Euro City Cycling Challenge - I am back!

After a small hiatus...............I am back with BANG or a BOOM, you decide on your Geo!

I thought LEJOG was the end of a long journey for me but after dipping back in to MTB and still road cycling on my own terms I have stumbled across a challenge with work that has really got me excited again. 3 cities in 4 days. A comfortable pace, not much climbing and the opportunity to meet likeminded folk. T minus 36 hours and the adventure begins:

Day 1 – London to Harwich – ferry to Hook of Holland.
Day 2 – Hook of Holland to Amsterdam.
Day 3 – Amsterdam to Breda.
Day 4 – Breda to Brussels.

Very excited that someone is carrying my bags, planned the route, mechanics onsite, feed stations and the time of year will be decent with weather conditions.

I never thought I would be using this again but ohhhhhh the memories......."launch messages"!

Does this gear expire? Well we will see......

LEAVING THE DARK SIDE!

I have had an incredible experience over the last 18 months that has seen me develop a very intimate relationship with road cycling. It has only been exhilarating, educational and eye opening but I now feel there is something just slightly missing.....

Having gone from thinking 10 miles was a painful exercise on bike to then enjoying cycling 52 miles around my Capital city in my first sportive, then building up the stamina to cycle from London to Paris and finally completing Lands to John O'Groats in 9 days with all the determination and physical and mental strength needed for that I feel absolutely fulfilled with my road cycling portfolio of experiences. I will now pick and choose big challenges (I have something big in mind for 2015) or when I social ride. Importantly, I now know exactly what I like and what I don't. I know where my challenges are and where they are not. I finally know what I enjoy from road cycling and that is truly a great thing that will now give me pleasure for the rest of my days...

Jack of all trades or master of none? 

I have recently invested in a new Mountain bike to feed my non-stop challenge addiction that haunts me. I am glad this sees me step sideways and not detract away from cycling, instead of completely moving away in to a new direction altogether. I can now see a light and what some say about road cycling others say about mountain biking. Having owned a Mountain bike all my life and enjoying incredible adventures around the tough terrain in South Africa and scary single track downhill in Peru I now feel it is time to get serious on this side too. bye bye Dark Side.

Here is the new beast in full colour!

I have just signed up for my first MTB sportive too. Having been out recently a few times on my new machine I think it might be a little too soon for the longer routes but I am going to still push myself on it. Conditions this time of year are sure to make things even harder....

..BRING ON THE MUD AND THE FUN.

LEJOG - Challenge 19 - GRAND TOTAL

I am delighted to announced that with late donations, cheques paid directly to Playskill and Gift Aid we reached a final total of:-

£12,188.79

Thank you so much to everyone that donated and everyone that participated in Challenge 19 this year. This is an incredible feat that will ensure Playskills future in the short term and make a huge difference to the lives of so many.

For once I am slightly lost for words and feel very very humble.

Thank you all for everything you have achieved with us as a team.

Chris

LEJOG - Deleted Scenes

It has now been over a month since our epic adventure of scaling the country ended and now I have had time to reflect the achievement of what we did gets greater with every day that passes. The bikes may be a little more rested, the body parts moving a little more freely and no task seems at all daunting any more but i wanted this entry to reflect some of things and happenings that I didnt capture during my daily blog writing during LEJOG but felt important not to forget even if they may be a little cryptic....

So I have compiled a short list of things that still make me smile or cringe:-

Dirty train talk from very old women
Carol the weather girl
Sky news Nas
Ground rules
The Haydock Wedding
A Guinness too far
Big mammas at Starbucks
The lost miles from Ludlow
Holey Bibs
Bath hottub
Roundabout gambling
The poor beer count competition
Granma hugs in Monmouth
The omelette effect
Eau de LEJOG
Broken shower
The sulks
‎Launch messages
Wick locals and falling over
Keys in doors
The coach home from JOG
Champagne in Wick
Pacman Dave
Little Jed
Johnny foxes
Synchronised

Things still keep coming back at very odd times so you may see an update to this entry from time to time

LEJOG - Stage 9

The morning after the big crash the night before...

We both woke in bits having had very little shut eye. However the lack of sleep was not through the excitement of getting up for the last day but just from not being able to rest in certain positions due to the pain and aching areas from the fall so there was no real chance of getting comfortable throughout the night.

