The BIG Cycle Challenge: 08/26/13

Last day – Day 14 – Saturday 25^th August

Today was always going to be a big day, a fair old distance of 83 miles to cycle and today was the end of the journey, we would simply run out of land. We got up, got dressed, ate a full English breakfast (which has become standard procedure now) and we were ready for the off. Allen told us not to ‘hang around’ outside as the ‘midges were around’. He was not kidding, we ran out, got on our bikes and pedalled off as fast as we could, apparently according to him, anything above 6 mph and they can't keep up with you to bite you. It was lightly raining, drizzle, the sort of stuff that wets you through, we just focused on moving. For miles and miles they splattered on our faces, arms and legs, they really are a plague. This is why previously we’ve only ever visited Scotland in May or October, leaving the misery that these little blighters to others.

Team Marshall and Team Wales (Clare and Martin) had a plan and we were on a mission. By chance we had stayed 8 miles further down the road than anyone else, so we were ahead of the others. We started out a bit early – we were in the lead! The miles whizzed by, first at the morning brew stop (still no one had caught us up) and then remarkably we saw the coast and the sea off the north coast of Scotland. The first to see the North Sea! The tortoises had beaten the hares to the top of Great Britain. At the lunch halt we were first in and just leaving as Stefan and his group came in muttering something like ‘cheaters’ under their breath. They looked tired having spent the whole morning trying to catch us up and wondering why they hadn't been able to. We left with noses held suitably high.

Needless to say we were soon overtaken, however I was fixing a puncture Martin had picked at the side of the road, the second one for him today. He had had the first whilst there were loads of midges around so he was trying to move at plus 6mph whilst pushing bike and trying to fix a puncture. We met up down the road in a pub 7 miles form the end point John O’Groats so we could all ride in together. The landscape around the NE part of Scotland is flat and barren, and you can feel the Viking influence here and the timeless nature of the landscape.

After a few drinks to celebrate, a theme that would continue for the rest of the day, we pedalled off together to reach the finish line. We arrived at the famous signpost and there were lots of cheers and ‘well dones’, but with quite a mixture of emotions. Elation, relief, disappointment, sadness?…if theses emotions were a cocktail, it would definitely be highly alcoholic, a strange kind of mixture, but somehow with a slightly bitter taste...

A very pleasant surprise for us was that my Mum and Dave (and Holly the camera shy collie) were sitting in a café opposite and had made the trip up specially to welcome us in. What a treat and it made the occasion more special.

Of course lots of drinking, toasting and great conversation happened over night before we left this bleak and strange place by coach in the morning having parted with our bikes to enable them to be couriered home. ‘How are we going to be able to get about, not sure I can remember how to walk anywhere?’ I thought as the bikes were taken from us.

So why did we do this and what did we learn? Well there are many reasons why we did this, firstly to support The Hunger Project as they empower people around the world to end their own hunger by seeing and relating to their world and circumstances differently. Secondly, we wanted to experience ‘making the impossible possible’ in a very real, practical and personal way for us. In my case if I can drag this 50 year-old, wine soaked body this distance then what else is possible for me and for others? Thirdly we wanted to do it together, Michaela and I. I cannot say how much admiration and love I have for Michaela, who is not a cyclist, it wasn’t her idea, but she just took it on to support The Hunger Project and me. I don’t think I could have done it without her. And fourthly, we wanted to break the drift of putting on weight, not feeling great, in fact feeling tired rather than energised…and I suppose to be honest we just wanted a new challenge.

So what did we learn? Well many, many things – we learnt about ourselves, our relationship, our perspectives on what is possible changed, we learnt how wonderful the countryside of the British Isles is, how friendly the people are, but overall, the main thing is this. We learnt that it’s never too late to get fit, your body is amazing and will adapt and perform in ways you wouldn’t imagine. We learnt how through exercise you can think and feel differently and its wonderful! But mainly we learnt that if you throw your hat over the wall, you just have to jump over and get it…

Here are some statistics of the trip;

· Mileage covered by bike - 1007.17 miles – Land’s End to John O’Groats, three countries, England, Wales and Scotland.

· Vertical elevation climbed – 48,212 feet (which is about one and a half Everests!) - and not a single hill walked up...Britain was that all you had to throw at us?
· Calories burnt (each of us) – an estimated 39,489 (calories consumed close to 50,000 I reckon!)
· Money raised for The Hunger Project – in excess of £22,000

Thanks go of course to JMJ, who have made this possible for us in many ways and to all of the London community of JMJ who have fund raised and generally chipped in to raise this huge amount of cash and offered loads of support and encouragement for Michaela, Stefan and I on this journey. Thanks to our friends, who have similarly helped and supported us, and clients who have contributed. Thanks particularly to Dan, Andrew and Ben, who have encouraged their old mum and dad during the training, done many training rides with us (and are in some ways much more qualified to this this than us), and offered much encouragement during the last two weeks. – it meant a huge amount.

I’ll leave the last word to Vera, the sat nav that I have had a love hate relationship with over the last 14 days. As we arrived at the mileposts at John O’Groats, she said (somewhat proudly and poignantly I thought) –‘you have arrived at your end point’.

Midge splattered legs, nice!