Day 9 - We made it

The final day called for an even earlier start than usual to be in with a chance of getting back to Bluebell and the girls on the same day. So we were up at 4:30am packed up for the last time and off at 6am with our Cadbury/EDF Energy team time trial formation intact from yesterday.

Whilst we thought Jonathan was a sophisticated London marketing professional, he turned out to be a simple country boy from Cornwall and his local knowledge of the 15 hills in the first leg proved invaluable. We even went past his primary school which called for the first photo opportunity of the day.

After the early start, I was struggling to keep my eyes open whilst cycling so it was most welcome when Team Cadbury came up trumps at the pit stop with a mobile coffee shop.

Lucky they were taken over by Kraft

The middle leg of the day was a delight with some good conversation and not too many steep hills. Luckily, for everyone concerned, I decided not to join in with Siobhan's singing. Halfords even turned up when Jonathan had a puncture.

Black stripes, orange paint...you know what it is

At the final pit stop of the ride, Jonathan helped Cadbury on their way to their mission of being the UK's number 1 snacking company.

Just one more Finger of Fudge and I'll get to 3 figures

The final leg had the steepest hill of the whole ride, a 16% incline hill going out of Newlyn, 10 miles from the end so we took it fairly easy until then with a few photo opportunities along the way.

10 more hills to go

Even time for a tourist shot of St Michael's Mount

After a very pleasant few miles around Penzance, we all did a few Go Gels at the bottom of the climb and it was indeed a ridiculous road to climb on a bike.

Jonathan at the top

But we all got to the top and then it was a short 10 miles to the finish at Land's End, which was fantastic to get to, but as usual, it was the journey rather than the destination that will stick in my mind. Even so, it would be remiss of me not to include a couple of photos of the end.

Random people finishing

The EDF Energy Four

Due to the hills and the chat, we finished the 111 miles and 3,200 metres of climbing at a social 12 mph. but importantly, with the aid of a lift from Claire's mum to Gatwick, I succeeded in my quest to get home the same day.

So that's it. A great ride with some great people. But there's no place like home.

Day 8 - Nice weather for ducks & rainbows

After 3 relatively easy stages, today we started the hilly end of the ride going 113 miles through Somerset and Devon with 3,000 meters of climbing. To continue with the inclement weather theme, we awoke to rain and on the way to the start line, I forgot I was talking to Simon the Builder and pointed out the beautiful rainbow, his reply was unsuitable for publication.

Anyway, we again linked up with the slightly slower members of Team Cadbury - Siobhan, Nila and Jonathan plus the special guest star of the day, Tony from EDF Energy. At the start, we were warned by Race Director Andy of the steep decent into Bath which was made more difficult with the rain. On the decent we overtook a day rider who looked not too confident, then near the bottom of the decent, we heard a crash just behind us and the guy had hit a pothole, gone over the bars and trashed his knee. We did our good deed of the day and phoned the medics and stayed with him till his friends arrived.

We made it to the first stop and one of the Team Cadbury support team turned into an angel with coffee which was much needed after yet another soaking just before the stop.

After the caffeine kicked in

We then got into team time trail mode with each of us taking a mile at the front. In a regression back to my childhood when I pretended to be famous footballers during kick arounds, I wanted to be Bradley Wiggins but my cycling was more like Bradley Walsh. Still, the next few miles were split between lovely sunshine...

England's green and pleasant land

and yet more rain...

Snacking again

The last stop of the day was outside a charming thatched pub, but my hopes of more coffee were dashed as it was closed down, still, there was more Powerade from the ever cheerful pit stop helpers.

Jonathan was fixing his chain

We were making good time but when we started the last leg of the day, the slight westerly changed into a 30 mph with 40 mph gusts headwind. Our disciplined team formation helped but we probable averaged less than 10 mph for the final 35 miles as it was also ridiculously hilly.

Unfortunately, there is no photographic evidence, but after Jonathan's chain came off for the 4th time, he threw his bike into a hedge in a fit of pique, then sheepishly retrieved it to complete the last 10 miles.

