Day 11 - It's All Over!!!

Today was it. Our final push for the finish line was upon us. 48 miles down the road was Lands End, marking the completion of our End to End ride. 

As it was our final day of 'punishment' (!) we allowed ourselves a nice lie in...getting up at 6am as opposed to 5.30am!! I was feeling quite positive despite the fact that I knew it would be a tough 48 miles. My Achilles had swollen during the night and my knee wasn't great either. From the previous day's ride I was pretty sure no amount of saddle adjusting was going to make any difference anymore - it was gonna be a case of biting my lip and soldiering through. We went to leave at 7.23am only for Pete to find his back tyre down a bit. He went back to the van, pumped it up properly and we got going just before half past 7. At once the pain hit. Those first few miles were by far the hardest, trying to get my Achilles used to moving in a pedalling motion again. It had obviously siezed up good and proper in the night. We took the A39 straight down to the A30 which would lead us all the way to Lands End. Being a fast road we decided this was our best chance - I could get some terrific speeds up on the huge sweeping downhills and use the momentum to get part way up the next hill!! It worked. Once on the A30 we were flying. Our average which had been as low as 12.3 mph on the grinding start, where I was fighting to get my foot moving properly, steadily got higher and higher rising above 13, then 14 and then 15mph. After the first hour we stopped for a rest. I put some more deep heat on my Achilles, not that it was really doing much but at least I felt i was doing something to help it!! (not cycling 48 miles on it would have helped, but hey!!) After guzzling a kitkat chunky we set off once more. Getting going again proved really hard. I was finding that every time I stopped pedalling for a bit, be it for a downhill or a pit stop, once I started pedalling again the pain was excruciating! Once I'd been pedalling for a minute or so it would settle down a bit. So although the downhills were great and I made the most of them, it didn't half hurt getting going up the next hill. One particular downhill stretched out for miles below me and I was determined to get the most out of it. Down on the tri bars I quickly picked up speed, feeling the air whoosing past my ears! A quick glance down at my speedo said I was going over 44 mph! 'Ahhh' I thought to myself!! Fastest I've ever been (for the 3rd time in 2 days!) I quickly flicked my eyes back to the road and just concentrated on making it down the hill in a straight line. At the bottom Pete pulled over. 'How fast were you going down there?' he said? I flicked through the screens on my speedo to 'max speed'. '47.3mph!!!' Blimey!! Pete had maxed at 50.3 and couldn't quite believe it himself! Eeek! Further down the road we stopped just gone 2 hours and had our second break. Our average was up to 16mph by this point, helped by the good tail wind we were getting. It was pretty hot too, again with a blue sky! We were now only 14 miles from Lands End and I was eager to get going again to reach the finish. Pushing on we maintained our 16mph average. Approaching Penzance our support vehicle came past  and blinked it's lights, cheering us on! We overtook them in the traffic a bit further down, giving them the chance to do another drive by!! Coming out past Penzance we hit some steep hills. The A30 had now reduced to a single carriageway and wound it's way up a series of climbs before evening out a bit and rewarding us with a big long descent. I stopped pedalling and we both glided down for about a mile and a half, again on the tri bars to get the most out of the downhill! Just past a roundabout was a sign for Lands End reading 9 miles. That gave me a boost. We were now under the tens and I was counting down! Adrenaline seemed to take over and I wasn't noticing my achilles so much. Pete was infront and was being conscious not to set too high a pace for me, but as we got nearer I had to keep calling to him to speed up and get pedalling! I was getting good momentum along the flats and was trying to go into the hills with as much speed as I could, so I didn't want to be braking behind him!! We saw some great views, rolling hills, more buzzards, and now the sea!! We were so close! Again the A30 got smaller, turning almost to a country lane as it wound up and down the small hills and out towards the sea. We flew through the little seaside town of Sennon. Further on I heard Pete shout 'Right, Right!' I looked ahead and there was a sign marked Lands End youth hostel!! 'No!!' I shouted back and continued flying down the A30! Pete and navigation dont mix!!! I started to get excited now, knowing that we really were going to make it! For the last few days, I honestly didn't know if I'd hold out and be able to complete what we'd started. We rolled down the long straight reach to Lands End and crossed the finish line at 10.45am, clocking in at 48.77 miles. Our total mileage for the ride has worked at 938.8 miles, topping our original planned mileage by almost 20 miles! We had lots of photos taken by Steve at the finish line and at the famous sign post, before having a brief look around the souvenir shop and driving to Kelynack Campsite. Pete cycled it - I myself decided I'd done quite enough cycling for 11 days!! 

This ride has proved to be the hardest thing I've ever done. There were days where I was so exhausted both mentally and physically that each push of the pedals was a huge effort! Other days we seemed to breeze, still feeling fresh the other side! We've had plenty of sun, plenty of wind, not much rain (although day 9 probably made up for that in abundance!!) I've probably injured more parts of me than I care to remember! First my hand and wrist, then battled with a horribly stiff neck and shoulder, then on crept the knee trouble and finally the Achilles!! I currently have a set of ridiculous looking tan lines: I have white hands where my cycle gloves have been, brown arms up to my sleeve marks, then white feet, dark tanned shins, slightly tanned knees and white thighs!! Pete says I look like a Fruit Pastels lollie!!! My favourite part of the trip was most definitley Scotland. That first day skirting the north coast of Scotland was so idyllic, and then coming down through the highlands past Loch Neave, seeing so much wildlife it was incredible. Cycling up the Glencoe Valley was just awesome. I've been down it several times in a car but had never appreciated it so much as going at cycling speed, being able to gaze up at the monstous mountains looming above and really appreciate how magnificent they are. The Scottish people we also found the friendliest. So many of them were so interested in what were doing and helped us along the way (thanks again to the lovely campsite owner at Woodend!).

I think if we were to do it again we'd take touring bikes as opposed to racing bikes. Although they were great for speed they were not great for tackling bad road surfaces, of which we encountered many!! We also had no panniers so if we wore our jackets for the cold early morning start, we were stuck with them for the boiling hot afternoon finish!! Having said that, nothing broke, I had no punctures (Pete had one) so all in all they did us proud!

I do feel a great sense of achievement having done this ride. Pete was great company, even when I wasn't ( I may have got a little grizzly at times...kirkstone pass possibly??!!!) and kept me going throughout. Thanks Pete! His parents were also amazing in supporting us throughout the trip, keeping us fed, with clean cycle gear and being our backup whenever we needed them. A huge thank you! And thanks also to the massive number of people who have sponsored the ride and made it really worthwhile. I've raised a tremendous amount for the Brittle Bones Society and it's going up even as I write! Im sure my cousin Robert would be well pleased :o)