The end is now.....

From the notebook of Matt "the purpose of a true journey is not the destination but the journey itself. On arrival you have changed, not just geographically but psychologically, physically, and spiritually" Matt had not been to JOG when he wrote this, but he is on the nail about it not being about destination because it is not the type of place that warrants a 920 mile cycle ride.
So as you have probably guessed, we made it to JOG this afternoon, after completing the final 80 miles from Dornoch. The roads and the views were spectacular, the weather was perfect, the sun shone all day, and the temperature was not too hot.

We need to say a big thank you to the following people

Rob, Claire and Dan for supporting us over the past 12 days

Our arrival comittee at JOG, Maria and Alix

All of you who have supported and sponsored us.

Matt's top cycling tip - when cycling with two middle aged men ensure they carry all their own kit and don't freeload your bag, said bags are also good for middle aged men to freeload lifts up steep hills.

For those of you interested in stats

The journey was 920 miles, took 11 days and 2.5 hours, the total time in the saddle was 60 hours and 13 minutes. We burnt 198000 calories
between us, there were 1.5 million pedal revolutions, 3.9 million wheel revolutions, and 1 million heart beats while cycling. We climbed the equivilant of Mount Everest 1.5 time a total of 13,500 metres. We had 11 punctures, one damaged chain and one damaged rear wheel. We drank 70 litres of fluid while cycling and 11 litres of red wine in the evening. Alan used 200 mils of udderlly smooth.

We hope you have enjoyed reading about our journey and please keep checking the site as we will post photos when we get back. The final word is Matt's tribute to A E Houseman

By hill of Clee,
Three cyclists tred,
Their journey northward bound,
On steeled beasts,
While westwinds roll,
O'er dense laid hedge and pollards old,
With gritted teeth and 'halations long,
They pass old Salop thru',

When seven days more have passed,
And journeys done,
The three will stand with drink in hand,
And think of miles gone by,
Then surely against all those memories golden,
The fondest will be,
The passing of old hill of Clee



Peace
Iain, Alan, Matt and Claire

Maria and Alix

To Inverness and beyond.......

So Le Tour nears it's conclusion, we are now camped at Dornoch a tantalising 80 miles from John o Groats. We have decided that we would rather finish it at the end of a long day, so tomorrow we head for the end of end to end.
We left Port Augustus this morning at the now usual 09:00 and spent the morning riding alongside Loch Ness, looking out for Nessie, with little luck. You can see how people could believe they had seen her, as the way the purple haze quality of light reflects off the water makes ripples in the water look like something in the water.
Through Drumnadrochit and up to Inverness, where we met Claire for lunch. We were joined by Maria and Alix who were also passing through Inverness. Matt and I took my defective wheel to a mountain bike shop where the 16 year old assistant told us he had no parts and couldn't fit it in for two weeks. He did however reccomend a shop round the corner, Fitness Bikes, where the guy was more than helpful and said that the stripdown and rebuild that Matt had carried out at the campsite last night had fixed it. Unfortunately for Karen and Claire there was a cyclo cross bike in the shop, a type of bike thay is missing from both Matt and my bike collections (really have to have one you see, because there are those days when a road bike is too focused and a mountain bike too slow etc etc).

So we left Inverness over a spectacular suspension bridge with a howling crosswind and carried on up the A9, across Black Isle, past the Dalmore distillery at Alness and the Glenmorangie distillery at Tain (for those of you who know me, you will know what an effort of will it took to pass without stopping). We arrived in Dornoch at 16:00.

Matt's top cycling tip - if the bike mechanic looks like he has recently inhaled from the type of cigarette that Bill Clinton definately didn't inhale from, don't let him touch your bike.

Something we didn't mention yesterday, we passed Loch Lochy, if that is translated into English does that make it Lake Lakey (we can testify it did have a very lakey feel to it). In the same Le Tour feel Loch Ness is now Lac Nees (needs to be pronounced in a very Monty Python French accent)

As this tour comes to an end, please post your suggestions for next years cycling challenge

Peace

Iain, Alan, Matt and Claire

Nessie where are you?