Hobbling down to breakfast very early the mood was still low from the smash and the breakfast was not a good one, probably the worst of the trip. Most of the food was left on the plate as we went back to the man odur filled room to whack on the cream and kit up.

We were on the road by 8.30 pedalling with a determination and the thought process of let's just get this day done. The mood was surprisingly not one of excitement about reaching the climax but one of longing for it to be over. After 10 miles in to the last stage and another beautiful backdrop to soak in the realisation hit me that this was it and I started to feel very emotional about everything and nothing.

Our pace was good and we motored on over rolling hills for 25 miles when we decided to take a stop for a quick coffee and a scone with jam at Linda's cafe knowing that lunch would have to be late today due to the vastly uninhabited land in the next 50 miles.

It was just as well we did carb pack at this time as the miles between 35 and 50 produced some monsterous never ending climbs over Caithness, which I actually really enjoyed. Whilst knowing these would be my last climbs on route to JOG I reflected how much I had loved previous climbs at Cheddar, Shap and Rannoch Moor. All these have been my personal cycle highlights that I will never forget.

Coming out of Caithness there were more rolling hills and today was pretty relentless with climbing. At 60 miles on the clock my bike had another minor mechanical when the chain started rubbing on the spokes. Bat signal sent out my team Sky mechanic Andrew was quick to sort my minor out and we were back off and in the running again for a top two finish in the GC for the day.

A few gels and a shared brownie bar just about got us through to lunch at 71 miles and the hunger was really pounding at this stage. With only 17 miles to JOG we had to stop for refuelling. A quick toastie and scotch pie in the high street cafe in Wick saw me well for the final push. Our moods were back high again having not suffered too much in the saddle with our newly acquired bumps and bruises. I am sure it would have been different if we struggled more due to the crash. We both had the finish in our sights and minds and my constant message to Andy was "just leave everything out there today" and finish strong into JOG.

The last 17 miles were some of the hardest. Minor rolling hills were becoming a struggle due to 9 days of constant cycling and putting our bodies through more pain, pressure and stress than they had ever been through in our entire lives. As the miles counted down to the finish I could feel the pressure slowly lifting from my shoulders and the overwhelming sense of achievement rising up inside of me. One last hill at 2 miles to go really did see both of us leave everything out there. Andy led the way up storming it to the top with everything he had left in the tank with me pushing on hard right behind him. When we got over that bump it was done and we could roll down the last road to the finish. We stopped for this picture before reaching the end though.

Finally rolling in and seeing the polar opposite sign to what we saw in Lands End was incredible. I cycled right up to the sign and hugged it for a long time.

We dismounted and hugged each tightly for a long time. This was a very proud moment for me to achieve something of this magnitude. It is hard to find the right words for my feelings at this time and I am sure I need a lot more time to reflect on the whole ordeal.

We got back to our B&B for the night in Wick at a really decent time. I had a bottle of champagne ready back in the room and we toasted all the appropriate people and finally ourselves. The owner of the B&B was excellent and she really went out of her way for us dropping us in town at a restaurant and picking us up. We had an excellent celebratory meal in Wick at a restaurant that boasts it is situated in the smallest street in the world! And this is actually in the Guinness book of records This place was an excellent recommendation, absolutely spot on and really didn't disappoint

Here are today's stats:-

Total ride time = 5hrs 38mins

Distance = 140kms

Calories burnt = 3331

Elevation = 1206m

Reflecting a little on the experience I know for a fact that I could not have acheived this without Andrew. He was a warrior throughout and kept my going when I was low and boosted me to get back to the highs wheni needed it most. He physically and mentally helped me right through to the end and I cannot think of anyone else that I could have done this with. I love you Mr J for everything.

I will miss all the idiosyncrasies, habits and manorisms. "Launch messages", inability to open any type of lock, flip flops waving in the wind on the pack back, chamois creaming up and too much more to mention

Until the next time campers.....Chris Lee out

LEJOG - Stage 8

Another really hard day at the office. If your office is sitting on a very uncomfortable seat for 10 hours and climbing hills in awful weather. Exhaustion had also set in after yesterday's epic effort.

For the first time on the trip I had a full nights sleep, well 6 hours, which would serve me well for the day ahead as it was big. Again, more technical issues with an alarm this time but lucky I woke at 6.50 to find our only alarm had run out of battery. We could have really messed this day up if we hadn't have woken by chance.

