Day 2- Welcome to hell (sorry Dartmoor)

Day Two where do we start! What a beautiful day, wall to wall sunshine. We travelled from Liskard and hit the Dartmoor National Park such a stunning place until you are faced with the biggest hill yet which appears to be never, never ending, what a challenge! Once at the top the views were spectacular and worth the hard work.

Angela

Warwick has a scenic punture

 Adam: pleasantly cycling along on the way to lunch, having done the majority of the basturd hills in Dartmoor, I was maybe not quite being as aware of the impending potential for disaster as I should have been thinking about my belly (as I am well-known for; and, actually, have been brought up with an ability to eat excessively anyway). So there I was minding my own busisness, when an old lady (with a penchant for death) decided in her assumed, but misplaced wisdom, that any timeto cross the road would be good enough, and that two cyclists (myself & Tom) would not constitute a road hazard, and crossing the road 10metres in front of us with no indication would probably be acceptable in her little world. 

Well, within a couple of her unconsidered steps, I realised we had a trouble-maker on the loose, and evasive action needed to be taken, I thought about passing in front of her, as she was only to old lady steps onto the road; but realised with Tom a couple of seconds behind, he would then possibly have a bigger dilemma whether to go ahead of her pleasantly unaware strides; or behnind, given (just like the chicken on the road on day 1) we would have no way of telling what this old lady would do, or turn into, once she realised her little place of innocent meandering was actually a road with two ravenous cyclists on it who were not about to slow down when jelly babies and pork pies were on offer no more than 100yds away...

I chose to squeeze through the narrow gap behind her, and because at the point of reaching this old ladies trajectory, she was at least 3.5 old lady steps from the pavement on the side she had departed from, this meant that after moderate rapid deliberation at break-neck speed, both myself & Tom managed to negotiate the extra unforeseen challenge on our LEJOG cycle: the silly pedestrian!

I apologise for any offense caused to old ladies, this was not my intention!

Cheers, Adam

 

The only way we could shut Adam up

day 1

Well the day started well. Delayed leaving Lands End by a Royal Navy Search and rescue helecopter landing 20 yards from the start line. We started off but within 40 yards Mr Higgins got a puncture and then 1/4 of a mile down the road my chain flew off.

Got going OK though and made the first drinks stop. Somehow after that my day went abit pear shaped. By lunch it was very wet. My glasses were so steamed up and rain covered that I could not see the signs to turn off for lunch. So I basically missed it and kept going for 40 miles on a cereal bar.

Got there in the end though. All of us got in but were very tired. Dinner was late and bed came very soon after.

But day 1 completed.

Day 0 - The Way There

Now that day 2 is over we can fill you in on some of the adventures that we had getting down to Lands End. Firstly from Oxford, I had a van rented to bring down my bike. Unfortunately the rental company had a policy of no ripped licences. And in the scale of ripped licenses mine is pretty much at the top. An hour and a half later and we were still there. We had to contact the Irish equivalent of the DVLA which involved a poor Irish woman doing her best impression of a Father Ted scene ("oh you need a form and 6 euro. Can you drop in and sign the form?" No as i mentioned i'm in the UK rental office right now...)

Finally got the van to find half an hour later that it had a lovely crack on the windscreen. Back to the rental company. The only van they had was a 3 seater which had loads of room. Little did we know we would need it.....

After finally setting off got down as far as Exeter, we got a phone call from Ian and Dan. They had got a train from London which was now refusing to go any further due to the flooding. After a fleeting moment of laughing, we turnd around and returned to Taunton to rescue them. Poor Ian had to sit in the back on a slab of lucozade for the 3 hours journey wedged amidst bags and cycles. The adventure began...

 

Cormac

Day 1 thoughts

Well after a puncture on my bike before we even started and then 2 slipped chains on Warwicks and Angelas, things got off to an eventful start. We set off at about 10.30 from Lands End and proceeded through Truro to Liskeard. 79 miles in total today and a lot of hills. I dont think any of us were prepared for the hills we had to face. And even if you were they just seemed to never end...

Aside from that, a lot of sore bottoms already and we're all pretty sleepy. Only 69 miles tomorrow but seemingly Dartmoor is a nightmare for hills. Onwards and upwards

Just a little survival kit from the nurses. Bless 'em. Apparently the sash is compulsory!