Tonight see's us next to Loch Ness, there is no sign of any monsters, although there may be some excited Nessie spotters tonight when Alan starts snoring.

We left Tyndrum, very quickly this morning to get away from the midges, they were everywhere, although the Avon skin so soft does seem to work as a repellant. There was a long, long climb up to Ranoch Moor, which we all climbed pretty well, given that we have been in the saddle for 9 days. We crossed the moor and then had a long and welcome drop down to Glencoe. We met Claire at Fort William, after she had overcome some issues with Gert with the help of those nice people from the AA. We had thought of stopping in Fort William for the night, but decided that we still had some juice left in the legs and so we carried on up the Great Glen until we found a campsite in Fort Augustus, not after having our teeth shaken out riding along the Caledonian Canal towpath.

Once again the campsite where a little nervous letting a group of 3 blokes and a woman stay, and it needed all of Claires negotiation skills to convince the campsite staff that we where not a bunch of rowdy yoof's, well that and the woman took one look at us and realised that we would all be tucked up in bed with cocoa by the time Claire had parked the van.

Iain's bike had some problems today the rear wheel bearings had given up, which explains why he has been a little off the pace at times(guess who is writing this).

Looking at the map we could finish on Wednesday, however once again our casual lack of planning means that Alan's wife, Maria and her friend Alix are getting to to JOG on Thursday, so the we now have a fairly relaxed run in of 60 miles a day for the next two days and then a short 15 miles run to JOG, well that's the theory anyway.

Matt's top cycling tip, always use synthetic lubricant to avoid unpleasant blockages.

Question of the day - why put a place on the map when there is nothing there, Invergarry this means you.

Peace

Iain, Alan, Matt and Claire

The Romans didn't get this far

We have concluded the reason they didn't get this far is building straight roads would be a nightmare.

After a wonderful nights hospitality in Glasgow last night, we had a full Scottish breakfast this morning, again thanks to Craig and Diane. Craig then took to his own bike and led us on cycle paths through Glasgow. We crossed the Clyde next to the new BBC Scotland building, took a disused railway track and then a canal towpath to Bowling, where Craig bid us farwell. We stayed on cycle paths all the way to Loch Lomond, or as Matt has renamed it Lac La Monde (to give it a more Tour de France feel). We met up with Claire at Luss, it seemed a little strange now that Dan has flown home, thanks for all your help mate and we will see you when we get back. After lunch we pressed on up the A82 (pretty much the only way to go now). The now customary rain kept us cool (that's the positive spin on the whole precipitation situation) as we climbed slowly up to Tyndrum where we are spending the night.

Notes on Tyndrum and midges
There are 8 buses a day, this is more than Alan gets from his house a month.
The Latin name for midges is Culicoides Impunctatus, which translates as little b@st@rds
Only female midges bite
They prefer sheep and cyclists to humans
They don't like bright sunshine (we will need to come back in the summer then???)


Matt's top cycling tips - only cycle on designated cycle paths if you wish to double your journey time. Note to the Scottish Parliament, before you build any more buildings signpost your cycle routes properly and resurface some of your roads.

Matt's question of the day - was Pontius Pilate a Scot - discuss

Peace
Matt, Alan and Iain

Dreekit

Look well to this day, for it is life,
The very best of life,
In its brief course lie all the realities and truths of existence,
The joy of growth,
The splendour of action,
The glory of power,
For yesterday is but a memory,
And tomorrow is only a vision,
But today if well lived,
Makes every yesterday a memory of happiness
And every tomorrow a vision of hope,
Look well therefore to this day.

As you can guess from this poem, today was horrible, until we got to Clarkston, and enjoyed the fabulous hospitality of Craig and Diane Roberston. After a few beers, wine and Drambuie it all seems a lot better.

