Day 7 Bodmin to Land's End

We made it! This was our last day. After looking at the maps the night before we realised that the quickest way from Bodmin to Land's End was along the A30, all the way. We set off at about 9 a.m. joining heavy traffic on a windy and wet dual carriageway. This wasnt the best place to be during poor visibility. We had quite a few dicey moments where cars and lorries were flying past us at 70 mph just a few feet away, and in some instances it felt more like inches. When the lorries pass, you get a huge gust of wind which can either push you from behind or the side. The verges are also full of rocks, glass and debris. We had to concentrate very hard to keep the wheels straight. The added adrenaline must have helped as we covered our first 50 km by lunch (pasties of course), which was just at the end of the dual carriageway. Traffic was heavy due to it being a friday and schools are just starting to break up for the summer.

 

After a quick break in Hayle, we went up and over the pennisular to Penzance to prepare for the last leg. There were quite a few sharp hills on the ascent to Land's End from Penzance. We found them very hard as 6 days of intense riding was seriously taking its toll on our legs. Once we levelled off on the last 5 miles, we could see the end and the sheer joy of finishing helped to propel us along at quite a good clip.

 

Coming into Land's End was a fabulous feeling; joy, relief and exhaustion. I still had enough energy to attempt a few weak wheelies at the finish line though. Once we unclipped for the last time, John had a bottle of bubbly waiting us and the celebrating began in earnest. Did we want to get back on the bikes and head the other way? No.

 

Distance Covered: 93 km

Saddle time: 5 hours

Champagne consumed: 1 bottle

 

We spend the night in Bodmin. We had a curry (no energy food! yes!) and a few jars of ale to relax the muscles. Driving back to Cheshire I am starting to realise the scale of this ride. In a car it seems impossible that you could cover vast distances and climb big hills on a bike. I have really enjoyed the ride, bad days and good. We have seen some beautifiul countryside, met some very friendly and generous people. The nights spent at campsites, hotels and pubs enjoying a good laugh will stay with me forever.

 

Lowestoft to Lands End Final Stats

 

Days Riding: 7

Days off: 0

Distance covered: 800 km (500 miles)

Total Saddle Time: 43 hours

Punctures: 2

Falls: 3

 

Time for the thank you's. Thanks to John Welsh, for driving (~ 1500 miles), sorting accomodation, organising food and putting up with us for the last seven days. Thanks to Maile for taking time off work to support us and help John. Thanks to our wives for putting up with all the training runs and spending money on bike bits. Thanks to all of you who have given us words of encouragement and sponsorship money. We should exceed our goal by next week. I think its time for a day of rest and relaxation, until the next challege?

 

Chuck

 

Day 6 Crediton to Bodmin

Hell on wheels. It's all built up to this point, six days of hard riding, ~100 km per day. We are now at the launch point for the final push to Land's End. We're still not quite sure of our route, it depends on the weather and how our energy levels will be in the morning. Today we hit the West Country right proper. All the hills we complained about over the previous days had not prepared us for the terrain we are traversing now. Hilly is an understatement. We can have absolutely terrifying descents reaching speeds of 40+ miles per hour followed by endless climbs which sap every ounce of energy from your body. And just as you have ascended what you thought was clearly the highest hill in Devon/Cornwall, the next one is only a stones throw away.

 

We do take breaks along the way. Some of our breaks are just water breaks where we can take a quick breather, while others involve our support team. The support team meets us for long breaks with food, drinks, spares and drugs (legal ones, of course) at least twice a day. At times, Steve and I feel like steam engines that require a constant supply of fuel shoved into them at regular intervals. It must be working because we are here!

 

Tonight we are at our most tired. We both pretty much hit the wall today and had nothing in the tank for some of the big hills. There is not much you can do except take a break and dig deep for the next push. I think everyone has some little room in their mind in which they go to in order to break through the pain to just carry on, one foot over the other. Today was particularly hard for me as I have contracted a cold from somewhere in Norfolk (you know who are). My lungs are burning and its pretty painful to swallow. Steve is suffering from a common cycling ailment, sore bum. Not much we can do for either but carry on.

 

I'm writing this early tonight (10 pm) so I can try and gain back some of the lost energy from the previous six days by getting a good nights sleep.We are at a B+B in Bodmin, just what we needed.

 

Distance covered: 107 km

New top speed: 71.5 km/hr (scary)

Strepsils consumed: 1/2 box

Cream applied to sore bits: Loads

Hills climbed: 0, as I have wiped that from my mind forever

 

Chuck

 

p.s. Last Day Tomorrow! Thank goodness as my clothes are really smell. 