Liquid Refreshments

A big thank you to Kingsley who today dropped off enough Lucozade sport powder to keep us all going on the trip - much appreciated!!

Gulp

Well I think the butterflies in my stomach are now reaching pterodactyl-like proportons. Oddly I am most concerned about getting the bike to Paddington on packed commuter trains.

Bring it on rain....

Well, I'm now waterproof from head to toe. Theres no way I'm getting wet (or ran over!)

The Kent (ups and) Downs

So we managed to cover over 100 miles again this weekend but split into a shorter run on Saturday and then 70 miles on Sunday down to Tonbridge. The route involved some well needed hill training and a downpour towards the end of Sunday's ride meant we got to really put our raingear to the test. I'm definitely feeling the difference having had a few weeks off training while my wrist recovers but I'm hoping my stubborn streak will count for something on those hills. Bring it on!

Soggy

Well I finally got a day off. So I went out his morning and did 20 miles. The weather was absolutely foul and I got thoroughly soaked. So I have decided to forego the £35 or so for mud guards as I seemed to get wet enough top to bottom rather than from spray from the wheels. I did find that my vermillion coloured lenses in my shooting glasses were a great help though. Transformed the light from dull grey to go visibility. The knee stood up fine but I think I should have bought a second pair of leggings. I had thought 3 pairs of shorts and 1 set of longies would be sufficient. Oh well it can only get as far as your skin as they sound round here!
I have also been rescued by a friend on the phone front. I have been lent a phone which will be facebook capable.

Tell me why, I dont like cycling....

So with only ten days to go the panic is well and truly here. The usual combination of why didnt i start training earlier & why am i doing this?

But undeterred i set out yesterday in what must have been the worst weather i've seen in Kent in my 5 years here. Gale force winds (well i hope so anyway..... if they were only light winds god help us!) and driving rain made for a very miserable 20 miles. Although i thought i had very good waterproof kit, even Gore wear couldn't withstand this rain. At least where we're going it never rains, does it?

Today was slightly better. Another 20 miles and only some strong winds. I spent about 5 miles of that doing loops around Bob Geldofs house which has some steep hills around it. So Sir Bob, if you're reading this and saw me today, put a few pennies my way please.

Bad Timing

Sunday was going reasonably well. Did 53 miles in just under 5 hours and felt really good. However in my haste to get up and out I kind of neglected to eat breakfast. Then sort of forgot lunch.

I popped to the local working mens club to wind down with some friends and have a game of cards. But after being sat down at the table for a while and having had a couple of drinkypoos, when it came to getting on the bike to come home I managed approximately 3 metres before I was off.

Right knee now a little swollen but settling down. The main problem I have is that my assistant is on holiday until next week and because of a swap in the rota I am also working on Sunday now. No time for cycling! I will just have to try and do a longish ride on Monday and keep ticking over for the rest of the week.

A long but pleasant cycle to Surrey

So our plan at the weekend was to do a nice long 60-70 mile cycle on Sunday with a 30 miler on Monday. The idea being to see how we fare on the second day and to test out the new cycling gear. We have a friend who's just moved to a village in Surrey which just so happens to be 37 miles away, perfect. Somehow we managed to take a long cut on the way there though and arrived at our destination for lunch having cycled an extra 20-30 miles (the range is due to a disagreement between Paolo's bike computer and my phone). The good news is that we felt great, ate as much as we could cram in at lunch and set off on the direct road back to London. Apart from a light drizzle for half an hour, our journey home was uneventful and it was only in the last 10 miles that my body (and particularly the injured wrist) started to complain. We decided not to do the extra 30 miles on Monday, having already cycled more than we're scheduled to do in one day. We'll have another go at doing a 70 mile and 30 mile cycle one after the other next weekend but after that we'll just have to take it as it comes.

Crash!

Did 40 miles on Sunday and considering the rain/cold/fog was feeling just about OK until about 1/4 mile from home and my back wheel touched the white lines on the road, which were wet and bang! Back wheel slipped out from under me and I hit the road, pretty quickly. With your feet in cleats the only option is to put your hand out - luckily I had gloves on - and wait to hit the deck. The top edge of my thigh was first to hit. The top of my leg now resembles something from the elephant man - swollen and a nice shade of purple.



My hand, whilst initially more painful is thankfully back to normal.

Lesson learnt though, avoid white lines at all costs!

Hamstrung!

