This morning I took a quick trip to the doctors. I’ve been suffering from a few aches and pains since the ride and thought it best have a quick check up. The main concern was a knee problem that stems from an old basketball injury. But it also turned out I have tendonitis in my ankles! The correction for both the knee and ankle problem is one which is so severe that I can hardly type it: Don’t ride! This is going to be difficult to do, but when he explained that if the knee does not clear up with rest and medication they will resort to injecting steroids into my knee to kick start the joint. Put like that spending some time in the garden instead of the saddle looks fine with me.

We got up at 6am, had some breakfast and got geared up ready to go. All of us excited, eager and ready to start. What we had been training for since the beginning of the year had finally arrived. We drove to Lands End and started to get set up. Double-checked our bikes to make sure they were ok. Lucy was roaming around already starting to take pictures of us. Serena handed out some small envelopes. What’s this? We had all been given a set of dog tags with our call name on. (From Top Gun) We finally set off our first leg of the ride at 7:20am with the sun shinning and no wind, perfect.

Our first stop was for breakfast at 9:10am on the A30 Just past Redruth. The girls fed us sausage and bacon sandwiches with tea and coffee whilst they topped up our drinks bottles. We all applied sun cream except Dave as the temperature was already 32�c. Harry had the first schoolboy error of our trip. He wore a top which had no pockets so he had to change.

Our next stop was on the A30 in a lay-by approaching Launceston at 11:40am. Everyone is ok and the weather is holding up being sunny so more cream is slapped on but the winds have got up slightly. We all had some tea, coffee, banana�s and flapsnak (really it was flapjack but this flapsnak was Harry�s language!) I had the start of a knee ache so I put on some pain relief gel.

Lunch stop at 13:25pm at a services part on the A30 at Oakhampton. We had plenty of tomato pasta, sausages and bread rolls to keep us going. Rob�s arse hurt a bit and he slipped away to the toilets with the pack of wet wipes! I think a comment of Harry might have a bad back in the morning seeing as they are sharing a room all week! After our 40-minute lunch stop we were off again into the summer heat.

Last stop of the day was at 16:47pm in Tiverton, the girls just set up camp outside some residential homes, talk about twitching curtains!

Photographs from Day One

I’ve been back for two days now and and I’m struggling to get back into the groove. Yesterday I was not really up to much so I spent the day trying to upload some photo’s of the trip and cleaning my bike. Today I finally sat down at my desk (home version) to find a pile of post and an in-box full of emails. The main task for the day however was to finish of uploading the photo’s. Lucy got a bit carried away with the camera and I’ve got around 900 photograph’s to upload; it has taken two days to get them all on Flickr! I tried to get into the swing of things and replied to a few emails; thanks for those of support and well wishes, cleared out several hundred junk mails. But after an hour or so I was bored again so decided to take a trip to see Rob at Lifecycle. I needed to sort out my buckled wheel from the trip so enjoyed the escape. Tomorrow I’ve got to return to work and so far I’m not looking forward to it, of course it will be good to get my teeth into something again but so far everything feels a bit slow motion compared to last week.

To start with we made it!

I am back and sitting in the kitchen but still a bit dazed and confused. Sorry for the lack of updates and when I finally get round to writing a full run down you will sort of get the picture. As I have a lot of gear to sort out and some wounds to sort I’ll just give you the abrevieated version:

Day 3 was an absolute killer for me, woke up with a pain in my knee that I remembered from the time I destroyed cartalidge in there. Plodded on only to have my rear mech hanger break just outside Kendal. Rob quickly turned it into a single speed and we set off for Shap, one of the toughest climbs of the ride, with only one gear; 36/16 or something around there. During the begining part the chain jumped up a gear and near enough locked the bottom bracket from being so tight; you could not turn the cranks by hand, yet I was going to get up this hill. That pretty much killed off my knee and meant the remainder of the day was taken with ease. We still made it to Selkirk were we had a few spare parts and got me running on full gears again.

Day 4 was greeted with a limp and the fact that I could not apply pressure on my right knee, sort of makes cycling interesting, once we got going my knee eased up but I had to keep it moving to ensure it did not cease up, difficult whilst travelling through Edingbourgh. The next big obsticle was the 27mile climb out of Pitlochery, not to be forgotten thats for sure. But the cruising down the over side was of course a welcome break. No seriously it was a steady climb for 27 miles! We finally made it to Avimore were we called it a day and I almost called it a night. My knee was swollen beyond recognition, I could not get off my bike or walk and ended up in bed with half the ice from the hotel bar on my leg.

Needless to say I got out of bed on Day 5, I was not going to be beaten just yet. We had quite a nice gentle ride towards Inverness, I spent the time looking at my sunburnt hands wondering if they could get any redder in this sun when it suddenly disappeared and we rode into the clouds and mist. From here on out the secenery was just a white blurr and the roads were damp and greasy. There was only a couple of obsticles left, Helmsdale and Berrydale climbs; these are nothing like I expected. The countryside was great and if my knee was not so painful I’m sure it would have been more fun but they were out of this world. Such a great experience.

The final leg of the journey was such a let down, nothing but mist and bleak countryside. Nothing really to write about apart from the sign for John O’Groats just never came quick enough, 30 miles has never taken so long. Finally Dave nodded and I knew this was the final climb before the roll into the town. As we came down the hill the welcome faces of Sean and Sarah and the support crew meant that that we had made it!

Sorry this is only the quick version and once I get sorted I’ll post some pictures and give you the full run down. Until then I’ve got some washing to do and some sleep to catch up on.

