Women V Cancer – Ride The Night

At the weekend I took part in the Women V Cancer Ride The Night 100km event. I have done this ride before as a ride angel, that you can read about here.

This time round I was gifted my place on the event and having taken part before I quickly accepted the opportunity again for such a great cause. Participants taking part challenge themselves to cycle either 50km or 100km through the night. The 50km point is by Buckingham Palace and if you finish there the organisers have put on coaches to return riders to Windsor Racecourse and lorries to take bikes back too – I have not done this before so cannot comment on this element of the event.

All fundraising from the event raises vital funds and awareness for Breast Cancer Now, Ovarian Cancer Action and Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust.

The atmosphere is amazing and the effort people go to is amazing! You don’t have to, but a lot of people dress up, add to their cycling kit with all the pink things and lights – there are lots of lights and some truly superb outfits – even from the doggos!

I knew quite a few ladies who were doing this ride as ride angels so also want to take a moment to give them a shout out. Events like these rely on volunteers and having been a ride angel on this event myself, I know how crucial that role is to support those taking part. Plus look at those halos!

I knew a lady who was taking part in the ride solo and we had done some mountain biking together and also a couple of road rides so I offered to ride with her. She was fab and managed to finish within the first 10 riders back to the racecourse – super proud of her!

Highlights

Highlights for me are:

• absolutely the atmosphere at all stages of the event, beforehand, during and after
• in with your event entry you get a pink hi-vis waistcoat to wear and a ticket for the pasta party so you can carb up ahead of the event starting
• in the event village there were food trucks, face painting, music, dancers, kit to purchase and photographers to capture it all
• the support along the route and at the finish – you can tell how much this event means to so many and heading out to London there were so many people by the side of the road cheering too
• in addition to event day there is a lot that the company do by way of support including emails with training tips and advice
• there is a facebook group you can join where so many share stories, hints/tips/advice and support
• the feed stops were amazing with everything you could have wanted included more support from the volunteers there
• marshalls who were out for the duration of the event in the dark and cold but always had a cheer and kind word
• when we got to the Mall it was closed off as the Westminster Mile was taking place the following day and so riding up that to ourselves was fab
• there is such a huge mix of abilities taking part so people are returning over quite a long time period but the organisation to allow people to leave when they were ready and not disrupt those riders returning was very well thought out

Not So Highlights

There are a few negatives as follows:

• there could have been more toilets in the event village – as always there are queues before events take place (that nervous wee) but with so many people taking part and just over a dozen portaloos it definitely could have done with more
• we found a few stretches of the route where we were unsure if we had gone wrong or missed a sign but we would eventually come across one – this is super hard as the organisers cannot put signs up everywhere but we were not the only ones who wondered if they’d made an error
• some of the signs were a little late with instruction ie you would be on the left in the cycle lane and it would have an arrow straight forward and then it would show right and there were more than one lane of traffic to get across in busy areas
• there was one part of the route towards the end where you were directed down a side turn that appeared to be to a closed gate but actually you were turning right to get on a cycle path but by the time we realised we were at the bottom so had to get off bikes and bump up the pavement
• absolutely nothing to do with the event but there was a lot of speed bumps, pot holes on some roads – the joy of riding in London!

If you are thinking of taking part as either a participant for the challenge or as a ride angel I would definitely recommend both having taken part now as both.

I was gifted my place at the event, but all opinions are my own.