The Aftermath

I wanted a bacon roll and stopped at a café on the way home. It was either there, or via someone emptying their nose in front of me leaving those behind to ride through the fine aerosol of virus that they left behind that gave me my cold.

Monday: Tired
Tuesday: Tired and coughing
Wednesdays: Less Tired but very deep voice, felt ok otherwise. Rang my Mum to do a “we are the voice of the mysterons” at her.
And so it went on, to today Saturday, when I am coughing, and have a head full of cold. My left ear is ringing with tintinus, and when I cough what I spit out, dear reader is clear with bits of green in it. Now whether that is coming up from my lungs or down from my nose is unclear, but a visit to the Dr for a check for a chest infection may well be due Monday

On the basis of 3 days coming, 3 here, and 3 going I am on day 5. Oh joy. Still better this end of the season rather than March. An inauspicious start to my planned years build up

Cheddar Challenge

So, it’s the first week in September, we were on holiday walking the Wolds Way in Yorkshire. Our dog has poor hips, so we walk 5 to 7 miles a day. Plenty of time to relax and plan the route of the End to End. I used Memory Map, drew direct routes on the map base and then looked for obvious bridging points, ie lowest crossing point of the river. This gives an overall distance of 1170 miles to which I assume I am going to add 10% to 15% as I haven’t stuck in every twist and turn. So that’s 1350. I really am going to have to take in a few more of those bends to get more accurate. At 80/90 miles a day that’s 16 days. Oh good, that’ll be fun preparing for, and mental to note to agree the time off work now, just shy of three weeks? I am going to have to see if my Dad will come and do the first few days with me driving my kit ahead to the next B&B.

Back to the actual bike riding, back from the walk and ringing around for whose out Sunday. Nobody? I’ll ride down to the meeting point in Bridgwater anyway and join the local club. No they are starting in Taunton. Just over 4 hours into South Somerset on my own.

Thursday the Tour of Britain was coming through. Andy, Leigh and I rode the route out to Wiviliscombe and stood in the sun on the Devil’s Elbow. Very pleasant, with more of the local riders we know riding out to join us. My the pros go fast.

I was expecting to ride straight back, 3 hrs total, very nice midweek, but the plan was to ride to the feed station at Bampton and see what treasure the pros had thrown away there was to collect: By the time we got there it was very efficiently tidied up, both officially by the Tour and unofficially by local cycling bounty hunters. Then we turned right and started the climb up to the top of Exmoor via Morebath, then onto Raleighs Cross and back to Bishops Lydeard. Now I don’t mind hills, I get up them but those who are kind enough to take me out riding with them are younger (my excuse) and defiantly more talented when it comes to going up hill. So cut a long story short we all joined back up together at the top before the descent to Bishops Lydeard and the climb back up Cothelstone. 4hr 45m in total and I was home. Not ideal preparation for Sunday.

I rode to the café Saturday and turned early for home

Cheddar Challenge:

112 Miles so far this week, in the preceding 7 days 190 miles, and now the Cheddar Challenge, and advertised 160km 100m ride.

As the year before it was fast from the start. Normal confusion in sportives, fast riders, slower riders and riders who have no idea of how to ride in a group. First couple of hills sorts that out as the quicker riders move away. Speed remains high, and I figure out by the numbers given out by the organiser and mounted on the bikes that that most of the riders with me are only riding the first 60miles. A fine excuse to sit in and let them work for the first part and save what I have for the final hilly section.

Sure enough we come back to Cheddar after a circuit of the Somerset Levels and Moors, and most of the group pull off. Onwards to Cheddar Gorge, back down to Wells and up and over the Mendips again, round the north, Chewton Mendip and back up Burrington the descent from Shipham is dry and car free. Didn’t touch the brakes, lovely.

Whole ride turned out to be 5h19 for the 98.5m: 31st of the 120 riders with the first in at 4h40. Last year was 5h15, so consistent, and unexpected. Felt fine at the end, legs a bit stiff but ok.

What's the big idea?

It is all Dave Gorman's fault, well that is what I tell myself. Well blaming Dave entirely is a little strong, it was twitter, the social networking site, and then Dave.

I got into twitter in August, 2009. For those who don't twitter, Twitter is a web based site where the intention is that in 140 characters or less, you are intended to simply state what you are doing. Other people, including many not known to you, can elect to follow you. That is when they sign into the site they see a list of the latest comments that those they are following have twittered. You can also contact people direct, sending both open messages, which everyone can choose to see, or direct messages, which only the named person can see.

It was during the Tour de France and it was Lance Armstrong's during his comeback year. He had won seven in a row, had a few years off and then came back to promote his cancer charity Livestrong. He was well known for being on Twitter. From there I started following other pro cyclists. I had also been to a lot of comedy stand up gigs, and started following some of the stand up acts, or which Dave Gorman was one.

Dave is doing a cycle ride, from the furthest south to east, west and you guessed it north. He was cycling 50+= or so miles during the day and doing a gig in the evening. A big ask. I had a ticket to the gig in Taunton, 3 nights in. He was doing pre shows and cycled from Bethnal Green out to Andover. The tweet I saw was I related to how hard he had found the ride, I replied and hence a conversation by tweet and email began.

Denise, my wife's, good friend had died only three weeks before, and it had brought the world into focus. It is one thing for the elderly to die, but not a friend, not when you were just over fifty. She was one of our own. We sat the evening after the funeral. What do you want to do? Not now, but is there anything you want to do before it's too late. I want to End to End - cycle Land’s End to John O’Groats, and Denise was keen on visiting the Artic circle

I have been putting off the end to end due to amount of time needed, it was something that I would do, but later. Denise has only limited leave, and I don’t want to be selfish and use it up following me cycling across the country. I would have to save any energy left on the day, so it wasn't like I could ride my bike and then go for a walk with her. Dave Gorman & all that made me decide to do it. Denise was supportive, “if you want to do it then we will I will support you”. She thought end to end, but I wanted the same ride, but am I strong enough, it would be a year away, I would be nearly 45, but why not? I had the year to prepare for it, I could always turn left in Somerset?

I suppose the other elephant in the room, was, is, that I am getting older. Something that I didn’t and don’t want to come to terms with. Before I had always taken the view that there was always next year, but conceivable there wasn’t always going to be a next year, either from a physically able to do it, or just plain might not be here, a sobering thought and one which I really am not happy to face up to.

So that is the plan. Lizard Point to Lowesoft in the east. Track across and up country to Ardnamurchan point to the west of Fort William, then on up to Dunnet Head, just west of John O'Groats. Places I had been before, but not one after the other and only Dunnet Head by bike!