Well, where do I begin…

What a week, it all seems like one big blur when I look back and reflect on the week that has just been. Within the space of 7 days I came so far, starting with day 1 morning sitting in Florence on the way to John o’ Groats realising that I had forgotten my Garmin, to cycling those final few miles on Saturday evening. I can’t believe it was a week ago that I did the 146 mile ride and was settling down for my final evening and preparing for my last day. This post looks back on the journey and experience every cyclist must have on their bucket list.

I think I must have cursed myself on the morning of day 1 with the blog post a few days before about planning. Setting off without a Garmin device and feeling the panic and stress of starting this epic challenge. Getting to the sign post and still having to prep a few bits for the days ride, rushing to have a picture taken as I see 3 van load of runners head for the sign post. In my rush I had missed out on applying the chamois cream and I think that first 45 miles without the cream is probably the reason I suffered throughout the week with the saddle sores. For those interested, the skin has ripped between my hamstring and glute on my right leg, its fresh and pending to have some new skin grow over. I am sleeping every night at the moment with a scoop of sudo cream smeared around the area! Biggest test will be this weekend when I get back on the saddle for a cheeky 50 miles and brick session!

I think the highlight of riding through Scotland for 3 days was the beautiful scenery! Spending the best part of 2 whole days riding along the Loch’s was a great experience and one I will not forget. What I wont miss about Scotland are the midges! My head was bitten soo much and the scratching was relentless for days!

Once south of the Lake District the riding was very similar day on day, riding through the towns and not seeing much countryside. You could tell that I had started going through busier towns as the state of my arms and legs at the end of the day. The dirt was unreal, you can only imagine what I must have been breathing in!

The final couple of days saw the scenery return as I cycled through Somerset, Devon and Cornwall. Seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and the weather taking a turn for the better.

Looking back on my route, I have to say I think I nailed it. Planning the route based on some previous JOGLE and LEJOG 9 day rides, picking a route that looked to have less elevation. Apart from the detour on day 6 due to the cycle path (I don’t do cycle paths), and the major roads that I probably should have avoided, the routes were pretty straight forward. Made even easier by the use of my Garmin 1030 Edge navigation, that was worth every penny!

You may have noticed that during my blog posts last week, I didn’t mention any punctures. That’s right, my tubeless tyre’s did the job. I actually had no mechanical issues, just a very very dirty chain throughout the week. I made sure that I gave Camilla some TLC most evenings, a little clean of the chain and twice oiled.

I cannot thank my support team enough! Mum and Dad were awesome! Apart from Mum being a nervous wreck for the week, I sort of think they enjoyed themselves. I really could not have done it without them. Well I probably could have, but not in the way that I did. I wouldn’t have been able to cover that many miles in a day and refuel on the go. Would have had to be a longer trip with more stops and all my gear in panniers again.

Not only did I have great support from Mum and Dad during the ride, but the well wishes from friends were all appreciated and well received. At times where I needed a little pick me up, a nice little comment would find it’s way onto my Facebook or Instagram posts and get me through a days ride. This was also evident to see when I returned to work on Tuesday, very warm welcome from the team, throwing several cushions on my seat and celebrating with a cake. I gave myself the Monday off work to go get myself a nice Thai massage, just what the doctor ordered!

As it stands today, I have managed to hit 86% of my target with over £5k raised. I have to say a thanks to everyone that has donated over the past few weeks. Every little helps and the support you have all shown has been touching. A special mention has to go to Avis Budget Group, Mum works for them and not only did they support by providing Florence for the week, they made a large donation of £1000! Amazing, truly amazing, thank you soo much!

So for those of you that are the stat fans, lets take a little look at some of the numbers.

Total Distance

I rode an impressive 878.06 miles through the week, when you compare this to the sign post that suggests 874, my OCD couldn’t handle it. I blame Dad for 2 of those miles over as I was cycling up and down Penzance promenade looking for him! Including the detour on day 6, I reckon I could have come under the 874 if I tried!

Riding Time

I spent a whopping 58 hours 14 minutes on the move! When I look at how long I was in transit each day, the total is 71 hours 48 minutes. That means on average I only stopped for around 2 hours each day. It shows just what a difference the small gains can make, had I increased my average mph during the week by 3 mph, I could have shaved around 8 hours off the week!

