Well back to normal life now after completing the greatest cycling challenge that I have ever undertaken. I have raised lots of money for a deserving charity and also made some good friends. It was worth all the blood, sweat and tears that went into the training for, planning and completing the ride!
What’s next? Well watch this space, but for now, to use a phrase of a certain Disney rabbit. That’s All Folks!!
So that was it probably one of the greatest achievements in my life and also one of the most enjoyable all over just the 500 mile drive home and back to my local pub to meet up with some of my supporters
Final day of cycling ahead of us with a ETA of 3:30 at John O’Groats saw most of the party set of just after 6:00am, we decided that we would take it a little easier and leave a little before 8:00am. We finally set off in pursuit of the rest at 7:45am, we pushed on at pace along the coast in very poor conditions and finally turned inland at Helmsdale, the weather started to improve and the sun came out and it started to look like an ideal day for cycling…
By the time we reached our lunch stop we had caught the rest of the group and could relax and enjoy the final 50 miles to JOG
The last 10 miles were tough into a strong headwind but by this time I was spurred on by the thought of seeing my family and in particular my Wife Lesley, we finally arrived shut short of the finishing line to regroup before crossing the line together.
We all crossed the line at about 4:00 pm after a mammoth ride which I will never forget and along the way I have made some really good friends whom I hope I can keep in touch with…
And a final surprise two of my close friends from my local pub had made the 500+ mile journey to see me at the end, which was the icing on the cake
Dennis and Sarah Jones after a long journey to see me arrive at the end of my ride
Day 9 saw us travelling along the banks of Loch Ness unfortunately the weather was less then favourable so it was not a good day for Nessy spotting!
We then tackled another tough climb aptly called Heartbreak Hill as we turned off onto the A833, it was more than a mile in length and at gradient in excess of 15% and was probably one of the hardest climbs on route! In my usual style I was first to the top and then filmed the rest of the team as they ascended to the top…
We then cycled inland via Dingwall and Enanton to our final destination of Tain for our last stop prior to pushing on to John O’Groats the nest morning…
Day 8 saw us cycling towards Laggan via Fort William. the weather started out quite overcast and misty. We were due to stay at a hostel and James and Mike had volunteered to cook: Haggis, Neeps and Tatties! (Turnips and Potatoes) so we had arranged to pick up the Haggis from a friend of Mike’s who worked in Fort William.
We had a nice ride and the weather started to improve after we passed Loch Lochy but whilst we were waiting for the food to be picked up the weather started to deterorate and by the time we reached the Commando memorial at Spean Bridge it was starting to rain…
Me having a poignant moment looking reading the inscription on the Commando memorial. This was quite a special moment for me on my journey as my late father had trained near this site and fought in the sec0nd world war as an army commando, so to visit the memorial dedicated to him and his comrades was quite a special moment especially given the method of transport I had used to reach this point…
Today we were due to cycle along the shore of the Firth of Clyde through Largs and then catch the Ferry across and then cycle along the shores of Loch Fyne. We all stopped for Ice cream in Nardini’s in Largs
Then we all met at the ferry in Gourock where we were also met by a representative of AMR who bought us Malt Whisky and Flap Jacks…
It was a short ferry trip to Dunoon then we set off along the banks of the Loch Eck then onto Loch Fyne where we all stopped at the famous Loch Fyne seafood restaurant for oysters and coffee. We then continued to cycle along the bank of Loch Fyne to our hotel in Inveraray where I had a nice relaxing massage in the adjoining spa!
Day 6 say us travel across the border into Scotland via Gretna Green, we all started off again in a large group riding out of Carlisle and arriving in Gretna after about 10 miles, where we all took the obligatory border crossing shots…
The traffic started to become much quieter and the riding consequently much more pleasant, there were a few climbs once we crossed into Scotland but they were all fairly gentle and it was perhaps one of the easiest days rides we had had up to date !
During day 5 we were due to travel from Preston to Carlisle travelling through the lake district, we were also due to climb our longest climb on route, Shap which is approximately 9-10 miles of pretty much continuous climbing.
There was also some rivalry within the group regarding who would be the first to the top of the Shap climb, we left Kendal and almost immediately began to climb. A fellow rider James Gifford immediately set off at pace up the long climb and I followed along behind. For the next few miles James and I set a blistering pace spurred on by each other and taking turns on the front. He beat me to the summit by about 50 metres, but then on the final run into Shap I accelerated past him to reach our lunch break first. We both decided that neither of us would have ascended so quickly had we not worked as a team and also been competing so hard with each other. We completed the accent of Shap in 36 min 52 seconds at an average speed of 14.7 mph and climb of 1,415 ft
At the end we decided to award ourselves the KOM award for our ride up Shap, but as it was James’s shirt I actually never got the chance to wear it… Although not sure it would have fitted anyway!