Observations of the day:...

All roads from Carlise to Glasgow are uphill. There are no down Hills.
The wind which ever direction was in our face .
The old A74 is in need of new tarmac
Why have one puncture at a time when you can have two.
There are more types of rain in Scotland, than the Eskimos have words for snow.

Oh flower of Scotland

We said goodbye to England this afternoon, crossing the border at Gretna. The day started short ride to Kendal, where we bought some more gear, sunglasses to replace Matt's broken ones and another waterproof for Iain. Leaving Kendal we were faced with a long, long climb up Shap Fell, to a height of 1400 feet and after criss crossing the M6 for a while we dropped into Penrith. We met Claire and Dan on the A6 just north of Penrith and then carried on to Carlisle and closer to the border. Cyclists were barred from the A74 so we had a bit of a detour to get to Gretna. As is traditional in Scotland it was a this point that the heavans opened again, this time with kind of miserable rain that only falls in Scotland. We stopped at a garage to get some sweets and it while we talked about the horrible conditions a man returning to his car told us it was Scotch mist, reminded me of my Grandad as that was how he described it. Claire had problems getting a campsite that wasn't full so we have ended up in a place called Powfoot just west of Annan, which has put us about 10 miles out of our way. At the time of writing we ar huddled up in Gert while it pours down outside.

A new series of Matt's top cycling tips - chafeze on the nipples can make for a comfortable cycling experience

Dans top tip - in this weather you might want to leave the top up on your convertible.

Peace
Iain, Alan and Matt
Claire and Dan

Il pleut

Today was the day the heavans opened, and it would appear there is more to come.
We left Chester at 09:00 and headed to Birkenhead to catch the ferry across the Mersey, apparantly this is world heritage site on a par with the Great Wall of China and the Taj Mahal!! And yes the do play the song!
We trudged our way through the Liverpool traffic for what seemed an eternity, with every traffic light turning to red as we approached. Eventually we passed Aintree and the bashed on to Preston, where we met Claire and Dan for lunch, it was then that the heavans opened and it must have been late closing because they stayed open for the rest of the day and well into the evening.
This just turned the day into a slog, made worse by busy A roads. From Preston, to Lancaster where we found the worst toilet in the north east, onto Carnforth before finishing in Sedgwick just south of Kendal. The campsite is a caravan club one and apparantly it is normal to pitch tents on hardcore, so poor Dan will not have a very comfortable night.
Tomorrow we head towards Ecosse, hopefully with less fluid from the sky

Peace

Iain, Alan and Matt

Hollyoaks

Here we are in Chester, home of Hollyoaks, unfortunatly none of the cast has come to see us pass by. It's a shame that we are in the historic Roman town of Chester and all we can associate it with us second division soap opera.

Last night was about the closest we would get to home, so parents and wives all turned up. We ate out in a pub for the first time since we left LE on Saturday. We left Hereford at 08:50 this morning and went through Leominster, stopping briefly in Ludlow for drugs (Matt needed hayfever tablets). Carrying on we met Claire and Dan in Shrewsbury for some carb laden tuna pasta.

The afternoon saw us bashing on through Wem and Whitchurch before getting to Chester at 16:00. The longest distance in a day so far at 87 miles, bringing the total distance to 360 miles, which is the furthest any of us has ever cycled in one chunk. The distances have started to seem strange now, almost surreal.
We are aiming for Kendal tomorrow, so that will be the Lake District, hopefully we will be in Scotland by Friday.
Alan and Iain have both started to feel some aches and pains now, which was to be expected from the more senior riders, unfortunatly the rocks we have added to Matt's bike don't seem to have worked in slowing him down, so we'll have to find some other way to bring him down to a pace more suited for middle aged men.

Peace

Iain, Alan and Matt

Across the Border and beyond

Well we said good bye to Rob today after assisting us for the past four days. a BIG THANK YOU for giving up your time to help.



