Bike spotter’s guide – some key varieties of rider to look out for

There were over 500 people riding every day (more including the people doing 1 day stages or team relays) so you couldn’t get to know everyone, but we became pretty familiar with the other riders in our part of the group (ie. people in the top half of finishers most days, who started off fairly promptly and would be at the food stops and finish line around the same times as we were). Pretty much everyone was nice and friendly, but it was still fun to poke gentle fun out of some of the following...

·         The Racers – Can usually be sensed in advance by the whirring of deep rimmed racing wheels and the whiff of testosterone as they charge past in a pack. A mix of young sporty types who just like being the best at everything and older committed cyclists who like to tell themselves that they could probably have turned pro if they’d got into cycling when they were younger. Although nominally friends and/or working together, these types all just want to beat each other (and everyone else)

·         The reluctant racers – Guys who are quite fast but not quite as fast as the friends that they have come with. They alternate between clinging on to the race pack for dear life or admitting defeat and finding a more appropriate group to ride with. Particularly evident on the flatter days looking shattered and envious when everyone else was talking about what an easy day they’d had.

·         The cycle nerd – A committed cyclist for decades, this type likes to educate the wider peleton on the intricacies and history of cycling etiquette and regale them with tales of previous trips, bicycle componentry etc. Dislikes racers (too vulgar, not enough respect for aforementioned intricacies and history of cycling etiquette)

·         The gadget freak – A close cousin of the cycle nerd and the racer, this type is fully equipped with the latest technology to measure performance – Garmin GPS unit, cadence sensor, heart rate monitor, power meter. Uses the word ‘nutrition’ instead of food. Uses gadgets to compare stats with others, point out all inaccuracies in the data provided by the organisers and explain his own poor performance, as in “I think I got my nutrition strategy wrong today” (I should have eaten another flapjack), or “I’m not sure what happened this afternoon but my power output declined and I wasn’t at my optimal heart rate” (I got tired and I couldn’t keep up)

·         The lone ranger – Fairly self explanatory. Used to training along, dislikes the chitchat, compromise and faffing that can come with riding in a group (slowing down when someone else gets tired, stopping if they get a puncture etc). Will fall in behind a group when necessary (ie. to shelter from the wind) but will usually speed off ahead before it’s their turn to do any work on the front

·         The ‘prepared for anything’ cyclist – Carries a rucksack or giant saddlebag filled with clothing for any occasion, multiple snacks, tools, spare parts etc. Despite the fact that there is a pitstop every 35 miles offering food, drinks, mechanical support etc.

The Round up

So, now I’m back home and feeling clean and a little bit more rested, here’s a round-up of the trip as a whole (and a few things that I never got round to writing about along the way!)

Miles cycled: 984. According to Tom’s cycle computer. Annoyingly, the battery in mine ran out of the morning of day 9 so I don’t have my exact mileage or average speed across the whole trip, but I think I can safely say that it was a long way

Total time (including all breaks, pitstops etc): 70 hours, 52 minutes

Overall position: 57^th out of 437 who did the full 9 days; 2^nd fastest lady J; if I was being really picky I would point out that the fastest lady was less than an hour ahead of me and that we stopped for longer than that to have a coffee in Inverness. But then again, if I was that competitive, I wouldn’t have been stopping for coffee breaks in the sunshine...

Highlights: The scenery, especially the first few days in Cornwall and Devon and the last couple in Scotland; being part of our Fantastic Four peleton; all the other people we met along the way; the food at the base camps; overtaking lots of men who looked displeased about being overtaken by woemn

Lowlights: That morning riding through Wigan and Preston in the pouring rain; the food at the pitstops (I don’t think I’ll be able to eat another sausage roll for a long time); falling off my bike on day 3 (didn’t mention that previously for fear of causing panic at home...I have some nice grazes all the way down my left leg but no lasting damage)

Flapjacks and bars of dairy milk eaten: Too many to count

Weight lost: None. I’d like to think that’s because I’ve gained so much muscle, but it might also be related to the flapjacks, chocolate and huge dinners

