Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.  For those of you re-visiting the page to catch up on "my story", with the event now finished, the text is now re-ordered chronologically.

 

10 June - ready for the start?

This is it: bike despatched to Scotland (hoping that it arrives and in one piece) and bag packed (well, almost). So all that then remains is for British Airways to get me to the start tomorrow. For those of you visiting this site for the first time, you can take pity on me in the context that the weather forecast looks like the first three days at least will be in the rain.....so perhaps one last visit to the bike shop for some more wet weather gear is in order.....

 

Friday 11th June 2010

Arrived at John O'Groats after a surprisingly trouble free journey (albeit needing a car, 2 flights and a bus!). Having said that, there was just one moment when it might have gone horribly wrong, when told that I needed photo identification to travel between Edinburgh and Wick (maybe this is something to do with being an Englishman travelling in Scotland?). Anyway, minor crisis avoided, and now reunited with bike and luggage (unlike some of the riders......).
So all good so far except..........there is a fierce gale (yes, looks like a strong headwind tomorrow), driving rain and very cold!
Having said that, it is still somewhat uplifting to be here: one of the beneficiaries of the event is the British Paralympic Association, and the chairman has just said a few words after dinner. He is doing the ride with us, with his son on a tandem, notwithstanding he is blind. A salutory reminder of the good fortune most of us enjoy which make the transitory weather conditions seem an irrelevance.

 

Saturday 12 June 2010

With the event over, the page now includes the full story of "my trip" (for those of you revisiting, the ordering is now chronological).At last the starting day is here!
Not easy to sleep last night, with the howling gale outside (the tent felt that it would be in the next field had I not been in it) and, being so far north, it never quite got dark. But this morning the wind had dropped to a stiff breeze (still westerly, for a headwind) and just a fine drizzle in the air.
With 650 of us, we are setting off in groups - 30 every 5 minutes - and headed off to the west for a 30 mile stretch along the most northerly shores of Britain, past Thurso and along to Bettyhill where we turned South. The first stage heading to Bettyhill started in fine drizzle, although this soon cleared, but the strong headwind made cycling really tough for most of us for the first 50 miles. The landscape is very barren and sparsely populated, it does make you wonder what people do up here for entertainment.
Turning south was much better, with the wind dropped and the sun out (albeit breifly) we made good progress with a long stretch alongside Loch Naver and a longish climb before my idea of perfect cycling - 20 miles of gradual downhill to Invershin, our stop for the night!
The infrastructure at the base camps is pretty impressive. The focus this evening has been on the central "living" tent which today is a structure with two giant wigwams at each end. Here there are comfy chairs (altough not enough for 650 cyclists) copious supplies of the Telegraph and a bar - all in all a pretty good ambience and 3 large screen TVs for the football. So very impressive (I mean the tent, sadly not the football!). 

 

Sunday 13th June 2010

Good to see the absence of wind this morning - but sadly replaced by rain which was with us for much of the morning and back with a vengeance in the evening.
Today was a relatively "relaxed" ride of 100 miles and 8,500 feet of climbing but overall nothing too demanding as the conditions we're better and the "climbs" we're largely long but not steep and therefore manageable as long as you didn't push it too hard.
The route took us south from Invershin to Drumnadrochit at the northern end of Loch Ness, by Urquhart castle and then along the length of the loch (no monster sighted) and then cutting across the Caledonian Canal a couple of times before a closing stetch alongside Loch Lochy to our base camp near Fort William.
The rain was irritating but preferable to yesterday's headwind, although we also had to contend with some cyclist-unfriendly road surfaces which made some of the journey uncomfortable. (particularly for most of the cyclists who are on racing tyres).
The biggest disappointment though was the cloud, which meant that what would have been a route through spectacular scenery was reduced to varying shades of grey. But Urquhart castle was still pretty impressive sitting against the back drop of an absolutely still water and the hills behind it, and this evening at our base camp the cloud almost cleared to reveal Ben Nevis just above us, but sadly the rain returned.
With an easier day, the finish came quite early today, so I have been able to take advantage of some of the facilities at base camp, and in particular a massage to set me up for what promises to be the hardest day of the trip tomorrow.