Day saw us travel through some of the most populated areas we were going to see on the trip so we stayed together as a single group for most of the way simply for safely in numbers! We travelled through Warrington, Wigan and Preston and I lost count of the number of roundabouts and traffic lights we had to negotiate.
This was probably my least favourite day of cycling and we also lost one of our riders due to injury Paul Martin had to pull out with an injured Achilles. So all in all not a great day!
After my fairly leisurely ride of the previous two days I decided to put myself in the front group for today, so after crossing the Severn bridge we cycled trough the beautiful Wye valley and past Tinton Abbey
We cycled at a good pace through to Hereford where we stopped for an unscheduled stop for tea and cakes on the front lawn of Paul Vicary’s house which was and excellent surprise.
After the last drinks stop of the day I decided to go for it as I had a number of friends meeting me at Shrewsbury. I averaged over 24 MPH for most of the last 25 miles into Shrewsbury and arrived first into the hotel where I was greeted with a nice cool pint and friends waiting in the bar.
Had a really great night with Lesley, Andy and Sarah Davis, Dave Mack and Lisa and Steve and Caroline Jones. Copious amounts of alcohol were consumed and I went to bed far too late…
On the second day I decided early on to take it easy as I was still very sore from my crash the day before, I also thought that Ryan who had ridden almost the entire day before on his own could probably do with some company so I decided to ride with him for the day. The ride began almost immediately with a very big climb up to the top of Dartmoor
It was beautiful ride through the Dartmoor national park but with some quite tough climbs throughout the first half of the ride. By the time we reached the first water stop we were quite a way behind the rest of the group, so I resigned myself to a nice leisurely ride.
This was the longest day of the ride with approx 127 miles of cycling and was proving a tough challenge for my two fellow riders of the day, Ryan and Paul, but we finally made it into Bristol at about 7:45 pm
Statistics
Day 1 began with drive from Penzance to Land’s End, bags were packed onto Discovery Adventure vehicle and instructions were received and then we were off. It was a hilly ride pretty much from the start, but I was feeling confident and taking it all in my stride. We passed through Cornwall and into Devon, then at the final water stop of the day (which was situated on a downhill and not easily visible from the road) the guy in front of me stopped very quickly when he spotted the water stop which I did not and I did not react fast enough and ran into him.
I do not really remember the accident that well it took a few seconds for my brain to reboot and for me to realise what had happened, I came off very lucky really only some minor scrapes to my arms and back, a bruised coccyx and smashed helmet…
Once I was checked over by the medic and given a clean bill of health to carry on I put on a loan helmet and I was off again albeit somewhat suffering with my bruised coccyx, a short while further on I came across one of my fellow riders, Tillie, our only female rider having some mechanical issues with her bike so I offered to wait with her until Andy the mechanic could come and sort out her bike. This also allowed me to rest for a while as I was still not feeling 100%. Eventually after what seemed like forever we were on our way again and heading for our first night stop at Tavistock, we arrived some time after most of the group although there was still one rider behind us, Ryan, who everyone was starting to get quite concerned about as it would soon be dark. I showered and ate and then as we were returning from dinner Ryan finally arrived.
So that was day 1 it could have been the end of my ride, and my advice would be never ever ride without a helmet (see pictures below:)
Statistics
It’s now one day till I set off for Cornwall, Lots of last minute organising, sorting out and packing to do. Had a very useful suggestion from a fellow LEJOG rider ‘don’t forget your bike’ ha ha.
I now have 2 days to get everything ready to go, I have already sorted the bike, I fitted brand new tyres front and back, Continental Gatorskin Hardshell. I have replaced batteries in my HRM, PowerTap hub, and micro lights front and back, I now have a long list of stuff to pack before Thursday including a number of spares to take for the bike. Also need to do a last bit of fundraising.
Which reminds me you can sponsor me at this LINK
I have spent quite a bit of time recently getting my bike running as perfectly as I can for my forthcoming adventure. Part of this has been to try and get rid of all the irritating little noises (creaks and rattles) as these are likely to become very annoying on 10 days of consecutive riding. These are the things that I have found:
Gear cable adjusters: Both gear cables have in-line adjusters which I noticed when riding over bumpy ground rattled against each other, this was solved by slightly shortening the outer cable and re-routing so that they no longer touch each other.
