The Ride Day 1

Hard to describe the sense of anticipation around last night. The camp itself looks like a cross between a rock festival and a refugee camp.

But that belies the reality. All is very well organised. The facilities include an enormous dining marquee, secure bike parking (guard on duty round the clock and you an only remove a bike bearing the same number as your wrist band.

Wi fi, hot showers, massages, information point, chill out area, free newspapers. Sounds good doesn't it. Only snag is that you have to cycle over 100 miles a day to benefit from all this!

We were woken at 5.30 by Freddy Mercury telling us in his irritatingly predictable way that he wants to ride his bicycle. So did I but only after a huge breakfast which was impressive even for me.

We were promised a fine sunny day so I was decked out with sunglasses. In fact within 5 mins of leaving at 7.00 am we were in a thick sea mist. Damp and misting my glasses which were not helping at all I rode the first 40 mins 'blind' and therefore with extreme caution.

Then the sun emerged an the pattern of the day established itself. Very steep climb on probably the hottest day of the summer, followed by very steep descent which failed to deliver sufficient momentum to get you more than 10 meters up the next steep climb. Repeat for 107 miles. Or a lot more if you were the young lady I was talking to at the evening meal tonight.

She explained she had entered alone and had only taken up cycling in April. She was petrified of descending having had a nasty accident on a bike as a child. She missed a sign and got lost today and went 20 hilly miles out of her way. She eventually got back on route but was well behind everyone else. She was advised to quit but wouldn't.

It was tough. I like climbing (my 9 stone weakling physique has one benefit in that it confers a pretty good 'power to weight' ratio') but this was as tough as any cyclosportive I have done and I found it tough. But at least it was over quite quickly for me. I finished about 3.30. I was still watching and applauding riders coming in at 7.15pm. That is a very long day in the saddle in these conditions and they gained huge respect for seeing it through.

Really great that 3 work colleagues Rachel, Katie and Clare interrupted their weekend break in Cornwall to drive an hour each way to Okehampton to cheer in myself and Vicky who used to work with us at Barcan Woodward and is riding with me.

More of same tomorrow it seems. Off to bed sorry make that bag on sleeping mat...

Stage 12

The day has come! Luxury team bus transfer to Lands End. I wonder if there is an option to stow away and travel this way to John o' Groats?

Amazing set up at base camp and fine weather here.

This is to prove I have started from Lands End. Very proud to wear this cycling top

Bring it on!

Stage 11

The big day is getting very close. I just have to hope that the somewhat limited time I had for training will be enough. I think I am going pretty well and on my last 100 mile sportive recently I actually posted my fastest time for a century ride - 6hrs 2 mins to be precise. I was gutted about those 2 mins I can tell you but then found I was still within Gold standard time when my OAP status was taken into account.

Anyway, too late to worry about that now as with only a few days to the off I have to be tapering. Essentially that means no major efforts, lots of rest and lots of eating. I have no problem with carbo loading certainly.

Recently my riding companions seem to have decided that their mission in life is to see me stuffed with cakes at our coffee stops. Steve, Patrick - I'll let you know if the force feeding strategy pays off or whether all the cash I spent on the new lightweight frame has been a complete waste thanks to you, offset by rider weight gain.

Had a last minute panic with a very squeaky rear wheel and decided it was going to drive me mad over 1000 miles. I got a new one which delayed me packing the bike to be transported to lands end. Then I had another panic when I realised the bike wouldn't fit into the bike box I had borrowed without being completely stripped down virtually to the last ball bearing!

I decided to revert to a very old bike bag that has not seeing active service since baggage handlers dropped it from a great height and trashed the bike inside but it'll be fine for this trip.

All packed and ready to go now though as can be seen from the before and after photos below.

My fundraising is really taking off now. Many thanks to everyone who has contributed and for the rest of you - it's not too late! Just click on the link to my Just Giving page alongside.

Stage 10

Seems hard to believe that the ride is starting in under 3 weeks from now. My training has very definitely wound up a notch or 2 in the last few weeks.

