Route is online

After much pain with various route planning websites, the route is finally online:

• Stage 1: Land's End to Exeter
• Stage 2: Exeter to Tewkesbury
• Stage 3: Tewkesbury to Warrington
• Stage 4: Warrington to Gretna
• Stage 5: Gretna to Glenfarg
• Stage 6: Glenfarg to Inverness
• Stage 7: Inverness to John O'Groats

We decided to use Gmaps Pedometer as it was the easiest to use, could follow roads and was far less buggy than the surprisingly broken Google Maps. Our first attempt by Greg, who plotted the entire 840 miles, later discovered that it had only saved the first 175 miles. Naturally, presuming that it was Greg at fault rather than the website, I also spent a long evening plotting the route, only to discover that it was indeed a known bug. Thus I opted for plotting each of the 120 mile stages separately.

We settled on the Cracknell-Romero route since it was more up-to-date than the CTC one we intended to use, and still weighs in at a zippy 842 miles. We'll be tweaking the exact start and end points of each stage depending on convenient places to park the motorhome, but it shouldn't change too much now.

The Hills

The 3 of got together on Saturday 15th August for a 120 mile ride. As usual Mark sped off into the distance (whippet!), Greg plodded along in top gear and I chased along at the back sweating (nice!).

We started a little late - due to my alarm clock and an accident on the M6. 120 miles is a long day and we didn't finish until just after 9pm as darkness was already with us (and only I bothered to take lights). I'm used to Cambridge hills - so going into the Cotswolds was a horrific experience.

We averaged just over 15mph which was our target and only Greg, as usual, had a few mishaps. E.g. 2 x punctures and a broken spoke. Back to the bike shop for Greg!

Here's a couple of photos of him repairing his bike and looking increasingly unhappy :-)

Bikeless in Birmingham

Lance Armstrong once said, "It's Not About the Bike", but I don't think this profound statement was the thought echoing around the vast empty cavernous minds of the unscrupulous characters who relieved me of mine last Thursday night.

With just over a month to go before the End-to-End Challenge, it was a rather unapt time to lose my Giant Defy 2 and Boardman Hybrid Comp to say the least, putting my training on hold for a whole weight-gaining performance-dwindling week.

Fortunately though, they are insured, and I've managed to source myself a new stallion to take me on my adventure. It felt good to get out tonight and start getting some miles back into the legs. It's not all about the bike; but it certainly helps.