We flew to Avonmouth Bridge in less than an hour from Congesbury and then over the Severn Bridge into Wales. We met up with my Mum and Dad, Chris and Tony (by now you might have guessed I am not Iain, in Tintern for lunch. We then bashed on into Herefordshire before arriving at Morton on Lugg just north of Hereford. Iain denies any performance enhancing drugs but he flew here. Saying that Iain and Matt climb up to Cleevdon at 36KPH.



We were introduced to Gert this PM our new home for the next 10 days. Gert is a 30 year old VW LT35 Motorhome. This means Dan our new driver and Claire will be able to make sure our breakfast , lunch and dinner are ready for us !!. I think Not. Tomorrow we are heading for Chester (the home of Hollyoaks where we will be appearing in a special edition) . We have the IT up and running today and Iain will be posting some photos of our trip so far.

The best laid plans of mice and men

So after two fairly uneventful days, as Rabbie Burns said the best laid plans of mice and men aft gang awry. Mice however as far as I am aware don't ride bikes from LE to JOG and so don't have to deal with the array of mechanical issues we did today. First of all the curse stuck Matt's chain bent, which meant we sat by the side of the road for an hour cobbling together a fix to get him to a bike shop. A few miles down the road, just outside Cullompton Matt's rear tyre exploded. Another 10 minutes to change the inner tube and it was off again, only for Iain's rear derailler to jam, unable to fix it we limped into Taunton where Ian from Ian's cycles fixed all the bikes and was very helpful in getting us on our way again. We carried on to Bridgewater where we stopped for a photo at the sign for the town, carried on for 5 yards before Matt punctured his rear tyre again. After this we just got our heads down and got a real pace up until we stopped for Matt to have chips and Iain and Alan to have a Mr Whippy cone from the pier. Finally arrived at the campsite in Congresbury at 17:00.
Today's photo is of us leaving Crediton this morning.
Going for Morton on Lugg, just north off Hereford tomorrow
Peace
Iain, Alan and Matt

Who needs planning?

So with the kind of casual disregard to planning that you would expect from all of us, we have ended up in a remote campsite about a mile from Crediton. No showers, no power, but a fabulous view, as we sit in the sunshine, listening to the gentle sound of a river running by. By this you will have worked out that we have no signal to connect the laptop to the internet, so once again this has to be typed on the tiny BlackBerry keyboard, and once again we are unable to update the map.
We left Newquay this morning at 09:00 and set off first to Bodmin, where we passed a sign warning us to mind the blind cat. Between Bodmin and Launceston we caught up with a large group of cyclists who were planning to get to JOG by saturday, we stayed with them for a while before they slowed down and we cracked on to Launceston. As we arrived in town a photographer stepped out into the road and started taking photos of us, it all seemed a little surreal, until we found out the group that we had cycled with were meeting the mayor.
We lunched in Launceston, then bashed on to Okehampton on quiet A roads, which continued the theme of the day, which was up down, up down, up down. We arrived in the camp site at 16:00 and are currently waiting for Rob to get back from the shops with some onions. Discovery of the day, yesterday was that cheap wine tastes better chilled (the only bottle they had in the shop was in the fridge, and if red wine is good enough for cyclists on the Tour de France then it is good enough for top athletes like us).
The photo in this posting is of the three of us leaving the campsite in Newquay this morning. Alan would like you all to take particular note of his belly, which he believes will be shrinking considerably over the next ten days.
Peace
Iain, Alan and Matt

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Days photo

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Day 1

Sorry about how short this is but we are restricted to posting from my blackberry. Left LE at 13:00 after finding out that JOG is the same distance as Prague. Matt is well impressed. We have managed 50 miles in three hours, one puncture, and one idiot in a Ford Probe who tried to run us off the road. More details when we have a better connection

Cheers
Iain, Alan and Matt

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zero days to go

Well that is it. Matt has handed his letter of resignation in today as he has received his offer letter for his new job. Iain has completed his extra last minute work that he had been asked to complete and Alan squared away some last minute messages before leaving work today.

