Top tips

So having completed the planning, training & end to end cycle it's time to reflect & share my top tips for those that take on a similar venture in the future.

1) do it your way 

However much you read there is no proper way to cycle from one end of the country to the other. Do it however it suits you & that includes ignoring everything else below

2) personalise your route 

You can buy books or find routes others have followed, but detouring to places special to you makes it your journey. 

3) pack for rain

You'll be going through Scotland - it will rain

Unless you've decided to do it in winter chances are it will be fairly warm & a light waterproof will be sufficient. I carried a heavier jacket everyday & only wore it once - but it was worth it. 

3) pack light

Unless you have a tent 2 full panniers is too much, repack. I carried a foam roller which not many people would need but if you've used it or had issues during training it's bulky but light. You can live in one change of clothes for the evening & a change of kit if everything is wet from the day before 

4) take a spare pair of shoes

Lightweight travelling shoes are easy to find & I'd decided to only take my MTB cleats. What is not considered was after a day in the rain putting wet shoes back on to go to the pub was not particularly pleasant 

5) find cycle friendly places to stay

The best B&Bs we stayed at were regulars with cyclists & were already waiting with a washing basket, which after a wet day is exactly why you want. Drying rooms for shoes & a secure (dry) shed for storage are also good. In Moffat they even had oils, rags & a track pump at our disposal. 

6) the twisted towel trick

For those days when you don't have someone on hand to do your laundry revert to a travellers staple. Washing your kit in the shower & wringing it out in a towel - it should be close to dry overnight if you've got technical cycling gear.  

7) eat half, wrap half 

It took as a while to work this one out, but a large bowl of porridge & taking the cooked elements in a sandwich had 2 key advantages;

It's quicker to eat so you get away earlier

It's easier to digest so you get away earlier

Getting away early is often the nicest part of the day in summer, before it gets too hot. If you are cycling long days you may also come up against the 9pm pub food cutoff which seems commonplace. If you go for B&Bs however you will probably struggle to get breakfast much before 8, certainly not with out a telling look from your host. 

8) padded shorts

Possibly the most essential piece of gear you will buy. Not all shorts are equal. Make sure you've tested them out on a full length ride. As with most things price does not always correlate with quality if you are paying for branding, but within a brand the extra investment can be worth it. 

9) practice 

You can never do too much training, except perhaps in the week before you go when you should think about tapering (taking it easy). But the amount you do is so personal & dependent on what you are aiming to achieve I'll just outline roughly what I did 

10) enjoy

Whatever reason you've decided to take on this challenge & however you approach it you've chosen to do it & above all you should be having fun. No doubt the cycling will at times be tough but it gets easier. 

I'll refer you back to (1) do it your way & hopefully that means you'll have an amazing a time as we did

Training - for the record

Should anyone be thinking of following in our footsteps (or should that be tyre tracks?) here's an approximate summary of the training undertaken, starting when i bought my bike in January.

January, February, March were just building up a bit of time on the bike.  April was hijacked by spending 3 of 4 weeks in Bangalore with work, so restricted to the gym.

The aim in May was to do at least one long ride on the weekend, you get an idea from the graphic that was only partially successful.  he shorter rides in between are my route to work, which i tried to extend to an hour or so by performing laps of regents park.

Regular gym visits however is where I think I built all my hill climbing power - special mention to Jordan here for designing a program that worked around all the various challenges that came up, from my complete lack of flexibility, problems with my back, shoulders and the broken elbow. Along with a friday morning spin class the gym work also helped introduce variety into the training.

Broadway tower  

The longest training ride was 95 miles in the cotswolds when the 4 of us got together, having preceded this with a 60mile ride the day before this was the point we were confident our route plan of 80 - 100 miles a day was achievable, in fact we did start to think would it be too little - but photo stops helped slow us down on the real thing. 

training in the cotswolds

The Costswolds

somewhere near newbury 

If I was to do it again I think joining a cycle club would be worthwhile. The Sunday morning ride with Team Kennet (Sean's triathlon club) was one of the most enjoyable and with a group of people better than you it helps push you that bit more than you (I) do on your own.

