Day 6

Today after taking it easy with my knees I decided to change riding style and just hammer it. Bored of taking it easy and thinking it can't get any harder we set off on good speed. We managed to get to Kendall within 2 or so hours and then on to Penrith and finally arriving in Carlisle in under 6 hours. Top speed today clocked at 38mph.

Now it wasn't all plain sailing after Kendall we had some really hard climbs. Shap Fell was a killer and i was glad to see Pete at the top to replenish our stocks and laugh at the state of me. Dave was flying today and must have been pleased that for the first time in a few days we could race up some hills. It's been a good day and yet again Pete has been a legend.

Tomorrow is mentally a good day as we hit Scotland and for me today has been a big lift. Thanks to everyone for your words of encouragement they really do help.

Day 5

Harmer Hill, Shrewsbury to Preston. Only 600 meters climbing which suited myself so I could power along the flat! Richard, still troubled with knee pain and pumped with pain killers, still managed to complete the day notching up just over 80 miles. It took us just over 6 hours cycling time to complete our mileage navigating through Warrington and Wigan along the way. Our chosen route kept us on main roads which meant no nice views unfortunately! Peter once again providing food and drink along the way and once again provided some good entertainment throughout! We are getting to know the Premier Inn menu pretty well now and Peter is sharing a room with two tired bikes! Off to Carlisle tomorrow before our big push into Scotland.

Day 4

Right, my turn to update this! I will start by emphasising how bad last nights hotel was, shocking! Barely any sleep after a pretty tough days cycling left us in a relatively bad mood this morning. Thankfully #petesadvice lightened the mood in the hotel room last night (visit twitter for #petesadvice). So we set off today with 80+ miles ahead of us. Seemed pretty daunting after the previous ten hours! Anyway, the weather was kind to us and sun on our back we set about our travels only to hit a hurdle 40 miles in where I smashed another spoke. Thankfully Peter and the support vehicle were on hand to pick us up and get us to Pearce Cycles to get a new rear wheel. Thank you to them for their help and discount! Anyway, with a revised route we were back on the road with 36 miles to our destination. For those of you who know me I didn't keep my composure through the complication and I did lose my patience/temper! Anyway, we made it to Harmers Hill, food on board and hopefully a good nights sleep ahead of us before making our way to Preston tomorrow. Steddie Eddie (Richard) kept peddling all day, hindered by knee pain but managed to get through once again. Has to be said, Peter was the saviour today! (thanks dad)

Day 3

After a tough day yesterday the hills were finally behind us, for now. This was a welcome sight for my legs. The navigation today was on the tricky side especially finding the cycle path to the Avonmouth Bridge. Severn Bridge can only be described as interesting!! From there we passed through Chepstow and in to Monmouth, where we start out to Shrewsbury (Harmer Hill) tomorrow. A much better day and easier on the legs now. I will admit to booking us in to the worst hotel tonight, the lads aren't too impressed but a bed is a bed and I'm sleeping in it for as long as I can.


Ice cream stop outside tesco proper high rollers we are. Looking forward to Pete's lunch stop tomorrow. Take care all.

Day 2

I'll start by saying this day was a real test. The hills leaving Liskeard were very steep and in all honesty really took it out of me. Dave had a brand new technique today of powering up as quick as possible and i must say it worked a treat. I on the other hand trundle up them in the easiest gear I can. We passed through the Dartmoor where we received yet another splendid spread from Pete. The best decision ever was deciding to have Pete as the support team, he has been a life saver.

We actually cycled 95 miles and fell in to bed after some food and drink thankful the day was out of the way. It was a tough slog

Day 1

I will start by saying a cricket season does not prepare your for the terrain of Cornwall! We have covered our targeted 74 miles in 5 hours. Richard led the way with a steady pace throughout but the long inclines up to 10% gradient was a little too much for me after not being on the bike for 3 weeks. Richards 1600 miles training have definitely shown today! I think it was obvious I hadn't been on the bike for a while when I fell off trying to get my shoe clipped in! No serious damage thankfully, just a couple of scrapes!

Overall a pretty tough day with not enough fluids or food taken on throughout the day. Hopefully improve on that tomorrow!

1st night for us all sharing. Sound advice of keeping your shoes untied and ready to put on in the event of an emergency and a quick exit needed - thanks for that Peter Willey (support vehicle).

Build up

This is all Dave's idea, for those of you who think i'm crazy doing this please blame Dave. Anyway the big man came to me with 2 options, 3 Peaks Challenge or Lands End to John O'Groats on bikes, for some reason we thought this would be the best option.

Dave's been playing cricket all summer so has plenty of fitness in the bag, myself, well I've knocked out over 1600 miles in training so i think we will both be fine.

Big Pete is going to taxi us down on Saturday and from there we set off on Sunday on the first leg. We'll try and update this blog each day for those of you who will be following our progress.