We had a late breakfast as they wouldn't serve early but we felt we deserved this from the previous days work and desperately needed it to set us up for a huge 120 mile day ahead.

Our morning session was very fast paced and we made ground very quickly reaching town after town. Loch Ness was a major let down and the area of Drumnadrochit is not a place you would want to spend a lot of time.

We then had a lot of rolling hills that we had a bit of fun on when climbing. Andrew was trying to keep up and has a lot of determination but I think he needs a "little" more training before he starts playing with the big boys. I have tried to give him an intense climbing school on this epic challenge and I am not sure I can do anymore to coach him. He may be some that is just impossible to mentor in this area. A little bit of "fergie" style mind games on one hill, while he was hanging on, saw him dropped and gone.

We lunched at Inverness after 66 miles, leaving 54 miles remaining. We got on the road again at 2.45pm after some decent nosh at Bella Italia. It was hard to be in Inverness as I knew this was the place I was flying home from in a few days time after completing the challenge. Mentally it was hard to comprehend.

Climbing was top of the bill for the afternoon session as we headed for our place of sleep in Lairg. We had antihero  tough few hours of driving on to the end with lots of boring main roads to deal with. We the. We were then graced with something of sheer beauty when we reached Struie Hill viewpoint 10 miles before home. It was simply breathtaking at dusk

Due to the length of the ride today at 120 miles we were again out of light and it turned dark on getting to the bottom of this hill which was bad news for the rest of our roll in.

We pulled over with nine miles to go, in the dark and rain, as Andy needed to stop to readjust. I was reflecting on how lucky we had been on the trip so far and said the immortal words "I was surprised we hadn't had any real accidents by crashing in to each other" to which Andy ordered me to shut up. I didn't think he was the superstitious type...

...ten minutes down the road, which was pitch black and the rain still teeming down, we approached a train crossing. It was very very dark and very very wet. Going over the track lines that are lined with rubber I lost my front wheel at 25mph. I went down hard hurting myself and the bike. Andy was very closely tailing me at the time and as I buckled he went straight over me and also went down incredibly hard. The first reaction was to get out of the pitch black road that we were laying in as cars, trucks and lorries were still actively passing us. After that we regrouped and evaluated damage to us and the bikes. The bikes are not to bad but I think we will only find out about our own state in the morning after sleeping. A few ripped clothes, grazes and bruises are currently evident and with all this happening 1 mile from our hotel it has really deflated the end of our penultimate day.

Here are today's stats from Andy (my Garmin has died)

Total ride time = 7hrs 48mins

Distance = 189kms

Calories burnt = 3694

Elevation = 1522m

Lairg to John O'Groats tomorrow (pending injuries)

LEJOG - Stage 7

I am not sure where to start really. I guess to say firstly I am alive! Today has been the toughest day ever on a bike for me. There were so many reasons not to even attempt today's stage and on reflection it was very dangerous at many different times throughout the day.

The weather forecast at 6am when we checked was as follows:-

"Remaining rain over Dundee and Angus soon clearing east to leave a mixture of sunny spells and scattered heavy showers these possibly producing thunder and hail. The strong northeasterly winds will increase to gale force in and around the showers".

This was going to be a day I would not forget in a hurry.

We started the day when George cooked us a superb fry up at 6.45. Constant weather talk and the route to take were the main source of conversation around the breakfast table. Everyone had been kept awake in the night by howling winds and torrential rains, which we sheepishly spoke about over tea. Susan asked if we wanted to hear her thoughts on the day and after saying yes to her she proceeded to tell us that it was really not a good idea to even consider it and for our own safety we should not even try to travel in this hurricane weather. She and George know all the roads like the back of their hands in this area so why should we not listen to locals?!

I cannot give up without even trying as most of you will know and after dragging on my gear I could see that Andrew was thinking carefully about his aunties advice. We eventuallly left George and Susan in East Kilbride to hopefully find our way to Fort William.

Today's route was meant to take in the Glasgow suburbs to the East of the city, crossing the Campsie Fells, skirting the edge of the Trossachs and passing through Glen Ogle. Then, the route will cross Rannoch Moor and the famous Glen Coe Pass before finishing for the night at Fort William.

