Post LEJOG 2017

The ride finished on a real high yesterday and we celebrated like a bunch of pros - a curry, a couple of beers and in bed by 11pm!

Rather than summarising the trip with our best bits (these should have already been covered in the daily blog) or guidance on how to do Lands End to John O'Groats (just spend a lot of time on your bike and get bloody fit), we enjoyed making up our own awards last night and these will serve as the best summary for the 6 of us who shared a really special 9 days cycling together.  

Best Dressed - 1st Willis. Cormac was 2nd which he will be disappointed by given that he owns 20 outfits, Robin was 3rd. Amazingly Azon received a nomination even though his kit was smothered in sudocrem!.

Biggest strop - Azon for his solo breakaway into Fort William on day 7.  

Worst mechanical - Robin because his bike only made it 2 miles before breaking (for Robin's benefit 2 miles is 3.2 km)

Worst ongoing mechanical - Robin given that his Garmin fell off, his seat slipped down, and despite tubeless tyres being way forward, it went flat multiple times throughout day 5. 

Most punctures - Jonesy with 4 (Robin's is only classed as 1 flat even though it took less time to fix my 4 to his one). Willis has the photo evidence of all my punctures, which therefore shows that he was nowhere to be seen when I actually needed some assistance!).   

Worst maintained bike from the start - Azon, luckily Mick had some time to attend the group's needs when he wasn't maintaining Azon's bike.

Cleanest bike - Cormac because Mick looked after it everyday to accommodate more faff time at the start and end of each day.  

Most combative - Willis, for not letting Robin beat him, yet all the photo evidence proves otherwise. 

Person most likely to get mugged on a climb - Jonesy (by Willis as he was the most combative) 

Best young rider - Jonesy, because he was the only rider in his 30s at the start of the trip. 

Best lookalike - Wellsy for being a fat David Miller (close 2nd was Azon for Mark Cavendish who also strops)

King of the mountains - Jonesy, "they weren't attacks, just the pace I like to ride at!" 

Rider least likely to take their turn at the front - Cormac, because his coach told him not to. Once he stopped taking calls from his coach his form dramatically improved (but his coach told him that would happen). 

Most likely to take a wrong turn to avoid being at the front - Wellsy, curiously this happened regularly, hence it was termed "doing a Wellsy"

Biggest faffer - Cormac, no contest

Most improved faffer - Cormac, no contest, the only way was up.

Most time spent in the van (other than Mick) - split decision between Cormac and Willis

Best Hotel - Premier Inn Bath - Lenny Henry would have been proud 

Worst selfie taker - Robin, for someone very capable at most things, he is comically useless as taking a picture of himself and his desired background. 

Captain of the Incontinence cycling team - Cormac had the weakest bladder given he is the oldest and because his coach recommended regular convenience and food stops. 

Best flapjacks - Azon's bag of them. Shame that his "special" ones were not on offer.  

Most over lubricated derriere - Jonesy, it's always better to be safe than sorry

Worst application of lubrication  - Azon, no contest

Grittiest performance - Azon, having the sh'ts from Bath to Glasgow would have stopped or at least slowed a lesser man. 

Over obsession with data - Cormac, no contest given that his coach was on speed dial. 

Best climb - Split decision between Cheddar Gorge (Somerset on day 2) and Shap (Lake District day 5) 

Best moment -  The last 40km time trial to John O'Groats (smashed it averaging just under 30mph) or the school kids cheering us on back in day 2. 

Team motivator - Willis, for always being positive and upbeat, even though his Churchillian speeches were woeful.  

Most likely to get lost - Jonesy 

Least likely to wait for a lost team member - the rest of the team rather than wait for Jonesy

Best tan of the week - none of us because the weather was average 

Top blog - this one, because there wasn't another one.

Top stat - Total average speed for the trip was 17.8mph (or 28.8 km/h for those that insist on the other metric). 

Unsung hero - Mick, no contest, we couldn't have wished for a nicer, more organised and more thoughtful person to look after us. Without him we would still be at mile 2 (well...at least Robin would be!)

