C2C
The Megasaurarse coast to coast cycle ride
The Preparation
Following on from the Multidaymen adventures, Colin was asked by his friend Glen, Son in Law Stephen and daughter's boyfriend Christopher if they could do the coast to coast with the Multidaymen. So it was decided to do some training over the summer and to complete the C2C on August bank holiday
. Malcolm and Graeme couldn't go with us, so it was decided that we would do it on our own. As could be expected the training started well then faded until nearer the time. Glen had kept up the training with Colin but mostly only on a Sunday morning, easy riding along the railway lines around home.I offered to carry all the kit but they all insisted on carrying their own. Glen said he would carry a haversack but the other two wanted a rack and panniers. A telephone call to Mal and it was arranged for me to pop down on Thursday evening, to borrow his panniers and a rack. He said to call before 7 PM as he was away at Jill's for the weekend. So Karen, Suzanne and myself set off down the A1 arriving at 6-45pm, Mal was not home or answering his mobile. So I picked the lock on his garage door and found his panniers laid just inside, also a spare rack. I needed two racks and as Mal had three bikes all with racks fitted I decided to help myself to another. I found his tool kit and unbolted a second rack, Then kitted up we closed and relocked the door and set off back home. We got home to find two messages on the answerphone. The first one was Mal saying "sorry I, was delayed but I am home now", The second one was saying "oh I've just been in the garage and I see you have already been!".
The next problem was to get 4 Lads their bikes and kit over to the starting point on the West Coast. Stephen said he could help by taking the bikes in his works van along with Christopher and Stephen's dad who could then drive the van back home. Karen would go with the rest of us in my car, and return home after dropping us off, unlike the normal Multidaymen planning, we had a last minute hitch. Stephen's dad was unable to go. Lots of hurried permutations on how we could do it. Suzanne came up with a novel idea. The place where she worked "The safe play club" had a mini bus, A quick call to her boss Val and it was arranged that we could borrow the mini bus. A trip through to Darlington to collect the bus, then fill the tank and back home. Everyone turned up with their bikes and kit. It was soon discovered that the bikes would not fit in. So while the girls cleaned the mini bus, we set about removing the rear row of seats. This allowed us to fit the four bikes across the back behind the remaining seats, leaving 9 seats for people. (Glen's girl friend Lesley was not able to make the trip across Saturday morning). So it was pretty roomy on the bus.
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