Monday 14th June 2010

What a change! The cloud has disappeared this morning to be replaced by a clear blue sky, revealing Ben Nevis towering over our base camp. So its time to get the camera out and grab a couple of photos - but not wanting to waste time to ensure getting an early start. Today promises to be one of the hardest of the trip, at 130 miles with almost 11,000 feet of climbing. But we are all bouyed by James Cracknell's motivational speech last night focussed around his telling the story behind the winning men's 4 in the 2004 Olympics (basically mind over matter - don't give up when the doing gets tough!).
We are off early - 6.30 - and make fast progress along the waterside from Fort William before arriving at Glencoe and the start of a long climb to over 1,000 feet and crossing Rannoch Moor. But with the sun on our backs, even this uphill stage does not seem too tough (although other clearly find it easier - Rebecca Romero and James Cracknell both went past at a speed that made it seem as if the rest of us were stationary).
If the first couple of days showed Scotland as it normally is (wet) then today showed it as its best. The views on the ride through Glencoe and alongside Loch Lomond were spectacular - and a reminder that Britain has scenery to compare against any other place in the world.
Sadly that came to an end at lunch at the tip of Loch Lomond by which time we had covered some 90 miles. By now we were reacquainted with cars and traffic lights which had been rare / totally absent over the past couple of days. The last 40 miles were increasingly tough - to start off with because of heavy traffic around Dumbarton and the Erskine bridge, but afterwards because of the constant hills which quickly sapped what little energy was left. But eventually the end came - after a little over 9 hours cycling in my case - with base camp looking particularly inviting in bright sunshine in the hills ovelooking Glasgow.
Now time to chill, and listen to advice from Greg Whyte who is the event fitness guru) on coping with the second 130 mile stage tomorrow!

 

Tuesday 15th June 2010

Another great day weather wise and a day of "two halves" for cycling.
In the morning, we headed gradually towards Carlisle, initially through the farmlands surrounding Glasgow, but then into the borders which had some pretty spectacular scenery, but boy quite anything to rival the lake district once we had passed through Gretna into England. One or two major climbs on the way, but worth it for the spectacular views and a great few miles through some of the less touristy parts of the lake district, before ending up by Ullswater for our base camp (I can't imagine there any campsite in the UK can have a more spectacular setting).
Today was really tough (more so than yesterday, contrary to the promise from Prof Whyte last night!) and various bits of the body are now competing for most sore........and somewhat bizarrely "toes" are winning at the moment!
So overall it was quite a relief to arrive at base camp. There is a nice touch that some of the staff are always waiting by the stage finish line to clap and cheer each of the riders home - no mean feat given there are 650 riders. As I write this it is 9pm and I can still here the cheers as the final riders arrive - long day for some.........!

 

Wednesday 16th June 2010

Another stunning start to the day in the tranquility of Ullswater with bright sunshine, but all very much spoiled by the start of the day's riding by the small issue of Kirkstone Pass which rises to almost 1,700 feet and which had to be crossed to get out of the valley. But with that behind us there was a long downhill to Windermere and then an undulating route with Morecambe sands in the distance to the West before another long climb and drop down into Bolton and then on to near Altrincham for our base camp.
Walking past the medical tent this evening shows that the ride is starting to take its toll - as well as 2 riders getting knocked off their bikes today, the heat has effected quite a number of riders, as well as the usual knee, back and other problems. For me, energy has been the problem today, but I think this is just the accumulation of the 570 miles covered over the last five days. Tomorrow promises to be an easier day, at "only" 106 miles and just over 6,000 feet of climbing!

 

Thursday 17th June - Saturday 19th June 2010

Of course I spoke too soon……..There has been a bit of a bug going round base camp which has been afflicting some of the participants since Monday and today proved to be my turn to succumb. The day had started well as we left Manchester with flat (if relatively boring) landscape to start off with as we headed down to the Welsh border and passing close to Shrewsbury. It was around the second of the two stops for the day that I started to struggle, with no energy to press on in anything other than the lowest gear up the hills which appeared after lunch. This was not helped by encountering the steepest hill on the whole route (Long Mynd) where the worrying sign at the outset was people pushing (rather than riding) their bikes DOWNHILL because it was too difficult to cycle. So I admit that I dismounted and pushed my bike for this mile or so – the only consolation being that so did everybody else (although allegedly some 20 of the riders out of the 650 did manage it…..). However, by the time we reached the base camp in Ludlow I was completely shattered, taking a couple of hours to muster the energy to go for a shower before heading straight to bed but certainly with no energy to eat or update this blog.