The wet before, and euphoric after

Some of our county signs

Some pre-ride snaps

Thanks boys - it was brilliant. Until the next one!

LEJOG 17 - Day 9, 18th June. Bonar Bridge - John O'Groats (108 miles)

A very quick write up today because we have FINISHED and have the tedious trip to make back via Inverness so wifi and time is limited.

We saved the best until last. The rain kept away, the sun shone at times and the wind was favourable.

The route north up to the coast was truly spectacular. We loved every second of it and have so many photos as a result.

Once we hit the coast and headed east, the wind was on our back. To say that we smashed it home is an understatement. We all had PBs and the 6 of us were in Strava's all time top 10s for multiple segments in the run in to John O'Groats (sorry, we are all Strava bores now, but this means it was a good thing!). We turned up at the John O'Groats sign exhausted - not because we had all ridden close to 1000 miles in 9 days, but because we had treated the last 30 miles as a time trial! It was a great way to end a great trip.

This was an experience not to forget (or probably repeat). We prepared well for it. We all got on well. We all rode as hard as we could. No one let anyone else down and we were incredibly well supported every moment of the way by Mick.

We were so lucky to have been able to do it and we are each in massive debt to our families - no doubt we will be paying them back for months, but it was worth every turn of the pedals.

Thank you for following, and thank you so much for donating. It has been awesome.

A glorious run in

Stunning when the sun shone

The team shot we all worked so hard for

Even the warm prosecco tasted good

LEJOG 17 - Day 8, 17th June. Fort William - Bonar Bridge

We spend a lot of time looking at the road, so have become connoisseurs of tarmac. There are of course lots of different varieties, but I summarise them into 4 categories.

1. The crème de la crème - freshly laid tarmac that is smooth and a pleasure to ride on
2. The older road that is OK but littered with cracks and potholes
3. The nut jangler. Road that the builders clearly couldn’t be bothered to apply a smooth top layer. 
4. The worst of the worst – the new road that the builders have just dressed the surface with loose shingle. This is not only hazardous to ride along but the loose chippings get stuck in your gears and brakes.

I am pleased to say that the roads today were mainly 1 and 2. Once again Fort William was clouded in mist which meant that we saw nothing of the surrounding hills. We were prepared for the worst weather that Scotland could throw at us, but we got lucky and escaped with only a few passing showers. We even saw some blue sky, the sun cream was not required though – we are not in the South of England!

The scenery was stunning, passing Loch Ness, the Moray of Firth and some hilly bits. We made good progress and within 3 hours had passed a group of LEJOG riders who were staying in our hotel and they had set off an hour earlier than us. (As I type this, half of the same group have just arrived at our hotel, 2 hours later than we got here, and they still have a further 30 miles to go!)

It was a great day and we are looking forward to finishing off the trip strongly tomorrow.

Fines today go to;

The only one we can think of today was Cormac – for his solo breakaway and disrupting our formation. 

A special mention must go to the old lady who worked at the Premier Inn. Her mantra was clearly not ‘service with a smile’. She reflected the weather - absolutely miserable!

Yesterday I promised some clarification for previous rule infringements. Lateness and dull Garmin banter is self-explanatory. Below are examples of Azon’s careless cream application and multiple offenders of the arm exposure.

Bring on our final day tomorrow!

Willis as chirpy as ever

Cycling along Loch Ness was a highlight

Willis as chirpy as ever 

Some Scottish bloke

Stunning views to end the day

Unacceptable arm exposure

Unacceptable cream leakage

LEJOG 17 - Day 7, 16th June. Hamilton - Fort William (126 miles)

7 days in now and our routines are sorted. Personally I get up, have breakfast, check weather forecast, dress appropriately, liberally apply chamois cream and start riding. Stop within 20 minutes for a team pee – we are the incontinent cycling team! Coffee around 30 miles, lunch around 60, generously re-apply chamois cream,  and then push on through to the end. Once finished, download the ride to Strava (if it’s not on Strava, it never happened), clean bike, check in, shower, apply sudocrem, get dressed, write blog, eat, re-apply sudocrem & sleep. So as I write this blog, you are now fully up to speed with what I have done today!