Day 5 Glastonbury to Crediton

The day started off very well, blue skies, no wind, flat run through Kings Marsh Moor and similar. We quickly moved through several picturesque villages and made our lunch stop at the Co-Op car park in Wellington after a few hairy moments going through Taunton.. A big thumbs up to our support team, John and Miles who have put a lot of effort and time into helping us to get to where we are now-we could not have done this without them.
So far, so good, until we passed through Tiverton then the hills started in earnest. One hill at Bickley Castle proved to be the first one that defeated us-we gave it a go but on our fifth day a 2-mile, 1 in 7 hill was just a bit too much. We had to stop about 1/4 way up otherwise a double cardiac arrest was on the cards....
We did complete all the other challenging hills to arrive in Crediton, Devon where we were picked up by John who took us to Yeatheridge Farm Caravan and Camping site. A big thank-you to the owner Mr. Hosegood who donated the campsite fee to the Cancer Research UK-The campsite is really nice and has a great club house with very good food and cider as we can readily attest to!!
Hard day coming up tomorrow-as long as we can get there before dark we will be happy.

Distance Covered 98K
Saddle Time 6hrs
Cider Drunk-8pints
Games of Pool lost 2 (By Miles and Steve- Dream Team-playing for fun not to win)

Steve

Day Four Lambourn to Glastonbury

We are well into our journey to Land's End, and it sure feels like it! My knees ache, one of my toes has gone numb, my back is as stiff as plank of mature oak, my legs feel like lead, and my innards are doing cartwheels from protein-sugar-carbo surges. As we awoke this morning, the sky was very dull and damp. Energy levels were probably at their lowest, needless to say that our motivation was at rock bottom as well. But what else can you do but get on the bikes and ride? It's still better than work!

After a very slow first few km (to warm up, or course) the sky started to clear, our muscles loosened up and spirits rose. We passed out of the valleys around Lambourn and entered the downs of Wiltshire. We passed a few iron age hill forts and the ever present white horses. This was some of the most serene landscape we have passed through and we were both fortunate to be there (irregardless of the ferocious headwind). We traced along the northern edge of Salisbury plain with grea views of the rolling wheat fields and the Mendip hills in the distance. Lunch was in Devizes with the support team (John and Maile). They topped up our food and water and got us covered with sunscreen as it was starting to get baking hot.

The last few legs of each day are always the hardest, your concentration starts to go, your energy drops and you cant see the end yet. We struggled through horrible traffic in Frome and had trouble navigating through some of the back lanes. Local signage is not great in places, as you see from the picture. We the temperature dropping rapidly with the sun, we rolled to a finish.

Distance cover: 120 km
Saddle time: 6:45
Top speed 62 km/hour
Average speed: 18 km/hour
Litres of water consumed: 3

Devon here we come! Oo argh!

Chuck

p.s. my bike hit its 2000 mile mark today, its looking rough.

Day 3 Tring to Lambourn

We left sunny Tring and headed over the last of the sharp hills heading for the Chilterns. We had several quick stages over mostly flat terrain and good weather, making the best time we have done over the last two days. We stopped for lunch on the banks of the Thames at Wallingford. It was nice to move at a slightly slower pace due to us having set off on time today. We took breaks in Chinnor and Wantage to break the journey up. As it was day three, we were both feeling quite sore and tired. We have now crossed over the top of London, and are almost half way done. As today's itinerary was well planned, we managed to get to our first campsite in Lambourn (the valley of race horses) by 4 o'clock. Johh and Maile (who joined in Aylesbury) had a well set up campsite and bbq waiting for us. It was a good thing, as we were both pretty shattered climbing our last huge hill (the highest in West Berkshire, by my reckoning).

Once at the campsite, I had to service both bikes including a wheel straitening on Steve's. A few wee drinks later and we were ready to tuck into our first night under canvas (well maybe not canvas in 2008), Hopefully the weather holds and we cover some good ground to Glastonbury.

Distance covered: 110 km
Saddle time: 6 hrs
Bottle of wine drank: 4

Chuck

Day 2 Haverhill to Tring

We had a late start today due staying in Norfolk. The weather gods were with us, no wind, light cloud cover, perfect. Unfortunately every silver lining has a cloud. The terrain we covered today can be summed up one simple word: hilly. It was a battle of gravity vs. sheer determination. Well, we made it, with some timely help from our support team (thanks John). Pretty darn tired now, let's see what tomorrow brings?

Distance covered: 120 km
Saddle time: 6 hours
Max speed: 61 km/hr

Just had a massive Chinese meal and a few glasses of wine. Midnight now, time for some much needed sleep.