Over the next day and a half, my primary challenge became completion of the course so that I did not miss out on any of the miles, but a combination of no food (and therefore lack of energy) and frequent stops meant that the number of hours on the road increased dramatically. This in turn led to more discomfort (pain!) and further slowing and so the whole thing became a vicious circle. So as we left Ludlow on day 7 the scenery passed unnoticed as we headed South past Hereford and Ross on Wye with a brief sortie into Wales at Chepstow before crossing the Severn back into England, and ending the day with a long climb (in the rain – the first we had seen since Loch Lomond) up to Cheddar.  On the 8^th day we carried on from Cheddar, the rain having cleared overnight to leave another bright day, and with the rare start for a day of a long downhill run and then 25 or so miles of welcome flatness for some easy cycling. This changed however as we hit the Quantock hills with a long climb and descent, with the rest of the day then being energy sapping undulations interspaced with larger climbs. But on the positive side by the afternoon I was feeling somewhat better – so while the lack of food still meant limited energy, at least I was able to spend more time on the bike. The afternoon was hot with brilliant sunshine, so whilst not necessarily ideal for cycling it was great for the spirit and the day ended – albeit with another late arrival back at the base camp – in an upbeat fashion for the final day. Throughout the last couple of days it has been the little things that have been motivators as much as the desire to complete the event. From the start there have been a small group of family / friends of some of the participants who have followed the whole trip from John O’Groats, frequently stopping in some of the more scenic (and therefore generally more challenging locations for cyclists!) to cheer on all the cyclists passing. But increasingly as we moved into the populated areas of Scotland and into England there have been an amazing number of friends, families and passers-by who have gathered at the side of the road to cheer. Even schools had whole classrooms outside to applaud (no doubt anything being preferable to lessons) with one having a small group of cheerleaders able to practice their routines! Small things, but important nevertheless (you definitely CANNOT get off your bike and walk or stop peddling at these points…..!).

 

Sunday 20^th June 2010

The final day… a mere 95 miles to go.  Everybody starts the day in a tremendously upbeat frame of mind – with the fact that a week or so ago many of the cyclists would never before have covered 95 miles in a day seeming a mere detail. Even the prospect that the actual distance might be longer (most of the “official” mileages were generally regarded by the Garmin owning population as understating the distance) was not enough to dampen spirits. And what a fabulous day for the last one to be. From 5.30 when the day starts the temperature was noticeably hotter than before and the sky completely clear – and so it remained for the rest of the day. Sadly as we left Launceston it started with a sharpish climb as we headed towards Padstow and it was another day of constant undulations - nothing individually significant but each sufficient to leave you breathless. Heading south west through Truro was then followed with a brief spell on the north Cornwall coast before turning South to Penzance and following the coast road round to Lands End and the welcoming sign of the finish – with the added surprise of the presence of one of my colleagues and his wife (thanks Stephen and Jane for making the effort!). The official statistics? 1,011 miles, 73,000 feet of climbing and various parts of the anatomy in serious need of attention!

 

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The background

On 12 June I will join 600 or so other riders on one of the great British cycling challenges - a 1,000 mile journey from John O'Groats to Lands End in just 9 days. Averaging some 115 miles a day (described by the organiser as "bite sized chunks - who are they kidding?!), the route will take in an ominous number of mountain passes in the Scottish Highlands and the Lake District, as well as numerous other hills (Shropshire, Quantocks, Mendips, etc)! Anybody interested in finding out more about the event (including entry for 2011!) can find details at www.rideacrossbritain.com.

Taking part in this is a personal challenge for me, but at the same time it provides the opportunity to help others. So I am therefore riding on behalf of the Alzhiemer's Society, KPMG's staff selected charity for 2009-2010 and make some contribution to our target of raising £1m. Whether, in recognition of the achievement (assuming I make it!) or just the thought of my suffering, please dig deep and donate now!

Dementia is one of the main causes of disability in later life, ahead of cancer, cardiovascular disease and stroke. One in three people over 65 will die with dementia. Over 700,000 people have dementia in the UK, this figure will rise to over 1 million by 2025. Dementia is not a natural part of ageing – it is caused by diseases of the brain that rob people of their lives. The Alzheimer's Society is the leading UK care and research charity for people with Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, their families and carers. To find out more about fundraising for the Society log on to www.alzheimers.org.uk/events

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.