The rental car is now loaded with the bikes and Iain's car loaded with our kit, food and camping equipment all we need now is a good nights sleep before setting off about 06:30 tomorrow morning , oh and some sunshine !!

Will hope to keep you all posted as we make our way through the UK

Four Days to go.......

Exactly where has the past 5 months gone, it seems to have gone by a little too quickly, but to show how far I've come, I did a time of 11 minutes 45 seconds up the hill from the Cross Hands to the Cranham turn on the A46. The significance of this is that when Alan and I were mountain biking and were around 28 years old, we trained on that hill a lot and that was the time we always aimed for. To match it at 44 felt pretty good. When we started training, back in February, my time was 23 minutes......
Apart from that, its been a pretty lazy weekend, spent most of it making sure Gert is ready to go. Alan and I did a little circuit last night, and I did about 15 miles today. Have a long day in London tomorrow, and what with other comittments, that is pretty much it for training. So here we come Lands Ends.
I've embedded a Google Map on the site, the idea will be that we will update the route we have taken each day, but it does rely upon our friends at O2 letting us connect to the Internet, so I'm guessing that there will be days we won't be able to do it.
Speak soon

Iain

Ready to be bitten

A very different weekend for all of us. Matt completed a residential course in Birmingham (zero miles covered but still living of the credit built up on the Tour of Wessex (300 miles )). Iain , 12 miles up Painswick Beacon plus two solid days of decorating. Myself 130Km in Wessex riding out from Centre Parcs, Longleat , oh and about 1km in the rapids at the pool Sunday night !

Maria and I spent the weekend with friends at Centre Parcs. Justin was staying with us and he had just returned from a training week in the highlands of Scotland. I have never seen so many insect bites on one person. Apparently some people were wearing full face and head nets to keep them off.
The race is on to find the worlds most effective insect repellent!

Mountain Training in Lanafan, Ceredigion, Wales

Iain, Claire, Maria and I have spent the weekend in Lanafan near Devils Bridge in Wales. The weekend was dedicated to training so I am not sure why I have brought 8 empty bottles of wine home (Alix joined us Saturday night so that's not so bad).

Our first mountain ride was on a glorious Saturday morning with blue sky and not a cloud in it. We completed 31km which involved four climbs on a circular route from the cottage a Blanafan, down into Lanafan, up to Llanfihangel-y-creuddyn , up again and across to Devils Bridge,before returning via Pont-Rhyd-y-groes.

Sunday we completed a 33km ride with 4 main climbs via Ystrad Meurig including a killer of a climb back up to the cottage from Llanafan. I don't think we can call it altitude training but was well worth the effort. It will also go some way to catching up with Matt who completed the Tour of Wessex last weekend and who came 84th over the three day , 300 mile event.

Its all getting a little too close

So Alan and I did the BHF ride last weekend, 40 miles which we completed comfortably in less than 3 hours, which was what was required of "Elite" riders so that felt pretty cool. Followed this with a week of 20-25 miles a day. Then on Saturday we did Glos-Severn Bridge-Chepstow-Lydney and then wimped out getting the train back (we both needed to get home due to other commitments). Then I cycled to Stratford Upon Avon with Claire driving "Gert" the 1978 VW Motorhome to give it a try out. Stayed the night in Stratford and then I cycled back, met Alan in Evesham and got home, bathed, changed, had something to eat and waited for Claire, who had called the AA out to fix the van, which had refused to go any faster than 25mph. Its booked in for a service next week.
Will update on how Matt got on, he did the Tour of Wessex this weekend, which must have been horrible, sunburnt on Saturday and then that wind on Sunday and Monday.
I'm really not sure how to play the next few weeks, I think I am just about there, don't want to push it too hard now, but don't want to lose what I have gained, so to think about it I've been to the Barbarians v Ireland game at Kingsholm tonight (only a couple of beers).