Anyway, we finally made it to our last overnight stop, Okehampton College, averaging 13 mph but importantly, just before yet another downpour.

Tomorrow, another hilly, long stage, but with the end in sight.

Day 7 - A sting in the tail

As the Cisco guys have now sorted the Broadband, we'll start off today's post with a photo of Claire from yesterday afternoon after one too many Regos.

Claire managed to bag the local park bench

Today's stage was the shortage of the ride at 91 miles. A week ago, 91 miles would seem like a ridiculous distance to cycle but as everything is relative and as we've been cycling for 6 days, everyone was talking as if it was a short jaunt. However, there was 2,500 metres of climbing with a killer climb at mile 89.

As the forecast was for yet more solid rain from about 11 am, our strategy was to get to at least the second pit stop before the rain started. We set off with the 'bald guy with the orange helmet' group but after a couple of miles, the Deloitte A Team flashed past us and we decided to see if we could keep up for a few miles.

The miles we now have in our legs must be doing us good as we could actually keep up. After about 20 miles, we overtook the 'guy from Google' (turned out to be Matt Brittin, Google's UK Chief) group and stayed with the combined group until the first stop - 30 miles at a blistering average of 18 mph.

The second leg saw us tag onto a couple of other groups and apart from a 5 minute downpour we made it to the second stop without getting too wet.

With the sky now looking very black, we set off on our own for the final leg and crossed the Severn Bridge into a huge headwind with 'Simon the Builder' who's builder like frame gave us a little protection.

Then, we did our good deed of the day outside the White Heart Inn in Iron Acton by sorting out a direction sign that had been turned the wrong way by a pesky local.

All sorted now

We soon got to the final couple of miles and the killer climb which obviously called for 'close up whilst climbing' picture number 23.

Slightly cheating as it was actually from yesterday

Anyway, we finished the climb and got to the finish at an average of 15 mph just before the rain started, and now, 3 hours later, with people still finishing, it is still raining.

Unsuprisingly, the forecast for tomorrow is more rain, but as it's only showers, it should be a good day. Final photo of the day is of one of the most important places on the ride, the drying room.

Haydock Park's bar full of wet lycra

Day 6 - Country lanes of England

Today's riding was a real pleasure as by this stage, we know a fair amount of people and rode with quite a few of them.

The start was a bit urban but after about 20 miles we were cycling through rural Cheshire on very quiet country roads, in a vain attempt to out cycle the rain before the first pit stop, we tagged on the back of Faroud's Delotte team and even though were were averging 20 on the flat, we got absolutely soaked (again). Luckily, the stop was at a cafe that allowed us inside to drink our coffee.

The next leg saw another 30 miles of glorious country lanes and after giving up from riding with a group that was far too fast for us we did most of it with Adam from Manchester who was doing the stage on a fixie.

Luckily it wasn't Cornwall

The final leg saw the 2 climbs of the day and us riding with Team Cadbury so we mixed up some hard riding with plenty of chat.

Pre hill fueling

I was only at the front for the photos

Siobhan was the only one tall enough to get in the pic

We finished the 106 mile stage with a paltry 1,000 metres of climbing at another good average speed of 15 mph.

Tomorrow, we actually get to the south with a short (91 miles) but hilly ride to Bath.

Day 5 - Cheers for popping in Guv

Another long stage today, 114 miles from Carlise to Haydock Park, nr Manchester but at least we stuck to the route and only did the regulation distance.

We were in one of the first groups to go and as it included a few semi pros, we made the first pit stop in the leading group. However, as the second leg included the infamous Shap Hill, Claire and I decided to leave them to it and take it as easy as you can going up a mountain.

To make the decent more interesting, it was raining and visibility was about 20 metres but once we had finished it and got into the rolling dales, the sun came out and it was glorious cycling.

Sunshine before the rain

Next up was trying to arrange a meeting point so the Guv could join us. This proved more difficult than first though as I didn't have a clue were I was and suprisingly Simon wasn't helped by me saying things like 'we are going past a pub called The Plough'.

