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Sat 11th Feb 10am - 12pm
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Sun 12th Feb 12pm - 1pm
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Sun 19th Feb 12pm - 1pm
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Sat 25th Feb 10am - 12pm
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Sun 4th Mar 12pm - 1pm
Waiting for Laura? Quite the reverse!
On a day when the world and his wife took to their bikes for the annual ride from London to Brighton, I imagined that the number of people game for a family outing might be on the low side. Attaching the family's bike's to the Webb Cyclewagon, I wondered if anyone might turn up. The roads around Reigate were jammed up with the knock-on effect of 37,000 cyclists... who would bother?
In the end, my worries were unfounded. Already kitted out and waiting were Nick, Amanda, Hayley, Catherine and Laura, with parents in tow. Once my own Sevi and Vita joined the group we had a sizeable peloton with which to tackle the North Downs.
As a responsible leader, I looked at the keen faces and settled upon six year old Laura and informed the bunch that today our pace would be set by HER as the littlest of a keen-looking bunch.
As it turned out, within a few hundred yards I was going to have to eat my helmet. We started on an incline up onto the Downs and I realised that Laura - far from needing us to wait needed a polkadot jersey. This young lady was stronger than she looked. Sister Catherine only a year or two older was happy to let her sister take the lead but clearly full of pedalling herself and equipped with that most crucial of cycling gear: a huge smile!
I also noticed that Amanda and Hayley were sensibly kitted out with Camelbaks. They were clearly ready for a challenge. In fact, everyone was! I thought I'd better make sure I passed muster...
As we passed the Sportsman pub, everyone was showing excellent road skills and then when out on Walton Heath, we had a quick lesson on braking to teach Nick and Sevi that skidding may be fun but there are better ways to stop quickly if you need to!
By this time, Laura was really getting into her stride. The single track section through the woods back up to the M25 bridge is a mini-drag but gravity clearly doesn't feature in Laura's biking vocabulary. While my legs started to feel a twinge (I cycled Nutfield to Brighton before 9am!) she was a pocket dynamo.
Finally, we returned after an hour to a photo back at the look-out during which yours truly felt he should eat his helmet, let alone his hat! It just goes to show, the long history of little ladies proving powerful in British Cycling which started with Eileen Sheridan (try googling, parents!) and comes right the way up to Emma Pooley, has a new name to contend with. Everyone on the ride did a wonderful job, over six miles full of smiles and fun and sensible cycling... but Laura will go far... literally!
Thank you to Parents too and I hope you enjoyed a safe and quiet route with the most spectacular views. Your children do you proud!
Adrian
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