Apologies if some of the timelines are a bit messed up, I had every intention of keeping notes of what happened when but that all fell by the wayside on arriving into base camp on day 1!
I do know that Day 1 started at Lands End and tackled some rather big hills on the way up to Okehampton passing by St Michael's Mount on the way, there were to be many more stunning views on the way up to JOG, not many of which I captured on camera, partly because you can never do justice to them in a picture and partly because I was too exhausted to stop and get my camera out, I may never have got going again.During the ride a fellow rider noted that I was in Didcot Phoenix kit and commented that he lived in Wallingford, I had enough time to tell him that I no longer lived in Didcot but that my parents did before he sped off and left me behind. Later as we arrived at base camp we caught up again and realised that we had been at school together and that his sister was part of the group that I used to hang around with in sixth form!
I did have an enforced stop as part of day 1 though when going up one of the many hills my left hand crank came off. I managed to get it back on and get to the pitstop where the mechanics sorted it out properly. I think there must be something about my peddling style as it seems every bike I have had has had issues with the left crank coming loose!
The days are generally broken down into 2 pit stops and base camp, this is how I was tackling the challenge too, it was always so many miles to the next stop. The pit stops were amazing with all sorts of food and snacks to top up your fuel levels, the guys with the water bowser to top your bottles up and a full house of cheery Team Threshold to lift your spirits and cheer you on your way.
On arrival at base camp all the tents were setup ready and waiting as were the showers and food, quite a remarkable logistical feat to get all this ready and waiting for almost 900 riders each day.
My routine each day seemed to fall into the same process, find my tent, find my bag, empty my bag, shower have some coffee, eat dinner have a pint or 2 and listen to the briefing for the following days ride before hitting my sleeping bag about 8.30pm!
5.30am was wake up time which gave enough time to get a hearty breakfast in, sort out kit for the day, pack, drop bag off at the lorry and fill your bottles for the ride ahead. Then it was onto counting down the miles to the next pitstop!
Day 2 was on to Bath where we would be treated to a bed for the night rather than a tent, other than that the routine was about the same. Although at Bath it was my turn for a massage, every other day you could get a 10 minute massage from a great group of Students who were doing this as part of their course.
This was also my first visit to the Medical team, I had been getting a sharp pain right across my knee and down the side, the medic checked me over and nothing was painful when he was pressing it so the diagnosis was inflammation of the cartilage. All I could do was some stretching of my Quads, take some anti-inflammatory tablets and try to adjust my pedalling style, maybe this would help my crank too!
Day 3 and we headed off to Ludlow where we would be back in tents at the racecourse, my knee was still quite painful and I was being careful not to take more than the allowed amount of pain killers.
One highlight of this day was the crossing of the river Severn, using the cycle path on the old bridge, it really was spectacular to ride across.
On arrival at the racecourse Dad was there waiting to great me in, I'm afraid I wasn't much company as I proceeded to dismount my bike and fall to the ground as my knee gave way beneath me. Dad helped me get my bike to the racking and to find my tent before heading off to the station home, as much as I didn't really get to speak to him much it was great to see him there.
Heading in to the food hall and sitting at one of the tables feeling a bit sorry for myself with my pain I started to talk to one of the other riders and we chatted about how things were going which cheered me up and took my mind of my pain, only when she got up to leave did we introduce each other by name and I found out that I had been talking to Mimi Anderson who I follow on Twitter amazed by her running exploits, I felt so honoured to have met her, she is a wonderful friendly person.
I bumped into Robin again having lost touch on day 1 at tent allocation and not seen each other on the ride to Bath, I wasn't sure I would recognise him casual wear. Anyway we had a catch up over the Cheese Board supplied by the Deloitte team.
Day 4 was from Ludlow to Haydock which was supposedly quite flat so I hoped my knee would have time to recover a bit. During the ride I met up with a rider wearing a Castle Triathlon top so we chatted about which events we had done for a while. As we left a set of traffic lights something went in my knee more so than before and I was really struggling. A few miles later and it was agony even to turn the pedals without putting any pressure on my right leg. I was only about 4 miles from the 2nd pitstop and was determined to get there rather than call the medical team out.
A mixture of walking, pedalling with my right leg hanging lose and only using my left meant that I managed to get to the pitstop and see the medical team there. They gave me some Ibuprofen and told me to stretch my quads a bit, they also said that they thought my saddle was too low.
I have ridden this bike with the same setup all the time and never had any issues. I called Amanda and was distraught as I thought I would have to pull out of the ride completely, I really couldn't see how I could continue with my knee as it was.
I rested for quite a while and did some stretching, I also raised my saddle about 5mm, something quite drastic to do midway through a long multi day ride like this but I figured I didn't have anything to lose as I was on the verge of giving up anyway.
I managed to get to the base camp at Haydock racecourse and then into the routine of camp but this time included some rather fabulous cupcakes courtesy of a certain medal winning cyclist, Becky James!
Day 5 started early as I couldn't sleep that well, my mood improved though with a mention on Heart radio's 4 o'clock club with Jenni Falconer, this was alongside many good luck comments that I had received from friends and family which really spurred me on. Today would see us tackle Shap and would certainly be a test, although from previous experience I knew that it wasn't that steep it just went on and on and on! At the pitstop before we attempted Shap there was a nice banner to recognise that we were now half way!
As we arrived at base camp I came across another rider who seemed to be struggling pushing off the ground and then freewheeling before pushing again. As I passed I noticed that his chain was missing so I turned round and went back to push him in to the finish rather than him have to struggle as he was.
Having racked the bikes it seemed to be a major hike to the tents compared to usual, something that was referred to in the nightly briefing, to do with tracking and getting the lorries in and out, I told you it was a logistical feat to get everything in place.
Day 6 meant that we were to cross the border into Scotland and head up towards Edinburgh, according to my Strava this was only 91.8 miles with only 60ft elevation gain and in a dead straight line, hmm my legs were saying otherwise! It was actually 115 miles and several thousand ft elevation!
Day 7 and we headed out from Hopetoun House and across the Forth bridge another fantastic experience before we headed up into the Cairngorms, again I wasn't sleeping well so was up and part of the 4 o'clock club with another mention from the lovely Jenni on Heart set me on my way nicely.
The 2nd pitstop of the day was at the top of Glenshee an amazing climb, you realise how high you are when you are riding past gates that are used to close the roads when they get blocked by snow, the posts on the side of the road that have reflectors on that are higher than your head when out of the saddle marking the edge of the roads and ski lifts around you.
It was a little windy and cold at the top so I grabbed some food and a coffee and set off on my way, really chuffed to have managed to complete the climb in one go.
A little sad that my Strava again said it was a dead straight line and only 89.6 miles with minimal elevation gain but the main thing was that it was an amazing ride with some spectacular views!
Day 8 was the longest of the ride at 118.4 miles apparently starting fairly early on with the climb up the Lecht, it had 3 pitstops one of only 2 days that had this extra power pit stop. My Strava did work today and told me that I completed 120 miles!
Again the views and the ride was amazing taking us through some beautiful places before arriving in Kyle of Sutherland for our final night in camp.
Day 9 and final day. The start was early at 6am, I was a bit worried about how long it would take to complete the 104 miles up to John O Groats so I was up early and in the first batch of riders to leave. The day started well but with a few hills, arriving at Pit stop 1 I grabbed some food and stayed for a short time before on the bike and away again.
Then the descents and the wind hit, we apparently had a 31mph tailwind and rather than my usual speed of between 12 - 14 mph I was rattling along at 22 - 28 mph having an absolute ball of a time again through some amazing scenery.
I caught up with another rider at one point and discussed what a ride it had been so far, I mentioned that I felt sure that there would be some more hills to come and sure enough we turned a corner and headed up hill!
After a while we were back on some descents and even on the uphill bits with the wind behind us these didn't feel too bad.
Taking the final corner and heading down to the finish line was amazing coming across to be presented my medal by the medic who I had seen in Bath was incredible and made his prophecy come true in that my knee would not stop me getting to John O Groats and he would see me there!
Ignore the fact that the signpost says 874 Miles to Lands End, clearly Andy Cook didn't get that map!
There are too many people to thank individually but everyone at Threshold for the organisation, logistics, food, medical, massage, mechanical support and route deserve all the thanks that can be said, they put on a truly amazing event.
To everyone that sent messages of support that got me through my dark times, thank you so much just seeing a message or a like on a social media post lightened my mood and helped me get back on my bike each morning.
The only person that I must thank by name is Amanda, she has been totally supportive of not only this event but all of my challenges over the last year, so now I think it is time to take some time out to recover and reflect.
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