Yet another uphill close up

We finally met up with the Guv at the last pit stop with an, in theory, straightforward 30 miles to the bar at Haydock Park. However, after a couple of miles of Simon setting a pretty good pace, there was a huge downpour with hailstones and everything. With flooded roads, a serious soaking and no change of clothes, Simon bailed out at Wigan station to get the train back home which is fair enough as he's just got back from cycling across America.

Anyway, the rain stopped about a mile from the end so we sprinted the last climb to finish the 114 miles and 2,000 metres of climbing at another very acceptable average speed of 15 mph.

Finally, star and inspiration of the day is Alan, the hand cyclist who is an absolutely legend.

Tomorrow we set off for Ludlow which whilst not South, sounds a lot less Northern than every other place we've been.

Day 4 - The 103 mile rest day

After yesterday's excitment, today's stage was as incident free as a 100 mile plus ride could possibly be.

We did the first leg with Delotte's B Team, luckily led by one of the few Scotsmen on the ride, as he knew the route through Glasgow like the back of his hand. The scenery wasn't too good though so the first photo is of the tour bus at the first pit stop.

It's only rock 'n' roll but I like it

Straight after the first stop, we went up the biggest climb of the day with the motorcycle photographer just in front of us...

Claire was smiling at the bottom of the hill

However, they weren't there to take pictures of us, but the Team GB Paralympic Cycling Team who flew past us...

Even though the route wasn't as picturesque as the previous days in the Highlands, the Clyde Valley has its moments.

The Motorway is to the right

As it was virtually all downhill from midway, we finished a good 4 hours quicker than yesterday and had the luxury of eating dinner in a real life restaurant, rather than in a big tent, at Carlise Racecourse, our home for the night.

Tomorrow, we head off to Haydock Park, nr Manchester and a possible guest appearance from the Guv.

Oh, nearly forgot, today's stats were: 103 miles, 2,000 metres of climbing at a nice and easy average of 15 mph.

Day 3 - Hell of the North

No, not Paris Roubaix but Fort William to Glasgow.

It promised to be a tough day with the longest milage of the route at 120 miles and 3,000 metres of climbing. However, it proved to be a whole lot more challenging due firstly to the weather then to a slight detour.

In Simon's USA Coast to Coast blog, he described a glorious day's cyling as 'Champaign Cycling', today was more like '2 litre bottle of White Lightning Cycling'. However, it ended up being very enjoyable all the same.

We all awoke to rain at 5:30, set off in the rain at 7:00 and cycled the first 50 miles in yet more rain. At about 15 miles, there was a crash in the group Claire and I were riding in that ended up with 2 riders suffering broken ankles. It wasn't a good sight but the guys are now out of hospital and on the way home.

After we restarted, we continues in a group led by our new friend of the day, Stuart from Bangor, Northern Ireland - unsuprisingly, not Lowrey but the very cool guy below.

After 50 miles in the rain

Then we went over Glen Coe followed by a further 2 peaks over 1,000 feet which sorted the men from the boys with me definitely in the boy's camp. However, with a mixture of pacing myself and a few Go Gels, made it to the 1st stop of the day where Claire was looking very cold and was given attention from the Race Director, latex gloves for her hands, plastic bags for her feet and a space blanket for her body in a successful attemp to warm her up after 50 miles in the rain.

The stop did us some good and Claire was soon smiling...

Smile and the world smiles with you

Luckily, that was the end of the rain and we were in a group led by a couple of the race marshalls which helped us up our pace and get to 90 miles in no time. Unfortunately, by that time, the marshalls had gone, we had escaped our group and missed a turning. This led us to a 20 mile detour with a guy called Mike, much of which were caused by the villan of the day, Race Control, who sent us in the wrong direction twice with their telephone directions to get us back on course. However, the officals on the course were fantastic (Race Director Andy again) and got us back on track.

Remarkable, I felt pretty good for the last 20 miles and we ended the day doing 140 miles and over 3,000 metres of climbing at a very respectable, given the circumstances 14 mph.

And, we were mentioned in despatches in the post ride briefing for doing the longest day's riding in the events history.

Tomorrow, we leave Scotland and head to Carlise, apparently, in the sunshine...