Update 23/9 - Completed the ride today and all went well, apart from the fact that the tide was out when we got to Redcar so we had to carry the bikes about half a mile to dip the wheels in the sea.  The only other thing was that all the energy bars that i had were banana flavour and the only other thing i had to eat were bananas! Dave by comparison ate like a king with all his sandwiches.  Aided by favourable winds for most of the way we completed the ride in 7 hours 4 minutes ride time and 7 hours 40 minutes including stops.  We made some minor route changes to avoid going down the A66 when we got to Teesside which increased the distance slightly to 137 miles.  Many thanks to those who sponsored us and to my wife Michelle and my sister Sarah who supported us on the day.  I'll add some photos once we've downloaded them.

Update 21/9 - Went out for a final ride this morning with Dave and now it's just a case of resting up and not catching a cold or injuring ourslelves - i dropped a kitchen knife this morning and it just missed my foot!.  Things seem to be going our way though, the wind has changed direction and should be behind us for most of the way and I'm non the worse for wear after falling off last week.  My only worry is that Dave keeps going on about all the sandwiches he's going to bring so we might need to hitch up a trailer that we can attach to his bike!  One of the good things about doing this ride is that some people have sponsored us that I've not seen for a while, thanks Fran and are you still riding a bike Scott?  Thanks as well to the guys from Cleveland Wheelers who've sponsored us too, I'll put another update on after the ride.

Update 14/9 - Another 70 mile ride in 4 hours but with a sting in the tail as managed to fall off and it was totally my fault as well.  I clipped Dave's back wheel and off i went, fortunately I didn't bring Dave off too.  I managed to ride home and by and large i seem to have got away with it as nothing was broken, including the bike, just a loss of skin down one side of my leg.  It was a warning though as on long rides you become mentally tired as well as physically and that is when your concentration can slip and we can't afford that on the Coast to Coast!  I'll be extra vigilant over the next week and a half, promise.

Update 10/9 - I seem to have been living on the bike for the last 2 weeks and have racked up 500 miles.  As time for both of us is limited Dave's idea is to do rides a lot faster than our intended pace and to go looking for every hill we can.  It sounds good in theory but it's killing me!  Tonight we've just done around 50 miles in two and three quarter hours while taking in Wilton Bank, Birk Brow and the sharp climbs over Commondale.  What doesn't kill you makes you stronger so they say, let's hope that's right.  As the day approaches I'm now beginning to worry about problems other than our fitness, such as the weather (particularly wind direction) and mechanical failures.  It'll actually be a relief to just get started.  Many thanks for all the kind donations to date, they will inspire us during our low points.  Oh and I've got the saddle problem sorted, i think.

 

Update 30/8 - rode for 4 hours today and did just over 70 miles, difficult to imagine doing the same distance on top of that but felt okay, i need to find a saddle that i can sit on for 9 hours though!

 

On the 23^rd of September or the 7^th October I will be dipping the rear wheel of my bike in the Irish Sea at Whitehaven in Cumbria.  Around 9-10 hours later I hope to dip the front wheel into the North Sea at Redcar.  This is the ritual that needs to be completed for any coast to coast ride, I just hope that the tide’s not out when I finally get to Redcar!  The aim of the ride is to raise money for the mental health charity Middlesbrough Mind.  Joining me on the ride will be my cycling club mate from Cleveland Wheelers Dave Kirton.

 

The 135 mile journey will take us from Whitehaven Harbour on to the A595 to Cockermouth where we will take the A66 to Penrith passing the beautiful Bassenthwaite Lake on the way.  From Penrith we will join the A686 to Alston.  This is where the challenge will really start as we have to ride up the 5 mile climb to Hartside Summit at 1,903 feet to get over the ‘backbone of England’ the Pennines.  The next challenge will be the climb up the cobbles through Alston the highest market town in England.  From here we will follow the B6277 for the lonely and undulating ride to Middleton in Teesdale, passing England’s highest waterfall High Force on the way.  Then it’s Barnard Castle, Darlington, Stockton, Middlesbrough and finally Redcar.

 

This will be by far the longest ride that I have ever ridden, I once rode 100 miles but that was about 8 years ago on a flat course and the furthest that I have ridden since is 80 miles. Dave is both younger and fitter than me but I won’t hold this against him!  One of the main challenges that we will face will be drinking and eating enough (we will probably use around 7,000 calories and have to drink about 5 litres of fluid on the ride) so we don’t dehydrate or run out of energy.  I am a little apprehensive about attempting this but as I will be doing it for a good cause I will be motivated.  

 

Wish us luck!

 

Paul Christon