Things learnt: That doing lots of training does pay off – the ride was hard but even though the whole thing was obviously so much longer than anything I’d done before, there was never an individual stage that really daunted me because I knew I’d always done something longer/steeper/tougher in training. Except day 1 which turned out to be the most climbing that I’d ever done in one day but the organisers got the numbers wrong beforehand so we only realised afterwards (and to be honest, it didn’t feel as hard as the legendary Tour of Pembrokeshire (aka The Hardest Ride Ever...although maybe if I did it again now it wouldn’t feel that hard anymore))

Other things learnt: That your body can just keep on going! Earlier in the week James Cracknell (one of the owners of the company that runs the whole event) told an anecdote about one of his old coaches who used to come up with motivational lines such as “if you ask the legs, they never say no”...the implication presumably being that it’s all in your head and whether you actually want to carry on. Anyway, I’m not sure about that, because on this ride I felt like I didn’t even have to ask my legs – after a few days they didn’t know any better and just kept spinning by themselves.

Day 9: End of the road

The final day! Fittingly it started with some heavy rain, but that soon dried up and we actually had lots of sun later in the afternoon. As we headed further north the scenery got more wild and sparse. I think on the first 50 miles we passed about 10 cars and half of those were vehicles involved in the event. I pity the poor tourists who thought they’d make a quick visit to John O’Groats only to find 500 cyclists strung out along tiny country roads!!

There was a really nice atmosphere out on the road and at all the stops. Some of the slower riders had been worried about finishing in time to catch their transport so the organisers had let people set off from 5.30am. We started at our usual time of 7 but that meant that we saw lots of different people on the road. Both pitstops were at pubs where we stopped for longer than usual to sit inside and have hot drinks, which lots of other people were doing. In a strange way it reminded me a little bit of the atmosphere you get around Christmas (not that it was quite that cold up there, but in the crispy morning sunshine it did feel more like a sunny November morning than early autumn!).

Looking at the route map the night before, the last 50 miles looked quite challenging, as there were lots of ups and downs along the coast but in the end it just flew by. I think it might have just been the excitement of being near the end because it was one of our fastest rides of the whole trip (even if our overall time was slower because of all the stopping in pubs for coffee and hot chocolate).

And then...the end! We crossed the line at about 2.15 on Sunday and from then it was a bit of a rush to get our photos taken by the John O’Groats sign, then have a shower, have something to eat, find our bags, pack our bikes up and get on the bus! In some ways it was a bit of a strange finish because we weren’t staying there so everyone was sorting their stuff out to leave and I didn’t even see a lot of people that I’d seen or spoken to during the 9 days. But at least there was a big group of us on the bus to Inverness where we went for a big pub dinner and then finally to bed (in a real bed!!!)

Day 8: And....relax!

After the epic day 7 battle through Glencoe, I have to admit that I woke up on Saturday feeling pretty worn out and not really in the mood for yet another 100+ mile bike ride! But it turned out that the cycling gods were smiling upon us again – not only did the sun come out but as we headed north east from Fort William we had a strong tailwind to push us along. So off we set, soon whizzing along on nice flat roads (that were actually quite smooth for once).

However, either by coincidence or just because we were the coolest peloton on the road and everyone wanted to ride with us (or so we like to think!), our gang soon found ourselves part of a much bigger group. We’d done the same on some other days and sometimes it was fine – the day before for example it felt like the more people you had around the better because it meant that everyone got sheltered from the wind for longer. The downside is that you end up all having to cycle in a big long line, which can make it a bit hard to manage and keep at a steady pace, plus it makes it hard to talk to each other! After an hour or so, this big group was going faster and faster but it felt like we were just ploughing along and barely having a chance to enjoy the views.

So, our gang of 4 (me, Victoria, Tom and Steve) made a tactical toilet stop, let the racers race off ahead and decided to take it easy for the day. I’m so glad we did because the scenery was absolutely fantastic – probably one of the best days of the whole trip. We had quite a big climb early on with amazing views once we got to the top, then miles and miles of descent before riding the full length of Loch Ness along its southern edge. Then it was into Inverness where we stopped for a coffee by the river in the sunshine – such a nice change from huddling around in the cold and rain at the pitsops the day before!

