THE RIDE DIARY
Friday Sep 5th ‘till Monday Sep 15th 2003.
The Diary covers the teams journey to John O’ Groats, then the Ride to Land’s End, and finally the return to Keighley. This page will be updated daily from phone calls, text messages, and emails from the team.
Fri 5th Journey to John o Groats
Txt: Good run up. Took a few pictures at John 'O Groats. Russ.
Sat 6th John O Groats to Dingwall
Txt: Weather excellent for first hundred miles. Rained for last ten. Few aches and pains but ok so far. Russ.
E:mail: We cycled for 7hrs 54mins today, averaging 14.3 mph. We actually cycled 114 miles the first day to reach our accomodation just past ‘Dingwall’. At one point I did 35 mph, which was the fastest of the day. The scenery is fantastic including oil rigs, the Orkney islands, breath-taking coastal views, Dornoch Bridge, and Glenmorangie Distillery. We have some good pictures to show everyone after our Keighley visit. Steve.
Sun 7th Dingwall to Bridge of Orchy
E:mail: We cycled for 8hrs 17mins today. Today was harder so our average speed dropped to 14 mph for the whole distance cycled. We cycled 112 miles to ‘Bridge of Orchy’, going past Loch Ness, Urquhart Castle, Ben Nevis, the Commando memorial at Spean Bridge, and Glencoe Pass. Brian has taken the speed record with a 45 mph mad dash down a huge hill.
We are all really sore after the second day it’s a bigger challenge than we thought it would be. The people have been really nice to us and sounded their horns and waved to us on route. The accomodation as been good and everyone we meet wants to know about our cycle trek which is a good thing. You would think that cycling would help us to lose some weight but let me tell you the truth…. the food up here is great and we are all getting fatter.
On a final note I should point out that the most talked about thing we discuss is the Keighley Visit, we are all really excited about it and its one of the things that drives us on.
Steve.Mon 8th Bridge of Orchy to Sanquhar
Txt: Longest day, weather and scenery great. Road surfaces very poor. Knees aching. Good evening, raised lots of money. Russ.
E:mail: We are bang on schedule but to say we are tired is an understatement. The Scottish people have been absolutely fantastic. All my impressions of the Scots have been changed because they have treated us like VIPs and have been extremely generous in giving donations all the way along the route.
The highlight of Monday was cycling along the western bank of Loch Lomond where we could have been a million miles away from traffic congestion and our usual jobs! By far the worst part of Monday was cycling on the A77 from Glasgow to Kilmarnock, this was the A road from hell, the worst road we have been on so far! Steve.
Txt: More problems with knee. Doing ok now though. Had to cut short of Kendal as Steve has got sickness and diarrhoea so we have to do a bit more tommorow. Russ.
E:mail: We are genuinely disappointed to be 15 miles behind schedule tonight but Keighley is now only 68 miles away and we are absolutely determined to arrive there at 12.30 pm on Wednesday.
Steve Brier really was quite ill this afternoon and we just hope that he's going to be OK on Wednesday morning. Even the weather turned against us today. All the time we were in Scotland the sunshine was fantastic but as soon as we crossed the border into England, down came the rain, and frankly the scenery has been a bit boring today, not a patch on the Scottish Highlands! Brian.
E:mail: Shap to Keighley today 10-15 miles more than expected, due to various problems yesterday. The van was involved in an road traffic accident at Tebay which also did not help matters. We managed to arrive at Steeton at the correct time for the ride into Keighley, exceptional welcome at Keighley loads of people turned out - THANKS! Also thanks to the Mayoress who booked me into the osteopaths to try rectify the knee problem Russ.
E:mail: The reception we had from the people of Keighley was absolutely magnificent! All our wives and partners were there, with our bus driver mates and lots of shoppers, office workers and other people. The police support was really excellent and we particularly appreciate Supt. Mark Whyman putting on his own cycling kit and riding in with us! It was a disappointment that BBC tv Look North did not turn up as we had hoped they would, but the warmth of the people of Keighley made up for that.
Our mileage cycled today has been 68.7 which means that the total so far from John O'Groats to Keighley is now 497 miles with only another 394 miles still to go! And Brian still holds the daily speed record of 45 mph! We're still a bit worried about Russell's continuing knee problems and we'll just have to see how that goes on Thursday morning. The hardest thing now will be getting out on the road again tomorrow morning when we have to go over Cock Hill Moor to Hebden bridge and then on through Todmorden to Manchester. Steve.
Thurs 11th Keighley to Dunston
E:mail: We met at Keighley at 8am to set off over the hill to Hebden Bridge - the morning was nice to start with. I was still having a huge amount of pain in my knees, having got to the outskirts of Manchester I had to call it a day as I physically could not continue. Many of my sponsors have been per mile, I have approx 360 miles of the ride left to do and intend to complete it when the inflammation in my knees has gone (hopefully by the next long weekend off work). The rest of the team have continued and I wish them every success, over and out. Russ.
E:mail: We began the day an extra 13 miles beyond our target destination of Dunston at Wolverhampton and forged ahead rapidly through Kidderminster, Worcester, Tewkesbury and Gloucester to Bristol. It has been a beautiful day with excellent scenery and we decided to keep going for an extra 12 miles beyond Bristol to finish just outside Weston-super-Mere. Total mileage for the day was 104 which now gives a total of 711 from John O'Groats. We both broke Brian's previous individual record of 46 mph by reaching 51 mph near Gloucester. The average speed for the day has been 14.45 mph. We now have 180 miles left to accomplish and only 2 days left to do it ! Steve.
Sat 13th Bristol to Okehampton
E:mail: This has been the hardest day of all! Everyone told us that the Highlands of Scotland and the Pennines would provide the biggest inclines but the "Devon Banks" are something else; they really are formidable! We have done more climbing today than ever before and as a result, we have averaged only 13.2 mph today, our slowest day of the entire ride. Both Steve and I are really sunburnt, in fact Steve looks like toast done both sides! Brian.
Sun 14th Okehampton to Lands End!
[At exactly 2.20 pm Steve Brier & Brian Thorpe crossed the finishing line at Land's End, just 8.5 days and 891 miles after leaving John O'Groats. They had completed the final 86 miles at an average speed of 15.3 mph. Stopping one yard short of the finishing line, Brian & Steve then crossed it together]Phone: After the fantastic welcome at Keighley last Wednesday, I had half expected the Land's End arrival to be a bit of an anticlimax, but it wasn't. I felt a huge sense of elation. This has been an experience I will never ever forget. We want everyone back home to know what a fantastic support team we have had in Jim Horan & Dave Demot who have co-driven the Support Van for the whole of the 9 days. Steve, Russell and I could not have done this without Jim & Dave. Much of the week must have been pretty boring for them as they waited for us to catch up but we want them to know that we really, really do appreciate their help. Brian.
Phone: I'm absolutely knackered, mate, just knackered! Steve.
Mon 15th Journey Home to Keighley.