Has it been a Month...

I'll start with a sorry for not updating for a month, no excuses apart from I seem to see life at the moment over the handlebars of a bike. Training is getting to take up a lot of time now, and as the weather has picked up a little more time out on the road has been possible. Most days I am getting in about 20 miles, more at weekends and as I have been working in Chippenham, I've ridden home a couple of times, which is about 40 miles. As Alan said our new bikes have turned up, I've been surprised at the difference it had made, turns out my original bike was too small.
Alan and I are looking at doing a British Heart Foundation run on Sunday, which is another 40 odd miles, so I am sure one of us will update on this next week.
Iain

Slightly Better news

Attended fracture clinic and have been given a ultra sling to wear for 3 weeks. That will leave 4 weeks to rebuild before we set off. So based on that information , its still on. I thought about a tandem as plan B !. Check the sling out http://www.donjoy.eu/en_UK/detail_UpperExtremity2_13775_16099.html

Good news and Bad News

The week start very well with the arrival of our (Alan and Iain) new German Focus Ergoride ST 2008 (our new bikes !). Collected monday night from our friends at Wiggle and up and running that evening.

Vorsprung Durch Technik - 'Progress through technology' well lets hope so !!

Wednesday - I left the house today for my Control and Restraint training and said to Maria "see you later just a little battered and bruised" . Well after 'Crusher Petch' rolled on my shoulder whilst my arms was out I was a little more than Batter and Bruised !! In excruciating pain I went of to the ED in Gloucester to have my dislocated shoulder put pack in. It was fine after 10mg of Morphine and entinox. Just waiting for my appointment tomorow to assess the impact of how this will affect my training. As Matt said, its going to be much harder cycling with one handed!

What Happened to Spring................

Iain - Another two weeks goes by, and suddenly there isn't much time left until we go, in fact there are 8 weekends left. So I have now added spin classes at the gym into my routine, I've been to a few now and it's a lot nicer working in the gym than being out on the road when it's cold and raining.
Alan and I went out for about 25 miles yesterday, but it was grim, really windy, cold, damp and generally depressing, can we have some spring weather soon please.
Good news is I've lost more some more weight and my times for getting up hills is reducing so something is going in the right direction anyway.

HELL of the North Cotswolds

Well , i thought the 65 mile route would be a good training run. Its the 5th year that I have entered the event. Its funny how 364 days between events makes you forget how painful the event can be. The organisers are fantastic at changing the route and taking you through some very remote parts of the county via every hill they can find. Last years dry conditions in 20 degree heat was replaced by light showers and very muddy conditions. Having spent so much time on the road bike since January it took some time to find my MTB legs, and they hurt this morning. Anyway after having 3 punctures I am getting to become fairly proficient at changing the odd tube ! Photos to follow.

Iain Again

A week on and another 120 miles under my belt, sounds like a lot but I really need to do more. Had a day off on Sunday, to be honest had a few more beers at the Gloucester Munster game than I intended to thanks to a Munster fan sat behind us, who kept buying Claire and I beer, it sometimes is a tough life. Shame about the result, but at least that is a few less rugby matches to go to, and so some more time to train. It's been a strange few days, with the clocks going forward I thought that it would all get a little easier to ride in the evenings, hadn't reckoned on hail in April though, found another reason to wear a cycle helmet..

The Start

This is Iain, so Matt, Alan and I will be cycling Lands End to John O'Groats from June 21st until July 4th (or so we hope).
We've been training properly for about a month now, Alan and I spending early Sunday morning's attempting gradually steeper Cotswold hills, until last week when we headed off south. The original intention was for us both to take three days to get to St Austel, however I got an offer to play touch rugby at Twickenham, so my distance got shortened to Tiverton in Devon. Alan to his credit made it in the allocated three days and I got to run out at Twickenham.