Maximum Speed

Since I bought Camilla I have seen my personal best top speed move up to 49.2 mph. During this week I had a maximum speed of 39.8 mph, this came when cycling between Carlisle and Warrington. It was pretty tough to get top speed with some high winds and busy roads.

Average Speed

I started the week off strong with some 15.6 mph days. As you can imagine this was always going to decrease throughout the week. However when I average the days out for the week my average was 15.1 mph. Pretty happy with that across 878 miles.

Cadence

Cadence follows a similar story to my average speed, 91 was consistent at the start of the week. The average though ended up being 88 rpm. Again when you think what that means and how many times my legs were going round per minute across near 60 hours of cycling.

Climbing

There was me thinking that JOGLE as a direction would be easier as it’s all down hill. Tell me that after knowing I climbed 40959 ft in 7 days. When I think that Alpe D’Huez Triathlon will be a quarter of that climbing in only 60 miles, it makes me gulp a little! I put the increase in my leg size down to this climbing!

Calories

I burnt a total of 34035 calories, roughly 5000 a day! I think I am still trying to eat my way back through them as I have been on a eating frenzy all week! I didn’t track how many calories I was putting back in during the ride, but I still think I had a major deficit through the week.

Hydration

Before we set off I had thought that I might need around 50 litres of water for the week. I ended up going through 44.3 litres, this was just the water drunk during the day, I didn’t track any evening drinks. So a lot of water which increased as the days got longer and weather improved.

So for now this brings to the end of my JOGLE adventure, making my overall cycling across Europe a whooping 3259.76 miles.

Guess it’s time for me to sit back and be proud of what I have achieved, that and start to think about what’s next?

Thanks for following me and hope you enjoy the last JOGLE post!

So today I set off on my final day of JOGLE 2018, a small 102 miles from Okehampton, my shortest day of the week so far. Well it was meant to be 102, ended up being 106 as I spent the extra cycling up and down Penzance beach front looking for Mum and Dad.

Conditions today were amazing, first time all week that I set off in the sunshine. This stayed with me all day and I think it hit at least 28 degree’s. Check out my back tan from my bib shorts! I never knew you could catch a tan through a cycling jersey! This heat was ok whilst cycling, however when you stop or go slow up hill, you can feel the sweat dripping down the forehead!

Today was always going to be about the small wins, I knew it was going to be a tough day as Cornwall is very very hilly. I did as much climbing today as I did yesterday, just 40 less miles. I decided to shorten my stops and go for a 3 stop plan, every 30 miles, leaving a little 10-12 miles into the end. This also coincided with the first big climb of the day ending at stop 1. Based on having the small wins in my head, I also had some advice a friend gave me going through my head. Shaun who has run Marathon Des Sable a couple of times said to me before I left “Don’t be shit”. That was ringing through me today as I was counting down the miles to the finish line.

An annoying thing happened today, a bug decided to fly into my helmet and stay in my hair for about 5 miles! I wasn’t able to fully dislodge it while I was riding. When I did hit the helmet I sprayed sweat all over the inside of my sunglasses, so had to stop anyway. Something weird about a bug crawling around in your hair, you can really feel it moving about, ew!

I had started the day going along the A30, wow, this was the most busiest road I have been on all week! In a way I am pleased I went this way as I got to the end quicker. However it was scary as! One perk of this was a 13:27 time for a 5 mile segment. I’ll take that, and I don’t even think I pedaled once!

We stopped off in Penzance for some lunch, as I explained earlier this cost me miles and time as I cycled up and down the coast line looking for Mum and Dad. Post lunch I had thought it would be a little climb back away from sea level and then maybe a flat final 10 miles to Land’s End. I couldn’t have been any further from the truth if I wanted to. A guy the other night in a hotel had said Cornwall was like it had been hit on the end in a car crash. What he means is, the land has been compacted, which gives you many an up and down throughout the whole county! It was at mile 98 when I was in my lowest gear and out the saddle climbing a hill that I started to think about what this epic challenge means to me. Thoughts going out to Millie and Rachael and hoping that by your kind donations we have been able to make a difference some where along the line. Hearing Neil (Millie’s Dad) say that Millie want’s to ride a bike post operation made me grind out that hill and get to the finish.

It was during those last few miles that I was increasing my speed and thinking to myself, I don’t really want this to end!