With a long day in store, we agreed to start earlier than normal, and with rotten weather forecast to hit us at midday, we were all very punctual (even Cormac!) and started as planned at 7.15am.

Escaping the Glasgow area was pretty grim, but once we neared Loch Lomond the landscape was stunning. It is weird I know, but even with 700 miles in the legs, we are feeling stronger than ever and the distance no longer daunts us. What does daunt us however is the threat of rain and headwinds! Whilst you lot down in the south of England are worried about what factor sun cream to apply, we are currently worrying about the right rain jacket so we don’t get too cold and how to avoid trench foot!

The rain hit us in earnest by midday with 50 miles still to ride. It is disappointing because I am sure that the mountains around Glencoe would have been stunning when we cycled through them but like Cornwall, the clouds were low and the rain heavy so all I got to admire was tarmac and the same bottoms and calves that I have been staring at all week.

We were grateful to reach Fort William in good time and get dry. We are just hoping that tomorrow isn’t a complete wash out as well.

Fines for today are;

Graham – for unnecessary arm exposure (I’ll include photos tomorrow to explain the serious nature of this indiscipline

Jones – for having his 4^th puncture of the trip (cycling through yet another hole in the road)

Everyone else – for not telling Jones that there was a hole in the road.

  

The forecast dominating our preparations for the day

A rare sight of blue sky

Steadily taking on our first climb of the day 

I think this is a mountain in Glencoe

Glencoe

Simon embracing the Scottish culture and eating a deep fried Mars Bar. 

LEJOG 17 - Day 6, 15th June. Penrith - Hamilton (107 miles)

Let’s face it – if you didn’t like cycling, this would be a rubbish trip! The days are long, we are covering a lot of miles and climbing a lot of hills. We are however making great progress and after 6 days we have crossed the border and are just south of Glasgow.

Today was meant to be an easy day because tomorrow we have a hilly long day, so what did we do? We smashed the 107 miles at an average of 19 mph, our fastest day so far, but at least it meant that we finished early and have longer to rest for the 130 mile day tomorrow.

We made great progress from the start today, covering 20 miles in the first hour. The wind was kind, and we spent much of the day weaving alongside the M6 and then the M74.

Whilst most of you are basking in sunshine, it is looking like it will be a very wet couple of days for us. We did our best to avoid the showers today but failed miserably, getting very wet and cold by lunchtime.

I had the misfortune of being the only person not to spot a big hole in the road and managed the impressive feat of puncturing both wheels at the same time, taking my puncture tally to 3. Robin was just thankful that it wasn’t him this time!

We met a few fellow LEJOG people today. (To avoid any confusion, LEJOG stands for Lands End to John O’Groats, rather than a random name that we have given ourselves).  The highlight being Charlie who is cycling the same route by himself in just 2 weeks. Charlie is 70 and puts all of us to shame as he does this sort of trip multiple times a year. Next he is off to cycle the Pacific Highway – we have no idea what that is but it sounds long!

Finishing early gives me a bit more time to write this, and the opportunity to mention some things that I have previously forgotten.

• ·        Azon fell off his bike the other day trying the very difficult manoeuvre of turning his bike around. He should have received a fine on the day it happened.
•       Robin and Graham are both useless at taking selfies.
• ·        Willis doesn’t do Churchillian speeches. Basking in the glow of having achieved 3 back to back 100+ mile days, he kindly reminded us that we have such a long way still to go. So motivational!  
• ·        Still struggling with stomach issues, yesterday Azon bought a bag full of Imodium from a chemist and then asked for the lady who served him for 20p for the public toilet. Forever upbeat, he said “she didn’t need to be Sherlock Holmes to guess my issue!”
• ·        I am not giving enough praise to Mick – our support team. Mick is a quiet, mild mannered guy and couldn’t have done more to help us. When we need him, he is there without any fuss. From mile 2 when he fixed Robin’s bike, to presenting me with a cake for my birthday and the the endless driving ahead to arrange the most appropriate coffee stops and lunch venues. An example of his thoughtfulness (other than the cake!) was when he spotted a group of school kids in a little village school playground learning their bike proficiency. Mick stopped, had a word with their teachers and drove on. When we came through all the kids were shouting their encouragement at us – it was such a lovely moment that each of us absolutely loved. 