Saddle: When pedalling hard I noticed that the saddle creaked, it took a while to track this down as it sounded like the sound was coming from lower down. My saddle was still the original Giant saddle that came with the bike, this has now been replaced with a Fizik Arione CX, no more creaking.
Pedals: When out of the saddle and climbing hills I noted that my chainset would click on the down stroke, I decided the best way to solve this was to torque everything to the correct settings, but I was unable to tighten the pedals enough with a standard spanner so I bought myself a workshop pedal spanner so I could get the pedals nice and tight, once I did the noise disappeared all together.
Headset: Again when out of the saddle and climbing the headset would click slightly, this was again simple a matter of tightening everything up to the right torque settings, noise gone!
Water bottle holders: These would rattle, never quite worked out why but changed both from Giant branded ones to Elite Custom Race bottle cages and the noise was gone.
So now my bike is pretty much silent apart from the usual chain on sprocket sound, but at least all the annoying creaks and rattles are no more…
As a warm down after the main event in August I have now signed up for the Lake District 100
Over the past few months I have been approached to give a number of interviews, here are the details
I also went to Heart Radio studios in Cambridge to give a radio interview, although I am not sure if or when this may have aired
It’s now 5 days to go until the Action Medical Research Peak District 100 which is likely to be the biggest challenge so far in the lead up to the main event in August. It’s a 100 mile course with nearly 10,000ft of climbs through the Peak District national park. I am lowering the intensity of my training through the course of this week whilst still trying to keep up the daily mileage so I am fully rested. I will be using my Garmin Live Tracking for the event on Sunday 30th if anyone would like to follow my progress, the link to follow me during the ride will be posted to Facebook on Sunday morning just before I start.
In 8 weeks time I will be on day 2 of my LEJOG adventure and should be somewhere between Tavistock and Bristol. It’s all starting to become very real now.
I have just bought a new Garmin Edge 810 cycle computer, this has an added new feature of live tracking which will enable my rides to be tracked live, which should be a great addition for my supporters and sponsors to track my progress during the course of my trip from Land’s End to John O’Groats.
Finally managed to get the Garmin Connect Activity Feed working so now you can see extended statistics for all of my training rides, and will also update for the main ride as well
This is the bike I will be using for my ride from Land’s End to John O’Groats
It’s a 2012 Giant TCR Composite 1. I have upgraded several components, including a new set of hand-built wheels incorporating Cycleops PowerTap Pro Hub, the wheels were built by DCR Wheels.
I completed the Marholm Sportive on Sunday (19th). I did the 50 mile route, which for me after a wrong turning (starting to become a bit of a habit!) ended up being 64 miles, completed in 3 hours 19 minutes. This now leaves one more organised ride between now and LEJOG, that’s the Peak District 100 on 30th June. So back to the day to day training until then.
I completed the Suffolk Sunrise 100 on Sunday 12th May, had a really great ride and by far exceeded my expectations
I managed to complete the 103 miles in 5 hours 38 minutes and 51 seconds including stops, this meant that I finished 6th out of nearly 750 riders, what’s more amazing is that I was only 2 minutes and 43 seconds behind 1st place, I really should have cycled a little quicker.
See results from Action Medical Research website Suffolk Sunrise 100
Another good week of training last week
Covered 253 miles in total. So far 68 miles this week, should be a big total as I have Suffolk 100 on Sunday
First organised training ride of the season completed Peterborough 100
Completed in 07hrs 38mins (Link to Action Medical Peterborough 100 2013 official timings) this was including stops, my riding time was 6hrs 58mins according to my Garmin
I was quite happy with this in the end as it included a 30 minute (10 mile) detour after a wrong turn
I have a number of Training Rides / Sportives over the summer
14th April – Peterborough 100 – Link
12th May – Suffolk Sunrise 100 – Link
19th May – Peterborough 5×5 – Link
30th June – Peak District 100 – Link
On the 24th October 2012 I signed up to cycle 1000 miles in 10 days from Land’s End to John O’Groats.
I am raising money for Action Medical Research, a great children’s charity dedicated to improving the health of babies and children in the UK.
For almost 60 years the charity has been behind numerous breakthroughs such as the UK polio vaccine, ultrasound scanning in pregnancy, and more recently the fetal heart rate monitor a new state-of-the-art device that could help save thousands of at-risk babies.
My target is to raise at least £3000
Action Medical Research relies entirely on donations to fund a range of research projects that address serious childhood conditions and improve quality of life for children with disabilities.
You will also be supporting research to reduce premature birth, prevent pregnancy complications that threaten babies’ lives, and find the best ways to care for sick and vulnerable babies.
Please follow this link to sponsor me:
