rich87
Active Member
- Location
- Tonbridge, Kent
Hi Everyone,
I'm happy to say I completed my non-stop JoGLE attempt at the end of May this year. I received alot of advice on this forum in the run up to the ride, so I just wanted to say thankyou for all your help!
It was the best and by far most challenging experience of my life, but I'm happy to say we made it to Lands End in 78 and a 1/2 hours.
This was quite a way off the 60 hour target time, but after everything we faced and how bad the weather was, I can't believe we made it at all. It was probably more rewarding to have reached the finish in spite of how hard it turned out to be. It still hasn't sunk in that we really did it!
We faced massive headwinds interspersed with heavy showers right from the start. I knew it was going to be a bad day when I was struggling to pedal down a 13% gradient hill not far after leaving John O'Groats. Cycling over Glencoe mountain at around 2am in the swirling wind and rain is another memory that stands out!
Luckily, I had an amazing support team who did a phenomenal job to keep me going however tough things got. I would never have got anywhere near Lands End if it wasn't for them.
Because the weather had set us back so much, we faced a third night on the road to get to Lands End. Along with being shattered from battling the headwinds for so long, being permanently cold and soaked from the rain, then finally tearing my hamstring on a long hill-climb just outside Bristol after it had been threatening to give up for most of the second day, the concept of a third night was a struggle to cope with mentally. In planning the challenge, I had expected that the longest I could stay awake for would be 60 hours at maximum. We ended up going far beyond that.
No matter what the conditions, dark, wet, cold, windy; I was always greeted at each stage finish with smiles, hot food and a cup of tea from the team. We had two support vans, one which would follow behind me for hours on end, while the other went ahead to set up for each stage finish which usually meant locating any additional supplies we needed (sometimes essentials like extra water etc, but usually for some random food I had been craving like Mr Kipling apple pies) then getting out and somehow cooking a pasta based meal on a tiny gas stove out on the pavement.
Two of the guys, Fraser and Selim, got out on the spare bike on several of the stages to give me some company, keep me awake and try to pace me. Neither of them are serious cyclists, in fact one is a sprinter from Loughborough uni, but they rode themselves into the ground to keep me going. Tess, my girlfriend who had put up with so much cycling and planning before we even got to John O'Groats, tirelessly led the team, did most of the cooking and right from the beginning had each of the stops running like clockwork. Matt and Sandrine did most of the work in sorting out the route and planning the stages in the months before, then flew into the country only the day before took up most of the long slow hours driving in the van that followed and protected me on the bike. I also can't not mention our physio on the team Charlie, who, despite my very questionable personal hygiene after being out on the bike for so many hours never hesitated in massaging my legs to coax them back to life or repair the hamstring as best she could. I was so lucky to have them all.
On top of that, my parents surprised me and also joined us from Bristol to Lands End, taking on some of the driving and cooking so the others could get some rest.
I don't know if you've been there, but the final few miles into Lands End seem like some sort of Cornish joke. The road seems to purposely take you over a succession of short very steep leg destroying hills for the final 5 miles before you get to the finish in apparently one final bid to stop you making it. I didn't actually start thinking we might make it until we saw the signs for the 'West Country' not far out of Bristol and after seeing those nothing was going to stop us.
We had left John O'Groats at 10:20am on Saturday 28th May and arrived at Lands End just before 5pm on the Tuesday 31st May, 78.5 hours, 880 miles and just three 20 minute sleeps later.
I'll never forget those three days.
All the photos will be going up on the website below, which is currently going under a bit of an overhaul. Once it's all up and running again you'll be able to follow my progress from there as I attempt to take on an IronMan triathlon.
Thanks again for your advice,
Rich
I'm happy to say I completed my non-stop JoGLE attempt at the end of May this year. I received alot of advice on this forum in the run up to the ride, so I just wanted to say thankyou for all your help!
It was the best and by far most challenging experience of my life, but I'm happy to say we made it to Lands End in 78 and a 1/2 hours.
This was quite a way off the 60 hour target time, but after everything we faced and how bad the weather was, I can't believe we made it at all. It was probably more rewarding to have reached the finish in spite of how hard it turned out to be. It still hasn't sunk in that we really did it!
We faced massive headwinds interspersed with heavy showers right from the start. I knew it was going to be a bad day when I was struggling to pedal down a 13% gradient hill not far after leaving John O'Groats. Cycling over Glencoe mountain at around 2am in the swirling wind and rain is another memory that stands out!
Luckily, I had an amazing support team who did a phenomenal job to keep me going however tough things got. I would never have got anywhere near Lands End if it wasn't for them.
Because the weather had set us back so much, we faced a third night on the road to get to Lands End. Along with being shattered from battling the headwinds for so long, being permanently cold and soaked from the rain, then finally tearing my hamstring on a long hill-climb just outside Bristol after it had been threatening to give up for most of the second day, the concept of a third night was a struggle to cope with mentally. In planning the challenge, I had expected that the longest I could stay awake for would be 60 hours at maximum. We ended up going far beyond that.
No matter what the conditions, dark, wet, cold, windy; I was always greeted at each stage finish with smiles, hot food and a cup of tea from the team. We had two support vans, one which would follow behind me for hours on end, while the other went ahead to set up for each stage finish which usually meant locating any additional supplies we needed (sometimes essentials like extra water etc, but usually for some random food I had been craving like Mr Kipling apple pies) then getting out and somehow cooking a pasta based meal on a tiny gas stove out on the pavement.
Two of the guys, Fraser and Selim, got out on the spare bike on several of the stages to give me some company, keep me awake and try to pace me. Neither of them are serious cyclists, in fact one is a sprinter from Loughborough uni, but they rode themselves into the ground to keep me going. Tess, my girlfriend who had put up with so much cycling and planning before we even got to John O'Groats, tirelessly led the team, did most of the cooking and right from the beginning had each of the stops running like clockwork. Matt and Sandrine did most of the work in sorting out the route and planning the stages in the months before, then flew into the country only the day before took up most of the long slow hours driving in the van that followed and protected me on the bike. I also can't not mention our physio on the team Charlie, who, despite my very questionable personal hygiene after being out on the bike for so many hours never hesitated in massaging my legs to coax them back to life or repair the hamstring as best she could. I was so lucky to have them all.
On top of that, my parents surprised me and also joined us from Bristol to Lands End, taking on some of the driving and cooking so the others could get some rest.
I don't know if you've been there, but the final few miles into Lands End seem like some sort of Cornish joke. The road seems to purposely take you over a succession of short very steep leg destroying hills for the final 5 miles before you get to the finish in apparently one final bid to stop you making it. I didn't actually start thinking we might make it until we saw the signs for the 'West Country' not far out of Bristol and after seeing those nothing was going to stop us.
We had left John O'Groats at 10:20am on Saturday 28th May and arrived at Lands End just before 5pm on the Tuesday 31st May, 78.5 hours, 880 miles and just three 20 minute sleeps later.
I'll never forget those three days.
All the photos will be going up on the website below, which is currently going under a bit of an overhaul. Once it's all up and running again you'll be able to follow my progress from there as I attempt to take on an IronMan triathlon.
Thanks again for your advice,
Rich