Today’s fines go to;

Jones & Willis – for pushing too hard and losing the organised team formation. Quite rightly our ‘skipper’ for the day Graham was less than pleased and told us so - it shouldn’t have happened on his watch!

Willis – for exposing the top of his arms above his arm warmers.   

Cormac – the good old Cormac was back this morning and he was 15 minutes late

Azon – seems hardly worth mentioning about his shorts now does it? His liberal chamois cream application is a daily occurrence and would now feel odd if the white streaks weren’t there!

Big day tomorrow and we just hope it isn’t too wet – cycling in the rain is miserable.  Thanks for your continued support and donations – we are now approaching £13,000. Thank you!

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserProfilePage.action?userUrl=lejog2017media&isTeam=true

Reaching Scotland this morning felt like a real landmark 

The hole in the road that caused my double puncture

Soaked- I fear that this will be repeated many times over the next couple of days

Looking organised when the sun shone and before Willis encouraged me to push too hard and break the formation!

LEJOG 17 - Day 5, 14th June. Haydock - Penrith (103 miles)

Having endured a lot of mediocre weather, we woke to blue skies and were keen to get further north and out of the busy M62 corridor.

Other than spending time with my beloved family, I could think of no better way to celebrate turning the big 4-0 than on the bike, with friends, blue skies, rolling hills and a tail wind – that’s what my mind says, having covered over 400 miles in 4 days, my backside is saying something very different!

I should have kept my mouth shut, but I had mentioned earlier in the week that I couldn’t understand why people wore cycling shirts with novelty images such as Baked Beans or the AtoZ map. So I was of course thrilled with my Marmite shirt that was presented to me at breakfast. Needless to say it was worn all day and I quickly forgot that I looked like a d!+k.

Once we got through Preston, the scenery was stunning. Cycling through Lancashire and up into Cumbria will live long in the memory. Even the day’s sting in the tail – the 8 mile climb up to the top of Shap was fantastic, the three of us who chose to race up it will definitely suffer for the effort tomorrow, but it was so worth it.

Not too many fines today.

Azon – his surgical application of his chamois cream deserted him this morning as his shorts were a disgrace.

Robin – for still insisting that tubeless tyres are the way forward even though he suffered a slow puncture all day.

Fair play to Cormac, he was early to breakfast and spent most of the day pedalling at the front. We are not sure what has happened to the Cormac that was with us for the first 4 days.

We are now just over half way and heading into Scotland tomorrow. I feel incredibly lucky to be doing this and seeing our country in this way. Spirits are still high and legs are strong. Not sure I can say the same about the condition of people’s backsides though!

Looking special sporting my 40th birthday present!

Yep - we are heading north and only just half way

Lancashire was stunning

Robin once again beating Willis

Garmin 'banter'

No seriously, tubeless wheels are the way forward!

LEJOG 17 - Day 4, 13th June. Ludlow - Haydock (112 miles)

If ever 112 miles can be classed as a recovery ride, today was the day. Conditions were dry, virtually flat and with a 5 mph tail wind. I won't be bold enough to say that it was easy, but compared to our first 3 days, it was considerably easier.

All dress in the same kit - thank you EC1 Collective, our mediocre cycling team looked the business and we continue to gel.

There are plenty of challenges to overcome doing something like this. Azon picked up a stomach bug last night, so was very impressive to be able to cover the distance. Robin was equally unlucky as he got a wasp sting in the face and had to cycle the second half without being able to see much out of his left eye.

I got the team's first puncture of the week, but given that it was a slow puncture overnight, fixing it was easy before we got started this morning - particularly because Cormac was 15 minutes late (I think you can guess what is coming up in the fines summary!)

Backsides and legs are beginning to get pretty tender now. Personally I find myself daydreaming about sudocrem but then I just have to look at Azon's shorts to realise that it is not just me!