The ride started as predicted weather wise and conditions were tough. Exiting Glasgow Andy had a number of issues. The first one was presented by white van man who opened his door without looking whilst we were going around traffic on the inside. He was lucky not to eat the door as a second breakfast, just managing to avoid it in the nick of time. Then the wind really started to pick up and one huge gust came along and he wobbled all over the place but just about held on. This was a warning. The next time he was not so lucky. We reached the summit of a small hill after only 15 miles and I turned around To see he was splattered on the flloor due to the gale force wind driving him over. This was a bad indication for things to come or suggested how hard things would be today if we decided to even go on! At one stage a nice man in car pulled over in a lay by to stop and wait for us to see how we were doing and offered to help us if we needed anything.

After the fall we decided to come off the roads and find shelter with from the wind with some covered cycle paths. We battled down these NCN routes for a good few miles before coiming back to some more exposed roads again. We reached Loch Lomond in good time and it was still beautiful to look at even whilst being attacked by the elements. We actually followed another cycle path round the lock which worked out until we needed to stop for a banana break. At this time a slight miscommunication, lack of concentration and the bad weather contributed to a double wipe out. Luckily nobody was hurt but we were both certainly a little wetter as we both landed in large puddles after the fall.

Andy did some great work in the morning session by taking the lead and really drove us through to lunch at 60 miles. It was a really tough morning to get to Crianlarich and took a lot out of us both. This little dwelling was a very strange offering of a place to live as we found out when speaking to the waiter in, what seemed to be the only hotel in Crianlarich. He told us that the village only had 180 residents and then corrected himself saying that it was now 179 due to the old boy dying a few weeks back. His manor and tone were also very odd. The hotel had a roaring fire in the dining room with large stags heads on the wall and reminded me very much of the hotel from the film the shining.

There was a sense of feeling that both of us did not want to leave lunch at all and especially not to get back on our bikes as the afternoon session was all about climbing. Also, Susan had suggested if we did make it as far as Crianlarich then we should stay there the night due to the conditions and how much energy we would have zapped getting there. So this was a big challenge of the mindset to overcome.

We got on the road just after 3pm and this wasn't the best time to be tackling all these climbs due to the amount ahead of us and the amount of daylight left to boot. The climbs were tough to begin with but as we got higher and higher we became slower and slower as the wind started reaching up to 70 mph at times, with rain driving down on us and hail stones viciously attacking our faces leaving a stinging sensation at times. I am not sure how but even at times I had my own brief moments to really take in and appreciate the scenery on the moor. There are some big big rocks here. The back drop in this national park looked like the set of The Lord of the Rings. It was spectacular.

As we climbed and climbed it became more and more intolerable. We were both beginning to question if we would make to the end, why we were there and how far away is the closest B&B that could house us for the night. At times we were battling at 5 to 6 mph in gale force winds. Today was also incredibly cold at only 5 degrees and the wind chill took it down to zero. Everything was starting to hurt, ache and freeze whilst getting nowhere fast. It took hours to battle through the top of Rannoch Moor, which is very slow, and we were both tested physically and mentally not to mention questioning that only idiots would attempt this. The danger factor was also in play as the wind had tried to chuck us into traffic regularly and worryingly there were some big vehicles taking this road, as it is the only route through. This weather was the end of hurricane Gonzalo dont forget and it certainly lived up to its name and nearly finished us both. I would not do this again and it was in no way fun whatsoever. It took a very long time and many energy supplements to get us to Glencoe, which sadly for us was only a few miles on from the moor area we had been struggling on. To give you an idea how cold it is up the mountain we passed the entrance points for the ski lift that will open shortly...

The dark was about to set in and the wind was not giving up anytime soon. We were 85 miles in and finally we received some respite with a decent. This is the only thing that saved us for the day as we had just previously agreed not go any further as it was pointless and dangerous and that we would find the next available place to sleep.

Once we got down an incredibly huge decent things improved slightly and we battled on to Fort Williami the pitch black, which again really wasn't nice.

I felt emotional, tired, hungry and exhausted when I got in today and dont really want to experience anything like that again. I know a left a little piece of me out there on the mountain today that I will never get back. We later heard that a lot of the roads that we travelled on today had been close just after we had got to them. Today could have been a very different story.

Thank you for all your messages, text, call and donations. Whether it is a quote from Winston Churchill and a good luck text everything is great fully received and helps me along the way.

Here are the daily stats:-

Total ride time = 9hrs 14mins

Distance = 177kms

Calories burnt = 5143

Elevation = 2106m

Fort William to Lairg tomorrow