In the afternoon, we headed further north through more lovely rolling countryside, then had another long climb with yet more amazing views of the coast from the top. It was pretty windy at the top – at one point it felt like we were having to lean about 20 degrees to the left just to stop ourselves from being blown over!! But then another big descent down into Kyle of Sutherland for our final night of camping. After the rain and mud of some of the camps, it was brilliant to finish at a really pretty and relatively dry one! And I think the caterers pulled out all the stops for our final night – fish pie followed by cheesecake, fruit crumble and fresh fruit (yes, three desserts is perfectly acceptable...I think I was in a minority that usually only had one (large) maincourse a night instead of just asking for a bit of everything).

Days 4-7: It's grim up north and other tales

So my plans to write a blight every night have fallen apart! Most evenings I've either been too tired, or phone battery has been too low (we have a charging area at every camp but with 600 people trying to plug in phones and other gadgets there's not really enough room for everyone) or we've been in the middle of nowhere with no decent 3G reception.

We've covered so much ground in the last 4 days it's hard to remember where we've been, but to summarise, it's gone something like this:

Day 4: Ludlow to haydock. Nothing much to tell - fairly straightforward day across the cheshire plains. Nice and flat but that meant nite much scenery to look at (see previous post about areas of outstanding beauty and big hills). Camped at haydock racecourse near Manchester - nice.

Day 5: Haydock to Penrith. Day started badly with torrential downpours and a 2 hour ride through urban sprawl. Like riding in commuter traffic, except my usual commute takes me past Westminster and the London eye, not through the centre of Preston (which as far as i can tell has no redeeming features). Weather improved slightly once we hit cumbria where we claimed Shap Fell, but came over the top into a massive headwind which made going down almost as hard as going up. Arrived at camp only to discover that heavy rain had turned it into a mudbath. Not nice.

Highlight of the day: seeing the Tour of Britain go past in kendall and getting high fives from school kids who mistook us for pros (easy mistake to make).

Day 6: Penrith to Glasgow. Everyone happy to escape the mud and get back in the tarmac. Our usual riding group of me, Victoria, Tom and Steve joined forces with some others and we raced across the border into Scotland in a big train. After the first pitstop though people started dropping off and by lunchtime it was just me and Steve ploughing on along the rough Scottish roads (what dies the Scottish government send all its money on?? Obviously not road maintenance). Arrived into Hamilton racecourse outside Glasgow at 2.15 - our earliest finish and fastest once so far.

Day 7: Glasgow to Fort William. The epic day. At our nightly briefing we'd been told that through route was being extended from 127 miles (already by far the longest day) to 135 due to a diversion to avoid a landslide. To make matters worse, gale force winds were picking up across the west of Scotland, making for an interrupted night's sleep as my tent felt like it.might take off!

Come this morning, the weather wasn't quite as apocalyptic as predicted but still cold, damp and pretty windy. We set off in our usual group and picked up a few more riders early on. The first section was ok with only a few climbs. The poor roads and wind made it hard going though and after about 90 miles people were cold and tired. Then we reached Glencoe where the wind was so strong that we were going downhill, all pedalling hard and still struggling to get above 12mph (on sections where you would expect to do double that speed).

Finally we reached the bottom and turned for Fort William, onto a flat stretch sheltered from the wind. Despite saying we would roll home at an easy pace, the excitement of being so near the end obviously produced some adrenaline because the pace picked up and up until we were in a group sprint for the finish. Unfortunately we misjudged the distance to the end and had to keep the pace up for about a mile and a half! Finally got in at 5 after nice than 9 and a half hours of riding. Truly exhausted!!

But now the end is in sight! 2 more days to go. I'm amazed it's gone so quickly and almost sad that it's nearly over...but have never been so excited about staying anywhere as i am about getting to the Holiday Inn in Inverness. Camping in the rain in muddy fields and surviving on about 6 hours of not very peaceful sleep a.night when you're cycling over 100 miles a day is not great...can't wait to have a hot bath and a real bed.

Have barely taken any photos the last few days but here are a couple from when we stopped to see the Tour of Britain...