As I came down the home stretch and saw Mum and Dad filming away, I knew what I had done was some mean feat! Mum having a little tear, I think that’s more down to the nerves throughout the week catching up on her. We managed to get some bubbles, have my picture taken with the infamous post and settled down for dinner and more drinks. Watching the sunset in the distance whilst Dad (Bill Oddie eat your heart out) spots a Basking Shark in the water, only to find that’s the 2nd one spotted this year. Rutherford’s have a keen eye for that sort of thing!

Here are the stats from today’s ride.

105.01 miles
7:21:50 riding time
34.3 mph top speed
14.3 mph average speed
84 rpm cadence
6542 ft of climbing
4054 calories burnt
7.1 litres of water

Time for me to say good night now, just a small drive back tomorrow and then I’ll look to share some overall stats and feedback on my journey in my final JOGLE 2018 post.

Thank you for all the kind donations, and for those of you that were waiting for me to finish, no time like the present to contribute.

Night

Final push to Land’s End

https://livetrack.garmin.com/session/c9c24708-d3e0-4b05-aa8b-b1e09713870a/token/BCF9C03AF0DDCA1124A651758AB1125F

Evening all. Although could be morning by the time this post makes it out there, think I may fall asleep as I type. What a day, 146 miles worth of riding, 4 more than what I expected which I will explain later. Probably the toughest, longest day I could ever have imagined. The final climb from Exeter into Okehampton was grueling! Now before I nod off, here’s how the rest went.

My original route for today had set me off for around 5 miles at the beginning on the A40, well, had I of known it was going to be busy as first thing in the morning I would have changed my plans! The beep count in anger went from 0 to 2 straight away! All I was doing was coasting down the inside lane. Anyway, I had a friendly beep later in the day so that’s still 4-2 to the good!

I chose to cycle through the Wye Valley and along the River Wye this morning, was around 25 miles into Chepstow and the road was decent, as were the views. Once through this I ended back up and crossing the Severn Bridge, was a hairy experience that was, a long old bridge with not much at the sides. I stayed as close to the inside as possible as I crossed it.

As I mentioned earlier I had some navigation issues today. In planning today’s route I thought I had viewed all the roads on Google maps, but to my surprise it was trying to send me down a cycle path. I don’t tend to take Camilla down gravel roads, I would use the MTB or Fat Wheel for that. So this ended up costing me an extra 4 miles in a detour back around the main roads. Swear this would have been where my heart rate spiked due to trying to keep on track. To top off further nav problems, I even had to follow another diversion when a road was closed.

As I was about to meet Mum and Dad for my second stop my phone died of battery. I had to pull over and ask this lady if I could use hers. She was very very friendly and helped me when I needed. Hope good things come her way, little bit more Karma for the week.

It has taken 730 miles for me to get over taken by another cyclist, and this didn’t just happen once, but three times! Ok so it was 105 miles into the day, and then a further two later on. On any other day I would have chased them down and stuck with them. Not today, not with another day to go. I clearly noticed just how much I started to slow throughout the day today, the long climb at the end was the last thing I needed, yet I knew it was coming all day. At mile 134 I hit the wall! There was this long decent with an almost vertical road the other side, I had to get as much momentum as possible before I started going up. Well, it got the better of me, I still managed to get up it, but had no gears in the locker. Even the locals that I went past were telling me I still had a bit to go, and that I wouldn’t be coming that way again! I agreed with the later statement that’s for sure! So although the final 25 miles was pretty much all climb, there is one thing that any cyclist will like and I can guarantee it! The climb where you get stronger as it goes on and you up the gears! Such a good feeling!

Today was around 10 hours of cycling, when I think about how I managed to get to 50 miles in 3.5 hours, then the final 100 miles coming in at 6.5 it suggests otherwise. Yet the day felt long, and long, and long!

On a positive, Camilla got a compliment today. Pulled up at a roundabout and a pedestrian said “wow she’s beautiful”!

Saddle sore update. I have been constantly applying cream to my sores alllll day. My saddle at the end of the day couldn’t be anymore oiled if I needed it to. At mile 14, I went to get up out of the saddle and I had the feeling that I had torn the skin between my glute and hamstring. It was excruciating pain! I then had this all the way up to mile 50 before I could re apply the creams!

