an early morning shower and light breakfast. The sun was out and there was hardly a breath of wind, however, this would not last. By 7.00am I was off down to Springboards Roker Avenue base to meet a majority of the days riders for initial registration. I arrived at 7.30am and was greeted by around 40 people standing outside the building. To my horror I thought I was late, fortunately this eager bunch were early. Riders were checked in and booked onto the main coach for the hour long bus ride to Allenheads which left promptly at 8.00am. Myself and Springboard colleagues Ken Lamb (support marshal) and Sue Mountain (ride participant) remained behind for any late arrivals, eventually leaving at 8.30am in one of the Support busses.

Once at Allenheads the main coach party had already registered at reception receiving their Hi-Vis vests and route maps. As you can see from the picture above, outside was a hive of activity with riders busying themselves making final adjustments to their bikes, taking on water and feasting on (or loading) Mars bars and bananas.

At around 10.00am all preparations were over and we were ready to go. Mark Goodings, principal ride organiser addressed the riders with last minute advice and Health & Safety instructions. Then, we were off.

The first 3/4 mile is along a flat road leading into Allenheads town, the road had fresh chippings on it which were pinging about all over the place under the freshly inflated tyres of the riders. Beyond the town lay the first of the two hills (mountains) to be negotiated. Admittedly I hadn't trained enough