On Wednesday 22nd June, 12 employees from GDS (or with a connection to GDS) set out to cycle clockwise around the Isle of Wight.
“We all met in Portsmouth the night before and spent the evening discussing strategies and carb-loading on pasta at Zizzi’s. After a hearty breakfast, we boarded the 8:15am fast catamaran to Ryde, our challenge began. Unfortunately, within the first mile of leaving Ryde, one of the rider’s gears broke so myself, Chris and Chris 2 spent the first part of the day in a coffee shop waiting for the bike to be fixed! Nevertheless, an hour later we set off in pursuit of the main ‘peloton’. Thankfully, the main peloton fancied a long coffee break and waited for us at 35km, in The White Mouse Inn, a beautiful hotel that served us drinks and ice creams in the sunshine. That was the first third complete!
The second third of the challenge contained the most hills. From Portsmouth, the Isle of Wight looks flat, but trust me, it really isn’t. You only need to ask Darren to describe the hills and you will get some very graphic detail and maybe some colourful language too. The faster group made it to the needles for a photograph whilst, the slightly less fast group cycled past the needles and met the first group for lunch. Colwyn bay is a beautiful sandy bay, home to the famous seafood restaurant ‘The Hut’. However, the café next door to the famous restaurant was good enough for us, and jacket potatoes it was. The beach was incredible, the water was amazing and we all had paddle in the 28 degree heat!