Here are the stats from today’s ride.

146.19 miles
10:07:15 riding time
33.2 mph top speed
14.4 mph average speed
86 rpm cadence
6942 ft of climbing
5415 calories burnt
7.1 litres of water

Probably my latest night to bed since I’ve been away. I think I’m nodding off now as I type, hope you enjoyed today’s update.

Time to go cross the line with a 102 mile day tomorrow, finishing with some bubbles I think!

If it works!?

https://livetrack.garmin.com/session/170540c4-ee2d-4224-a715-106c28a3d0dc/token/3B13901835354D8F4F4D312A9371E0D5

5 days down, 2 to go! Everyday and every morning feels like a groundhog day at the moment. The porridge is tasting worse day by day, the regime each morning is now finely planned, get up, eat, lotion up, cream my saddle sore, get the snacks ready for first 40-50 miles, then get out on the road.

The conditions this morning were not the best, there was a mist in the air which made it feel cooler again. The whole day was actually a bit more windy than I would’ve liked, it makes it very challenging cycling when a huge lorry goes past in the opposite direction. Head wind and a lorry means you got about a 3 second delay before the gust hits you and pushes you all over the road! It’s days like this that I miss the Raiders and cycling in a group, could have done with tucking in behind one of the guys and being dragged along at a fast pace!

Each day I try to get as far as I can before the “Support Team” catch me up, seeing Mum’s face when she passes me is a good sight, probably more so for her seeing me and settling her nerves! Having that first cup of tea goes down a right treat, especially with the couple of chocolate digestives.

Dad had predicted that day 5 would be a tough day, more from the mental side than physical, but actually it’s both. The first stint was tough today, took a while to get the rhythm going in the legs. I actually think I get stronger as the day goes on, yet still have to get out the saddle every now and then to ease the pain in the buttocks!

I think I am starting to lose my marbles a little bit, days are blending into one, and I can remember where we have been, stopped, or what I have missed from the views. So I am normally pretty sound with my mental arithmetic, yet the losing my marbles was evident today when I got to 60 miles. I knew I would have another 60 to go, that was a simple 120 split in half. Yet I then thought about when I meet Mum and Dad at mile 80, I would also still have 60 miles to go!

I thought to myself today, that across the last 600 odd miles and 41 hours of cycling, I have only been beeped at by cars 4 times. Surprisingly these were as a sign of thanks! On some of the small lanes I am driving down, the lorries or cars tend to wait behind me for a gap to over take. Now I give them a signal when it’s all clear, they pass and sometimes, not all times, give me a little beep to say thank you. Have to believe in Karma from time to time.

When I bought my new bike I had the bike setup to exactly how I like to ride, I went with a 50-34 compact configuration. Now when out for a casual 30-40 mile ride, I would typically use all the gears available, however to save my legs from burning up too much with back to back to back 100+ rides I have not used the larger chain ring once. So although my legs have been spinning like crazy, hopefully I’ll be able to have some fun on the last day!

I could tell that I am getting stronger and stronger by the day, not just because my legs look and feel like Luke McCallisters, but also by the fact that at mile 100 I was cycling up hill (not very steep), and averaging near on 20 mph!

I think what got me through most of today was waking up to lots and lots of well wishes and support messages. It meant a lot to me knowing that people have my back and a general concern for my well being. Although with all the pain I am in across the body, one piece of advice I can not live by at the moment is my own “listen to the body”, it’s what I say when training, and knowing when to push the body or not. So I guess this week I am definitely not practicing what I preach!

If you are still reading this, 5 days in then I want to firstly say thanks for being part of this with me. I also want to ask that if you haven’t already, please try and contribute to my fundraising page. As you can see, I set this up to be a challenge, and hopefully you can see that it is. It will all be very very appreciated, not just by me, but by all the families impacted by the charities.

Here are the stats from today’s ride.