80 mile plus rides now seem quite normal and I seem to be coping with fairly strenuous efforts on consecutive days. That said the most I have attempted is 60 miles one day and about 100 the next. It may sound trite but there is no doubt that it is the last 40 (or 30,20 or 10) of a 100 mile ride that is the hardest. Shame there is no training method that lets you go out for 2 hours and ride just the last 30 miles!

But it's getting too late to be concerned about my state of preparation. I'll just have pretend I'm a football manager and take one day at a time, Brian.

I'll be taking inspiration from the GB Olympic cycling team of course. Spoilt for choice there. Not that I profess to have anything like the speed of Jason Kenny, the thighs of Chris Hoy, the exuberance of Laura Trott or the sheer amazing talent of Bradley Wiggins. Hope I don't have the bad luck of Victoria Pendleton either. What was that all about, relegating her when she was simply trying to stay upright despite her opponent's best efforts to elbow her off the track?

And that inspiration won't just come from the 2012 squad. Today I had the privilege to find myself riding with Phil Baynton. If that name isn't immediately familiar it is probably because he comes from a era of British cycling when the science of "marginal gains" was unheard of as was celebrity (well, apart from Tom Simpson perhaps), money and advertising endorsements. Nonetheless Phil Baynton had a very successful career as a pro cyclist, both in the UK and on the super tough Belgian scene. The highlight of his career though was finishing 4th in the 1972 Munich Olympics.

Today he was just another rider in the 100 mile sporttive I rode in the Cotswolds. About my age, but he looked a lot younger. A group of 4 of us formed on the road for no better reason than we had started in the same group of 50 and were riding at the same pace. We each take a turn on the front for a minute or so while the other 3 recover in the front man's slipstream. Then the pacemaker pulls over and drifts to the back of the impromptu 'team'.  It's called riding 'through and off' and has the dual benefit of being very efficient and also sociable.

Anyway, the 4 of us rode the last half of the ride together and as we talked it emerged that one of us had quite some history. He spoke about  his career of course and so very nearly getting to the Olympic podium, but also about the events which overshadowed the Games and everything that year. It will be recalled that these were the notorious Olympics where 11 Israeli athletes and coaches were massacred by a group of Palestinian terrorists. Phil was still clearly affected by what he saw with vivid memories of the events, mainly centered around the person on the roof attempting vain to negotiate with the terrorists.

Perhaps this is one of the reasons I love cycling. It is a huge leveller. It makes no difference who you are or what you do, or what you have done in your previous life. The person riding beside you could be a knight of the realm or an ex-con. You are in the moment and all that matters is getting up this steep climb, getting safely down a long twisting descent on potholed, gravelly roads, or sheltering in a large group as you batter against a horrible headwind on a long, flat exposed section. All you need is for the other guy to take his turn on the front for a few minutes more until it is your turn again to pull the group along.

Stage 9

The day of reckoning has dawned. Until now all I have known is that one month from now I will be riding the length of the country in 9 days. It doesn't sound too bad if you say it quickly.

A few hours ago the precise route maps were released by the organisers of the Ride Across Britain and I suspect that scattered around the country there are 600 rather stunned people at present.

Day 1 Lands End to Okehampton via Bodmin Moor. 108 miles with 4783 ft climbing.

Day 2 Okehampton to Bath via Dartmoor, Cheddar Gorge and the Mendips. 110 miles with 4284 ft of climbing.

Day 3 Bath to Ludlow via the Forest of Dean. Only 99 miles but 5439 ft of draggy climbing I know well from training rides.

Day 4 Ludlow to Manchester via Wenlock Edge and most of Cheshire, perilously close to the scenic East Lancs Road I fear, 106 miles and 3303 ft of ascent.

Day 5 Manchester to Penrith past Wigan pier. through Preston, Kendal then over (gulp) Shap Fell. 104 miles with 5252 ft of Pennine upness.

Day 6 Penrith to Glasgow through Carlisle, eloping to Gretna Green then past lots of places I only know from James Alexander Gordon reading the Scottish football results. 100 miles on the nail and och aye 3353 ft which will not be going doon.

