Well there you go 7 days have been and gone. Today was an odd day, got off to a false start, I had got about a mile away, and crunch – the cassette (the block of gears on the back wheel) had come to pieces, chain was firmly wedged between the gears and the spokes, great! Bodged a repair and returned to the B&B to fix it properly. Wasted about 45 minutes a bit of energy and a whole host of enthusiasm. The time and energy were gone for good however the scenery helped to restore the enthusiasm, that and 8 mars bars and more pain killers than is probably good for you. The miles passed quite happily, general energy levels an undulating profile and the customary head wind kept average speed to just under 16 mph which I was really pleased with. Met up with Mrs H and Harry a couple of miles for John O’Groats and was both pleased and proud to finish what Harry and I had started only a week ago.
It’s odd really, but not unexpected having seen very few cyclists all week I saw loads today, there were groups of riders heading south as I made my way North. It’s this I think that got me thinking. I have always been very well aware that the challenge I set myself is by not stretch of the imagination huge. There a thousands of people who have completed the ride, there are thousands more who are more than capable of completing it if they bothered trying. I know that the pro riders cover the same mileage I covered but at twice the speed and then battle in high speed sprint finishes. The record is less than two days and the record for the return journey is about 5 days (how)
However I know that only a couple of years ago there is no way on earth I would have dreamt or attempting a 50 mile ride let along this. I am also really pleased to have done it on my own, don’t get me wrong I could not have done it without the help of my ace wife and my supper star son, but the pedalling was me on my own, nobody to share the work with, no body to draft behind, no one to talk to, to break up the solitude of just me and my thoughts. I am not sure of my total road hours but it will be in the region of 60hr, and those 60hr were mine – just mine – the exhilaration of the speed, the stunning views, the villages, the amazing sunny weather, the wind, the rain, the pain, the misery, the tiredness and the ultimate feeling of achievement. The achievement in my eyes in not to have got to John O’Groats – as I said lots of people have – in my mind the achievement is to have got from an overweight, under active, unmotivated 37 years old to a fit, hopefully healthy, certainly active and defiantly motivated 40 year old.
Further more I appear to have made my mum, wife and son proud of me – what more could a son, husband and dad want.
sorry it that got a bit rambly