As the organisers of the SCCU 25 mile t/t were good enough to send me a pic of me in action on my bike I thought I'd post it.
Having had most of the year off with an infection in the undercarriage and frozen shoulder I had not intended to race this year but had such a great time on a recent camping/cycling holiday in Normandy I thought I'd see if the more leisurely cycling on an old mountain bike would transfer to a sound base for racing...It didn't and I struggled to a time of 65.02, but to be honest it was just great to be cycling again as a consultant had actually advised me to give it all up a few months ago.
The holiday I mention was run by Oak Hall, a Christian gathering based in Otford, Kent.
The great appeal of Normandy is the beautiful countryside and the lovely local architecture, including the ancient half-timbered buildings. The region also oozes history, from Mont Saint Michel to Chateau Gaillard; there is much attractive coastline to explore; and the important sights of the Normandy Landing beaches and the Bayeux tapestry are also very popular with visitors to the area.
I'm not sure if I have ever discussed the difference between happiness and joy but this holiday is one example of this difference. It rained most days, very heavily at times, I had some of my pretty cycling clothes stolen, was bitten mercilessly by some very unchristian mosquitoes and could not sleep for the first three days due to my shoulder problem and draughty tent. And so, although I cannot in all honesty say it was a totally happy experience, and I was sorely tempted to book into a cosy hotel when my tent was flooded, I can say that it was the most joyous holiday I have ever had.
The positives were numerous. The 70 of us all faced the adverse conditions together and I learnt an awful lot about myself and about camararderie, love, freedom and the tenacity and hardiness of my fellow Christians. In short we had tremendous fun in the face of adversity. We started the days with a morning worship and then split into groups to pray. We then cycled daily to some lovely French towns, Caen being my favourite with its beautiful fine arts gallery and splendid museum. The terrain was sometimes challenging even for an experienced rider and we did have one or two accidents along the way - but no tears. We ate well and every evening we had a bible study given by Paul, our leader, with the help of his very expressive wife Lizzie, and several other Oak Hallers. We sometimes played games afterwards or sometimes played one of the two guitars available. One night a few of us partook of the local Calvados and that was the first night I slept well!
I have so many great memories, one or two of which are highly embarrassing.
We were given locks for our hired bikes and were told to look after them and not to lose them - cue moi - after eating at the beautiful village of Beauvron we walked back to our bikes only for me to find I had mislaid my key and was unable to unlock my bicycle. Why me Lord? Fortunately Lizzie was not too far away in her car so it was a quick drive back to camp for the wire-cutters and then back to Beauvron to liberate my trusty steed. The car journey was great fun although I wondered if I had upset Lizzie at one point when mentioning (just after she had taken a corner at high speed) that my favourite Gospel song was Jesus Take The Wheel (about a girl who was just about to have a car accident after driving too fast). This was a coincidence I assure you - or was it a subliminal kneejerk reaction! Anyways I was offered a lift back to camp but decided to cycle back and there is no better way to learn local routes than to get yourself lost - and I did both - but arrived back safely in time for tea.......just.
The other misfortune that befell me was prompted by good intentions. The whole camp was suffering from damp clothes so I offered to spend an evening drying clothes in a not-so-hot spin dryer. It was a most enjoyable evening and Christine, my young sister-in-arms, taught me more about the subject of horses than I would ever need in any form of quiz while we were waiting for each 45 minute cycle to end. I eventually ran out of tokens so went back the next morning with the last two loads, mine and Heather's. Helen, the receptionist offered to do the dry for me and duly did so but when I returned after the day's cycle ride the clothes were all gone! Oh dear!
Paul and Lizzie are wonderful hosts - Paul is such an interesting guy - a disaster in every day life, quite clumsy and even a little gauche in some ways but when he is filled with the Spirit and starts preaching his words are inspirational and devout. I love him. Lizzie is equally eccentric in a different way. Her words of wisdom are very lyrical and delivered in a staccato fashion with hand gestures reminiscent of a trolley dolly. It is a beautful and contagious delivery we were all aping by the end of the week.
The other team members, James, Peter, Jennie (inspirational testimony), Rob, Chris (not forgetting his brother naughty Adam) and Matt (the demon cyclist who won the penultimate day time trial and generally ensured our bikes were in good working order and mapped our routes) were fantastic too. They introduced me to the joys of Irish Snap and Signs (which at one point almost turned me into a blubbering wreck) and generally allayed any misconceptions that Christians were boring.
Of course it was impossible to bond with all 69 fellow campers but I have great memories of my tent-mate Raymond (a lay preacher), Mark and David (two very gifted musicians), two Christines, two Rachaels, two Kens, Kathryn (soon to re-enact Gorillas in the Mist), Catriona and her tent-mate Hana (managed to get barred from a local restaurant), Ruth (my friend who entertained with her beautiful voice and guitar-playing as well as generally lifting spirits), Giedre (nasty accident on the final day but continued to smile), Niomh (voice of an angel), Rhys (a history teacher who actually loves history and takes part in re-enactments), Kim and Laura (my quiz team-mates who had the wherewithall to choose me for their team and then proceeded to get all the answers themselves), Niall, Olga, Debbie, Tom (a fine young man who knew no-one at the outset but seemed to be part of the team by day 2), Daniel (a club cyclist like myself who was very shaken all week as he had a nasty fall during a 100 mile t/t the week before, his girlfriend Heather (she whose clothes I managed to lose), Luke and his younger brother, and a white-haired gentleman who sat behind me on the coach and who always had a kind word to say about my eclectic choice of headgear (I never did find out his name and as I liked him so much I was too embarrassed to ask - not like me at all!). I have probably left out several other people I engaged with but my memory isn't what it was, suffice to say I loved them all.
Proof of the Holy Spirit abounded and on one evening I swear a miracle occurred. After going out to eat on our final evening Ruth, Catriona, Hana, Kathryn, Ken and myself arrived back at camp rather late and the gate was locked, Five of us managed to leg it over the top but Ken was having some problems due to his attire but just as all seemed lost the gate mysteriously flew open!
OK so it wasn't the feeding of the five thousand but I tell you - the hot chocolate sump never ran dry : ) Praise the Lord and God bless all those good people above and all those my errant memory has served to forget.