Day 7 Glasgow to Fort William. I had to read this one twice. The queen stage indeed. A massive 127 hilly, desolate miles culminating with the oppressive Glen Coe and camping at the foot of Ben Nevis. The biggest climbing day at 6017 ft.

Day 8 Fort William to Kyle of Sutherland along the Great Glen, perhaps a sighting of Nessy? 111 miles and 5301 ft of grind. 

Day 9 Kyle of Sutherland to John O'Groats. So far away and I am sure so very tired. 104 miles, 4140 ft of which is upwards. 

Total 969 miles and 41,872 ft - 8 miles high

Will you excuse me - I'm just going for a little lie down...

Stage 8

My training has had to take a back seat this weekend in the name of patriotic duty.

A couple of months back, defying all the odds and despite several false starts courtesy of the truly appalling LOCOG on-line ticketing system, I managed to acquire 4 tickets for the Men's Cycling Road Race.

Road cycling is generally 'free to view' on the basis that public roads are just that and anyway it would be impossible to devise any mechanism for ticketing and policing an event over 100 miles long. It seems though that LOCOG may not have done all their homework before devising and announcing the cycling road route. The pivotal aspect of both races was going to be Box Hill in Surrey, the women doing 2 circuits and the men 9. Problem was that Box Hill is owned and maintained by the National Trust who were less than thrilled at the thought of hundreds of thousands of spectators trampling over this beautiful and protected area with its rare flora and fauna.

Eventually a compromise was reached. The iconic climb including the Zig Zags would be accessible to just 15,000, heavily marshalled fans. At least LOCOG could not be accused of pricing people out of the market for this event. My OAP concession ticket cost me a whole £5, only the second advantage I have found, after my rail travel card, of having been declared officially old having turned 60.

So I can say I was one of those who did my bit for Queen and country that glorious day, cheering on 'our boys', resplendent in National colours (me that is, not the riders who had to endure some fashion mistake dreamt up by Stella McCartney).

A great day although there was a palpable mood of disappointment when we realised that the huge, Olympian indeed, effort from Miller,Wiggins, Froome and Stannard had not been enough to deliver the Manx Missile, Mark Cavendish to a sprint finish on The Mall where he would surely have won. GB paid the price for being the favorites. No other teams were willing to help chase down the breakaway, seeming to prefer to accept failure themselves rathe than risk a British victory.

At least I can say I was there. Indeed I have just had it pointed out to me that evidence of my presence by the roadside was captured for posterity in no less an august publication than the Daily Mail. I really don't know what to say about that but here it is. For those of you with less than hawk-like vision I have given a little assistance. Trust me, I'm a lawyer...

But let's hear it for Lizzie Armistead today for her brilliant silver medal ride in the women's road race!

Some other images from Saturday:

  

"Oy! Don't you know there's a 30 mph limit on Box Hill? You slow down Mr Wiggins or I'll have to to book you next time round!"

        The team protecting Cavendish (no 11)

 Team GB lead the chase

One rider needs on the fly medical treatment for a nasty saddle sore

No hills like this in Namibia then?

Stage 7

Not sure it gets very much better than this:

• Bradley Wiggins wins the Tour de France, first British rider to do so ever.
• Chris Froome is second; that has never happened before either.
• Mark Cavendish wins the final sprint stage on the Champs Elysees; in doing so he takes the record for the most sprint stages won by any rider ever.
• The sun shone all weekend.
• I managed 2 hard rides this weekend - 100 ks on Saturday and 100 miles on Sunday and don't feel I need to sleep for a week.
• Perhaps best of all, at my coffee stop today I overheard 2 non-cyclists discussing Team Sky's acheivements with an air of authority that suggested a familial love of cycling going back several generations. I strongly suspected the reality was 3 weeks maximum. Perhaps this is the breakthrough we have been waiting for and those of us who enjoy pedal power can emerge from the gutter of public opinion and ride with pride rather than being labelled as lycra-louts worthy only of derision and ASBOs? Or perhaps not quite yet...

Actually, it could get one little bit better - by Cavendish winning Olympic Gold in the Men's Road Race next weekend.

I'll be there on Box Hill to cheer him on!