124.96 miles
8:04:58 riding time
33.3 mph top speed
15.5 mph average speed
88 rpm cadence
5183 ft of climbing
4412 calories burnt
6.4 litres of water

For the record, Garmin said I only need 16 hours recovery!

https://livetrack.garmin.com/session/a9a4dbda-dbe0-4bf5-ae40-e0ed1655be87/token/F3719795CEB6D93D19357B1FAC1759DA

https://livetrack.garmin.com/session/b75200b6-a5a7-4dd9-aeb1-9aa71d1b2053/token/46615F807913B4809E864272868896AF

Evening all, I am currently sat in a Walkabout, just watched the Frogs beat Belgium and set us up for the Final against England on Sunday. So the story of today…

Based on finishing yesterday earlier than planned and ending up in Ardlui, I thought it was best to get up super early and make sure I was on the road for 6:30 prompt! Alarm set for 5:30 and after a couple of snoozes I was up, ready to go. I’m finding eating the porridge in the morning a bit of a chore, basically seeing it as fuel and fuel only. Before I set off, I found Dad at Florence with his binoculars in hand looking out over the lake. There was a boat and some black movement from the water beside it. It was a couple of swimmers, reminded me that in 3 weeks I will be navigating the Alpe D’Huez 21 turns in the triathlon! Gulp!

For those of you that were reading my blog back when I rode to Spain will remember that I went through a period where my hand felt very numb and wouldn’t close properly, well it isn’t that bad this time, but I can feel it is the start of triggering that same sensation again.

So I made the Surrey News yesterday, an article with an interview from my Uncle on how proud he is of what I am doing. I would have chosen to cycle between all the football grounds he scored at but didn’t fancy a trip to the Bush and back! You can read the article here – Surrey Live Article

The day started out on that lovely road again, the A82. This time it was cycling the length of Loch Lomond, such a pretty sight, just a shame the weather was overcast and a little miserable. The morning was fairly flat, with a 50 mile gradual increase between miles 50-100.

It’s amazing just how much this thing is a physical and mental challenge. My legs at the moment feel like lead, my knee’s were hurting throughout the first 40 miles. Add to that the 9 hour concentration period today, it’s all starting to build up. Yet the mental side tells me I am nearly half way through and I can do this!

You may have seen me add to the stats this time my cadence, that’s how many revolutions per minute I am getting through when pedaling. So as you can see, my average cadence is 90 rpm across 9 hours today. For those of you that do spin classes, you will know what it takes to keep at 90, try doing that over the prolonged period of time I am.

Glasgow…er…what a lovely place…

Within the first 5 miles of cycling through the city I saw 3 police cars (with sirens on), heard 2 car alarms and smelt 2 burger vans. This was all before 9:30 in the morning! I thought I had lost a bike light as I went over some bumps, I also thought my tyre had blown, only to realise that I had lost a water bottle. I turned around to go get it and a van decided to drive straight over it! Great! It was a weird experience cycling through Glasgow, no cyclist said hello or did the courtesy nod. Miserable people!

The B7078 into Abington was some of the worse road conditions I have had in the last 3 days, I felt like the Ultimate Warrior holding onto the handle bars at one point, I was going all over the place!

*Bug count update, so I am now stopping the bug count due to hitting a whole swarm of the things post Abington services. I feel like they got into my helmet and have bitten my head, it is really really itchy!

As well as going into uncharted territory with the distance today, I also broke my 40km PB (recorded on my Garmin at least), 1:22, which in the grand scheme of things is pretty good going. So the Garmin gives me an update every 5 miles of how long it took. On average throughout the last 3 days it is taking between 18 – 22 minutes, hence my average mph for the day at 15. Well today I smashed 2 sections back to back between miles 90 – 100, under 30 minutes. Within the same period I knocked off 37 miles in 2 hours.

When I hit England at 5 o’clock the sun decided to come out in full blast, I had clearly over estimated the power of the sun through the clouds up till that point, as you can see from my shocking t-shirt tan I am supporting. Facepalm moment right there!

So my Garmin seems to be dropping my recovery time after each day, either I am getting fitter or the Garmin just realised that I wont listen to it! Day 1 suggested 4 days, yesterday was down to 72 hours, today was 47 hours, lets see if I can beat that tomorrow!

Here are the stats from today’s ride.

140.34 miles
9:06:27 riding time
30.7 mph top speed
15.4 mph average speed
90 rpm cadence
5203 ft of climbing
5198 calories burnt
6.5 litres of water

Bug count = 5*

Time to go get an early night, with a shorter day tomorrow at 116 miles, I am going to treat myself to a little lay in. Plan is to get on the road for 7 and then have my first break and some food in Kendal.

Night all…