Days 2 & 3: Tearing up the west country

I can't believe how much ground we've covered since yesterday morning! Since leaving Okehampton we have cycled across Devon, Somerset, Wiltshire, made a brief detour into Wales, then gloucestershire, Herefordshire and now we're in Shropshire, camping at Ludlow race course.

The legs are getting a bit more tired but the stages are getting a bit easier. It turned out that day 1 was far hillier than the course info supplied but the organisers had let on - about 8400 ft of climbing rather than 4700 ft! (which made it the hilliest ride I'd ever done). So I was pleasantly surprised by how good i felt at the start if day 2.

It was a fantastic route with amazing scenery in Devon. I'm tempted to say it was better than Cornwall, but Cornwall looks a lot like Pembrokeshire and my patriotic side doesn't want to say that Devon is better than there. Let's just say they're all lovely.

Day 2 also saw us expand our gang with a few people we picked up along the way. Riding along in a peloton we set a speedy pace along the flat, although the quantock hills and cheddar gorge slowed us down a bit. As my friend Fiona put it - anywhere described as an "Area of outstanding natural beauty" should set alarm bells ringing for an cyclist as it usually involves a massive hill.

Today involved less climbing but still had a few steep hills and some amazing descents, plus some tiny country lanes complete with gravel, sand washed across the road, grass growing down the middle, potholes galore...a bit treacherous in places but probably a lot more scenic than following an A-road the whole way.

Yesterday we stayed at Bath University where having a proper bed felt like an incredible luxury after just 2 days camping but tonight we're back in the tents...and the weather has deteriorated a bit. Rain likely tomorrow morning :-(

Still, we're a third of the way through and tomorrow is the flatest day so should hopefully give the legs a bit of time to recover (in as much as riding 106 miles can be called a recovery).

Some photos attached, including:
- Victoria and i crossing the severn bridge
- Today's first food stop at chepstow castle
- The bike racking area at one of the base camps...note the masses if empty space (ie. We finished before mist people!!)

Day 1: Getting to grips with Cornwall (Land's End to Okehampton)

<p>5am on a Sunday and I'm wide awake, in a tent and anticipating some loud music blaring over the camp in about half an hour to wake everyone up for another day's riding...this feels like a strange sort of holiday!</p>
<p>Actually, everything so far has been great. Woke up yesterday to the aforementioned music ("I want to ride my bicycle" by Queen...i think the novelty of that will wear off very quickly). Sorted out my tent then had some breakfast, dropped off my bag, got my bike and lined up with the masses for a 7am start.</p>
<p>The first 35 miles or so were fairly straightforward, I set off with a small group of friends - Victoria, Tom, Alex (all Deloitte-ers that i met through the triathlon club I've been cycling with) - and we quickly passed quite a lot of people. Unfortunately Victoria was having trouble with her chain, which kept coming off and every time we stopped all those people would then overtake us...meaning we'd have to overtake them again once we got going (but overtaking people makes you feel good so doing it twice as often isn't such a bad thing!)</p>
<p>Stopped at the first food stop for a banana and a pack of mini cheddars then set off again. The route was lovely, lots of quiet country roads and nice scenery. It started to get hillier after about 50 miles so we were happy to get to pit stop 2 for lunch by about 12.30 (pork pie, banana, flapjack).</p>
<p>The final section was by far the toughest...continual ups and downs and some steep hills until we crossed into Devon, then about 10 miles of what felt like a steady uphill drag on rough roads that really sap your speed. So we were happy to finally reach Okehampton at 3.45...and even happier to discover that not that many people had finished before us. For a moment i thought that Victoria and I might have been the first female finishers...but then i saw a very athletic looking lady doing some stretching...oh well, must try and contain the competitive instincts!!

Once back in the world's poshest refugee camp I had a massage, courtesy of a group of sports therapy students who are presumably using us as guinea pigs (fine by me..it was brilliant), then showered and sat in a deck chair in the sun reading my book. Then dinner, briefing about today's route and before you know it, it's 9pm on a Saturday and everyone is heading for bed - rock and roll!!