The last minute cramming training plan is not going well! On thursday i played my first football match in years and played in a Arsenal- West Ham 6 a side. Well i say played. A more accurate description would be: i ran around for 4 minutes, looked busy and then went to clear the ball.........pop goes the hamstring!

That was the end of that then! (to rub salt in the wound the guy who took my shirt scored 2 goals.... never getting back into the team now!)

So on Friday i tried a cycle as i really have no choice now. 25 miles ok and surprisingly cycling is good for your hamstring. I then managed 40 miles on a wet and miserable sunday with some tough hills as well so looking a bit more positive

My only worry is the amount i should have done already. I've never done more than 40 miles and while on Sunday i felt like i could cycle longer; i still havent done it yet!

Panic

Right I'm getting really nervous now. Good Friday at work was mental day. 1 caesarian and a cat with a ruptured diaphragm mean my nurse and I did not stop all day. Saturday not much better so by the time Sunday off rolled around the last thing I wanted to do was go out cycling in the pouring rain. So I had a day off.
Today the weather is also awful. So I took the dogs for a 10 mile walk instead. Still 2 and a half hours of good legzercise though.
However my assistant is now on holiday for 2 weeks so I'm on my own with 7pm finishes for a fortnight. I think I'm just going to have to grab gym sessions where I can but I'm worried about getting enough in. Having said that I have done several 50+ mile rides and the 60 miler so hoping I'm up to it. The odometer on W.I.T.T says nearly 1000 miles done since I got the bike too.
he other thing that should help now is the local watering hole is closed from tomowrrow for 6 weeks for a refurb. So should get rid of a smidge more weight before we go.

21 days....eeek!

Reptilian Cushings??

OK I'm not the world's greatest reptilian vet so I'm wondering if reptiles get cushings. Why am I pondering this point? Well since the mighty gator skins have been on the bike over the last 2-3 weeks I have had a wheel off 4 times repaired 4 punctures and thrown away 1 slime tube and 2 conventional ones. The last being this morning when I got a flat 100 yards from Mr B's steam and sauna emporium.
This put me way behind schedule and gave me a poultry 20 minutes steaming. So it seems the skin on the underbelly of my gators is somewhat thinner than expected. I am now starting to think that I will spend more of my time on the actual ride fixing punctures than riding!
I'm also getting really nervous about the whole thing.

phew...

I've been given the all clear for the cycle. Definitely no fracture, I've just bruised my scaphoid and other wrist bones (or as Paolo puts it, I was exaggerating). So hopefully this lovely weather will continue into the weekend to help me get back into training. Oh and some helpful advice from the consultant which I'll pass to you all...... 'Don't fall off your bike'!

Mortally wounded tyre!

Luck....no!

Well this weekend has been a bit light on training. Last week I did about 95 in total with a 57 mile on Sunday. Saturday at work was busy and my Dad came down too so we were out for dinner Saturday night, Sunday morning I couldn't exactly leave guests to fend for themselves while I went out on the bike at silly O'Clock either. So I did a bit of maintenance on the bike.

My Gatorskins had arrived and I fitted "smart slime" filled tubes. This morning I knew the weather was going to be good so I decided to cycle to Rye harbour. Went through Battle and Hastings onto the Winchelsea road to Rye. A couple of eh shorter seeper hills were a bit unpleasant . Got to Rye and onto the Udimore road back towards Brede and Broadoak. There were some fantastic views out across the Marshes to the sea so I took a quick piccy on the phone.

I was loving the new gatorskins. Very smooth and feeling pretty secure on the puncture front. Got back to Battle and climbed through Wartling up Senlac hill. Out along North Trade road and made a fatal error. I decided to cut through Freckley Hollow to home. This road is very pretty but is is extremely uneven and in the bright sunshine despite sunglasses I managed not to avoid a pothole. THUD THUD THUD from under my saddle. OMG I don't beleave it. I stopped to pump the tyre up. I thought the slime would do its job plug the hole and off I go. But no. With the tyre still flat and slime oozing from the wheel rim I had to take it off.

It seems the tube had ben pinched so hard on the rim of the pothole that it had been mortally wounded with 2 parallel slits. As I pumpd I was forcing its green slimey blood from the holes. The other problem is that once the outside of teh tyre is coated with slime you can't get a puncure patch to stick! So out with the spare tube .

TBH its getting to the point when I will be glad when the ride is over. If only for the fact I am spending a small personal fortune on kit.