Today's fines go to;
Cormac - for being 15 minutes late to start this morning.
Cormac - for riding the fist 10 miles without his helmet as he left it in the van.
Cormac - for running over a squirrel (accidental of course!)

Instead of fines, full credit must go to both Robin and Azon for finishing the day so strongly despite both suffering.

Now on to day 5 and another 100+ mile day as we head towards the Lake District - not the typical way to celebrate my 40th, but great fun with a top group.

Mick helping with directions

Our mediocre team is looking more professional now!

Our lunchtime view

A standard from when 'hiding' at the back

GroupM's answer to the Chuckle Brothers 

Picnic lunch 

Robin's wasp sting actually looked a lot worse than this

Thank you to all of you who have donated and continue to support us, we all really appreciate it!

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/lejog2017media

LEJOG 17 - Day 3, 12th June. Bath - Ludlow (105 miles)

From a personal perspective, day 3 started really nicely as my good friend George (see most of the previous blogs) came to see us off. Given that he had come from London that morning - his commitment was impressive and most welcome!

The first two days are notoriously hilly, so we left the overcast city of Bath looking forward to a dry and flatter day. The scenery was stunning. In total we passed through 6 counties (Somerset, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, Monmouthshire, Herefordshire and Shropshire) and 2 countries (England and Wales). Highlights were was passing through Castle Coombe, the Wye Valley and riding across the Severn Bridge.

All the group are still in good spirits and riding strongly. At times it felt like we were riding fast and as a unit, each taking turns to cycle at the front - where it is harder as you are the first to hit the wind, and the others can draft behind you. I thought that this is what a cycling team must feel like - granted, a mediocre cycling team, but we can dream! Also note to self, a cycling team would not stop 10 miles before the end and have a pint. Instead of flying through the last part of the day, the alcohol made it a real slog, so we were pleased to make it to Ludlow, even if the hotel was rubbish. Another note to self, Travelodge is so much worse than Premier Inn (don't worry, we will stay classy!)

On day 3 there were still misdemeanours to warrant a fine.
Graham - wearing arm warmers that still exposed the top of his arm, and having a clear chain grease tattoo on his leg (he was dressed appropriately for breakfast however as we can all agree that no one likes seeing MAMILs whilst eating!)
Cormac - far less faffing today, but still the last to get ready
Azon - filthy and fraying bar tape and initially we praised him for his surgical application of his chamois cream, however the tell-tail white smear marks made an appearance all over his shorts after lunch.

Early start out of Bath for Graham & Cormac

Graham crossing the Severn Bridge

the team in Wales

Not the most aero team formation from Castle Coombe

A quick team rest

Cormac and Graham in action

Yes, Robin comfortably beat Willis up the hill (but who took the photo?)

The Wye Valley

Thank you to all of you who have donated and continue to support us, we all really appreciate it!

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/lejog2017media

LEJOG 17 - Day 2, 11th June. Okehampton - Bath (108 miles)

It couldn't be worst than day one could it? Thankfully it wasn't. In fact day 2 was exactly the opposite of day one. It was dry, lovely views, great roads, no mechanicals, no excessive stopping, hilly but we enjoyed a great tail wind. We even cycled well as a group, each taking turns at the front, and we covered the miles quickly. We covered the 108 miles in less than 6 hours and would have made Bath before 4pm had the lunch been slightly less leisurely (reminder to self, this is not a race!).
Cheddar Gorge was stunning, as was much of Devon and we are now in Somerset.

There were less fines for inappropriate behavior today as we are learning the "rules".
Willis - for dressing head to toe in team Sky gear.
Cormac - for excessive faffing
Azon - again for overly liberal use of his chamois cream to the outside of his shorts
Graham - for eating breakfast in full cycling kit and wearing his helmet at lunch
No fines today for Jones and Robin.

Bring on day 3

Optimistic at the start of day 2

Willis trying to ride a bike

Into our 3rd county

Actually cycling in an organised formation

Day 2 couldn't have been any different from day 1!

Bath was a great place to end a great day