Bluebells

Leith Hill

My 3 regular training routes were:
Regents park - completely flat but near my house & 10 laps + a return trip was almost exactly 50km which was a good target

Richmond park - cyclist friendly with some hills, nothing too extreme, but better than flat

Surrey hills - I ventured out on longer rides to tackle the surrey hills, box hill rose to fame with the olympics but is a pretty gentle ascent. Leith hill nearby is on the Surrey 100 cycle route o well known in the area & is a bit more challenging going up to 18% gradient

Box hill

sympathy vote

just for the record some evidence of a cracked radial head - or in other words the time i fell off & landed on my elbow.

Really I'm just looking for the sympathy vote & to raise some extra sponsorship for my commitment to the cause.

The broken elbow slowed down the training for a couple of weeks but luckily it takes 6 weeks to heal & I had 7

The final stats

Safely home & having added up all the numbers here are the overall stats:

Total distance: 1,646km (1,023 miles)
Total ascent: 17,700m (58,071 feet)
Total saddle time: 75hrs 31mins
Average speed: 21.7 kmph (13.5mph)

Incidentally total ascent is almost exactly twice the height of everest (8,848)

Current fundraising stands at just over £2,000 - fantastic generousity

13 - Four Lanes to Lands End

Stats for the day:
Distance: 44.2 km (27.4 miles)
Elevation: 412 m
Saddle time: 2:04 hrs
Total time: 2.42

Average 
Speed: 21.3km/hr

Maximum
Speed: 54.7 km/hr

Elevation profile

St Michael's Mount

And so the adventure draws to a close. Sitting on a train with grey Cornwall whizzing past I think we were in the only part of the British Isles with rain today but fortunately it held off for the morning. 

It's all a little anticlimactic, having got close last night it was an easy 30 miles to the finish & even the hills seemed to flatten out.

The main tourist highlight of the morning was St Michaels mount sitting off the coast just before Penzance. We considered a short detour around it, but the cobblestones were a bit off putting. Save that for Paris-Robaix.

Just before midday we rolled over the finish line to a surprise welcoming party. Emm had endured an epic drive the previous night from Newbury to be there with the boys. 

The finish line

And so a final few thank yous

First & foremost to Emm for letting Sean live out a dream & supporting us both from afar

To Bernard for turning up each night in the first week with a set of dry clothes & getting us to the start line

Nick for coming up with the crazy idea in the first place - maybe it was the altitude 

Stephan for the company & weekend training rides - how far is it to cycle New York to Seattle?

Sean for constant enthusiasm & turning talk into reality

Everyone who sent messages & texts the past 2 weeks - you know who you are

Finally, everyone that showed their support by donating to our 2 charities; The British Heart Foundation & World Bicycle Relief  - 2 very different charities performing valuable work. You can still add to the total by clicking through the link on the right hand side of this page. 

12 - Dartmoor to Four Lanes

Stats for the day:
Distance: 118.3 km (73.5 miles)
Elevation: 1942m
Saddle time: 6:09 hrs
Total time: 8:34 hrs

Average 
Speed: 19.2 km/hr
Cadence: 67 rpm

Maximum
Speed: 68.0 km/hr










Elevation profile

If yesterday's ride was a bit like Readings last 10 seasons - more ups than downs. Then this morning encapsulated Lutons - nearly all down. 

And on a footballing theme we passed our 4th stadium of the journey, Home Park, Plymouth. Previous grounds were The Reebok, Ewood Park and Inverness Cally Thistle. Actually we did pass another ground today - The New Camp, home of Polperra town, no doubt a force in non league football. 

Coast line view

So having left at 9 - easily our earliest start yet - we ate up the 18k to the first ferry of the day in just 40 mins. But as soon as we left the ferry at Torpoint we were back climbing up a hill. From thereon in the day resembled a heart rate monitor with the continual ups and downs. It's difficult now trying to compare it to earlier in the trip; have we got fitter? Are the hills more gradual? Are we just attacking them less? Whatever it is the day didn't seem too tough other then the recurrence of cyclists bottom - the effects of spending this many consecutive days in the saddle have taken their toll & although the last couple of days were better today was a constant battle to sit comfortably. 



Fowey

King Harry chain ferry

Two more ferry crossings followed with a surprisingly brief glimpse of the coastline. 

We made it to Four Lanes with a cumulative trip mileage of approx. 990. So a short morning tomorrow will see us break the 1,000 miles & onto the finish line. 

Thank you for supporting us

We've had some fantastic support from friends, family & work colleagues helping to raise over £1,300 so far for our 2 charities: British Heart Foundation and World Bicycle relief.

Here's a short video on how your money is being put to a great use by WBR. 

Than you everyone for your support.