First off sorry for not posting yesterday, had a few problems. Nothing too serious we made it to Bridgewater, covering 165 miles but one thing we had not planned was the sun. Dave ended up with a mild sunstroke and I have severely burnt the back of my right leg, so much that I just hit the pillow early. Added to that the first day was one hell of a up and down event, I’ve never ridden hills quite like that before! And they never seemed to end, the only saving grace was that you knew a downhill was at the end of every climb.

Tuesday started off with the passing of the first mental barrier, I got out of bed and got dressed; a good start. I also felt a bit better in my legs so we were off. Today saw some of the best riding I’ve ever done, first crossing the Severn bridge and then absorbing the beautiful countryside in South Wales. The day was a long one as we had to make up some miles, we hit the A39 just before Hereford and sat on that right up until Warrington were we are currently staying. Makes to Rob and his tri-bar set up we totally torn up Shropshire, I’ve lost count of how many counties we went through.

So far in two days we have covered nearly 360miles, we are on course for completion but it is a long way off yet and anything can happen.

I am now sitting in a Travel Inn in Hayle and to be honest I’m feeling a lot better than I was yesterday.

It has been a long old drive just to get here and so far the weather has been great. We shot straight down to Lands End and had a photo taken, turns out the offical photographer does not start until 10 in the morning; by which time we want to be 3 hours down the road. So a bit of smooth talking and we got tomorrow’s date on the sign and will try and blag the rest.

Of course I’m still nervous as hell about what is going to happen in the morning but with the weather being so great it is hard to not wear a smile and look forward to the ride; despite seeing some of those rolling hills on the way here!

I’m sitting here with a few butterflies in the stomach, not sure what to expect of the next few days.
One thing is for certain; if the last 6 months of training have not helped there is no helping me now. Tomorrow morning at around 7:30 Dave will pick me up and we will join up with Harry and Rob and make our way down to Lands End ready for the off.

Whilst chatting with Dave earlier we decided to plan day one with some caution, the terrain through the West Country is very undulating which might cause a lot of wasted energy. Day 2 on the other hand should be a flatter run through the midlands, if we can keep enough in reserve and not push too hard on day one we can make up ground on the flats of day two.

Looking back at that sentence is quite scary, especially when you also look at a map of the UK.
That little sticky out part in the bottom left is going to be completed in just one day!

Sorry this should have been posted last week, but I’ve been having a few problems with my scanner!

The local paper; Suffolk Free Press ran an article about the ride, it turns out my dear old grandma had generated interest through a family friend who works in the paper’s office. To which I was contacted and asked to organise a photo shoot at Rob’s shop.
They got a few points mixed up such as Dave does not own the cycle shop and I’m not the chap in the middle but I think the general idea is there and the main point about the charities we are supporting are there. Rob has also been doing some publicity for the event, appearing in some Ipswich based papers.

The challenge is to cycle from one end of the UK to the other in 5 days! Starting on Monday 5th June to the 10th June four cyclists will leave Lands End and hopefully all being weel and good they will arrive at John O’Groats on the following Friday. The journey will cover the full length of the United Kingdom with daily milage reaching 175 miles and an estimated 12 hours in the saddle each day. The journey was set out as a personal goal but it was decided that we could raise some money along the way. We are collecting for the British Heart Foundation and the League of Friends of Belstead School in Ipswich.

The people

Who is taking part in this epic journey? David Law Harry Crampton Rob Morse and yours truly

The other three have all completed this trip at least once before in their lives, not quite at this pace but they do know what to expect. Harry is the main man, as he is now on his 10th trip and has completed the double; up and back!

The equipment.

I will be riding my road bike for this, not sure the extra weight of the Marin is really necessary! I’ve done a quick run down of the bike and the setup. Frameset: Trek1400 SLR Aluminium Frame with Carbon forks.

Transmission: Chainset: Race Face Cadence chainset Bottom Bracket: Race Face X Type. Freewheel: Shimano Dura Ace cassette Chain: Shimano Dura Ace Deraileurs: Shimano 105 Rear Mech with XT jockey wheels. Shimano 105 Front Mech
Gear Levers: Shimano 105 Ergo Shifters Pedals: Time RXE pedals

Wheels Hubs: Hope 36 hole Ti Hubs Rims: DT Swiss 1.1 Rims Spokes: DT Swiss stainless spokes. Tyres: Conti GP Force | GP Attack

Other Components Handlebar Stem: Bontrager Select Handlebars: Bontrager Select Headset: Integrated Saddle: Fizik Arione Saddle Brakeset: Shimano 105 with Fibrax Brake Pads.

More…

We have already booked hotels and travel inns along the way so if you are in the area drop me a line and see what we are up to. (chances are I’ll be too tired to come out and play ;) ) Sunday: Hayle Monday: Taunton Tuesday: Goyborne, Haydock Wednesday: Celkirk Thursday: Newtonmore Friday: Thurso

Of course there will be one hell of a party in The Park Hotel in Thurso on the Friday evening if anything goes to plan!

Once the event starts we will be keeping a log of the trip, hopefully if we can sort a internet connection I will post a daily update of the journey. You can follow the process or keep track of what it happening by checking out the different articles: Find all posts tagged with end2end or find all photos tagged with end2end.

Thanks for all your support!

This time next week it will have started, we should have left Lands End and been making our way to the other end of the UK. I’m going to enjoy this week as it is just going to be a gentle cool down with no real training or exercise. If I have not got it in my legs by now there is nothing I can do in 7 days! The only real training this week will be mental preparation. Trying to get your head round the idea of what you are going to put your body through.