Chuck

Day 1 Lowestoft to Haverhill

It started with an off hand suggestion one night in the pub. Here we are 6 months later in Lowestoft after months of training and weeks of planning. Steve and I were joined with Mark Nicholson (for the first day only) on our first leg. We set off from Ness Point (the Eastern most point in England) on a cool, wet, and windy day heading to Haverhill in Suffolk. We only managed to go about 100 metres before our first stop, to put on wet weather gear. Next we had a nightmare trying to actually get out of Lowestoft, turning in circles, looking for the quiet country lanes which we enjoy so much. After a few showers and strong headwinds we made it to our half way point at the historic town of Eye. Once in Eye we stopped in a the Queen's Head pub for a drink and feed. Our hosts were most gracious and generous. Not only did we have some fantastic food, were given some charity money as well!

 

After lunch we had quite a long distance to travel (which I hadn't told Steve or Mark). By this time we were coping quite well with navigation and moving through some lovely rural hamlets one after the other. We had one rest stop where we met up with Steve's son John, our support team, who keeps us topped up with drinks and water. The final leg of our first day was a 12 mile haul to Haverhill, at which time we were just about out of energy and ready to collapse. Nothing but sheer determination kept our legs turning until we finally made it to our destination.

 

Distance Covered: 150 km (93 miles)

Time in the Saddle: 7 hours

Top Speed: 53 km/hour

Average Speed: 20 km/hour

 

We were absolutely shattered by the time we finished. The furthest Steve had ever travelled before was 50 km, so to do an extra 100 km on the first day he deserves and extra pat on the back. When we finished, John sped us off to Marks home in Higay where his wife Rebbecca had a fantastic feast waiting for us. We had a couple of vino tinto's to kill the pain, hopefully tomorrow we won't be too sore!

 

Chuck

 

Sending off party

I have to give a huge thanks to my lovely wife Maile for arranging a sending off party. The party was held at the Vine Inn in Nantwich (shameless plug www.beerintheevening.com/pubs/s/19/19837/Vine_Inn/Nantwich). Not only did we have a few laughs and pints, we managed to raise even more money for Cancer Research. We are very near our goal of £1000 and it looks like we should exceed that target as two big company sponsors are yet to put in some money. After sinking a few jars of real ale and a few pork pies we are now ready to burn off those calories on the bikes, only 2 days left! I have to say, it was a beautiful cake, but alas, it had to be eaten! Yum!

 

I went for a short ride before the party to test out some new gear. It was windswept, raining hard and very dark. Not a pleasant ride, especially since my bike seemed to get attacked by a brigade of gremlins. So many new noises and squeaks, or was it my imagination. They all seemed to go by the time I limped back home, so fingers crossed that my wheels will last the distance.

 

Chuck

 

p.s. Thanks Maile!

 

Counting down

Departure day, which is 09:00 12 July, is rapidly approaching. The nerves are now starting to become more apparent and the scale of the ride seems longer every day. We have been making last minute plans for accommodation. For the first three nights we will be in hotels/houses but after that we'll be camping under the stars and trying to stay dry. We can expect busy roads for the first 3-4 days as we pass over the top of London and cross a few of the busiest motorways in Europe. After that, the rolling hills and farms of the West Country start to fall into view as the lanes clear of commuter traffic and we settle into our more familiar rural riding.

I have been making a few modifications to my bike. Over the summer, it's stripped down to bare minimum, to save weight and increase speed. Now I have added full fenders, an extra bottle cage, a mirror, a bar bag and map case. It's having to become a bit of a tourer now, after a former life as a tri-bike and road racer. I'll be looking not to add to much weight as the bike isn't the lightest anyway, not as light as Steve's. Just time left for a few test runs.

The map above was put together by Steve's son John and clearly shows our waypoints. For those interested here are the details:

A Lowestoft, Suffolk, Start Point

B Haverhill, Suffolk, 70 miles (110 km)

C Aylesbury/Tring, Buckinghamshire, 70 miles (110 km)

D Lambourn, Berkshire 50 miles (80 km)

E Glastonbury, Somerset 70 miles (110 km)

F Crediton, Devon, 60 miles (100 km)

G Bodmin, Cornwall, 60 miles (100 km)

H Land's End, Cornwall, Collapse Point 60 miles (100 km)

Total estimate 430 miles (700 km)

You know, looking at that map, Paris doesn't look that far away, hmmmmmm.

Chuck

p.s. Halfway to £1000! Thanks to all who donated. To those who haven't, time to get busy, we certainly are!