Day 9 - Kyle of Sutherland to John O'Groats

It was at the start line of this last day, 9 of 9, that I was thinking back to Bath University at the end of day 2 where I had a very sore backside and not a lot of sleep. I had been thinking that's 2 days down but still 7 to go... That's half a 2 week holiday. It seemed like a long time then but suddenly it was done and we were about to finish. I can't say at that point I wanted to roll back time but I was enjoying every moment. We woke up to One Day Like This - Elbow

We set off along a very remote, deserted single track road which went north for roughly 50 miles before hitting the coast. Route Director Andy Cook said it was his favourite road ever. I'll agree it was nice but 50 miles on the same road drags and I can think of nicer ones but perhaps that was the frame of mind I was in at the time - I just wanted to get to that finish line.

We turned east when we hit the north coast and immediately into big hills and headwinds. Since we were a group of 10 and I can go up hills fast I found myself doing a lot of waiting at the tops and was getting a bit impatient but promised myself that as we had ridden the majority of the event as a team, they had cheered me up when I was feeling grumpy, I had ridden on the front when they were having off days etc etc we would finish as a team. It was the right decision to make as they were a great group to ride with and the banter made time pass well (and slowly when the jokes were poor!).

Eventually the hills subsided and it was just flat into the headwind (the only wind on the whole trip so I shouldn't complain really) past nondescript arable farmland. Dull riding and it took an age but finally we were at 15 miles to go (out of 105) and the pace and morale picked up. I was feeling strong so did a good shift on the front to help out and we hit the finish at JOG to a heroes welcome, music and beer.

Another beer with my new found friends and we all headed our separate ways. It's a shame they mostly live down south as meeting up with them will be a challenge.

I stayed the night in Wick with Neil before we travelled home the next day but I've never been so pleased to see these in my life:

Dealing with the mental challenge of cycling 1000 miles in 9 days

Alongside the physical training I'm doing for LEJOG, I also need to consider the mental side of things too.

I've currently got three plans for tackling that.

The first is to ride through all weathers in the hope that I become mentally tougher by riding through the hard times as well as the good. I tend not to be a fair weather cyclist anyhow but there are occasions where I make preference based on the forecast. I'm doing my best to use the forecast as a heads up on what I'm about to ride in rather than a tool for planning rides, although this only really applies to riding solo. I don't want to ruin someone else's day intentionally!

The second is to get into the head of a long distance cyclist to get a feel for how they prepare and deal with it. To do this I have just bought MarkBeaumont's book The Man Who Cycled the World (ok I'm not cycling the world unsupported but everyone has to start somewhere!).

So far so good, I've got to Poland and it's an engaging read and an incredible challenge. It's useful to read about the emphasis he put on sports massages, something I've not really considered yet other than knowing they have massage tents on Ride Across Britain. Might need to look into this during my training too.

The third is to stretch myself to find out what I'm capable of. This means back to back rides and long days in the saddle. I did my first major, and by major I mean over 30 miles per day for 2 days, back to back last month with this 2 day 187 mile ride to Scotland. I've also done a couple of 100 milers in the last two months, ridden 270 miles in one week last week (a HUGE achievement for me) and am planning to do my longest ride ever on Sunday at 140 miles which includes cycling to and from the start.

I'm no expert on this by any means and the ultimate test will always be LEJOG in September but so far this feels about right.

Why am I writing a blog?

In September 2014 I'll be riding 969 miles from Land's End to John O'Groats (LEJOG) in 9 days as part of a team from Vodafone for charity. That's an average of 110 miles per day.

This is my story of the 5 months between now and September as I get on the bike and prepare for this challenge.

I'm writing this as a record that I can look back on in the future and in response to comments from a few friends who wanted to read more about what I will be going through. Perhaps others will find it when searching the net and find something useful too.

I have a Just Giving page, if you would like to sponsor me then you can do so here

https://www.justgiving.com/Jason-Phillips-LEJOG

I'm raising funds for the Vodafone Foundation Moyo Lesotho Challenge which aims to get treatment to 41,000 young people living with HIV/AIDS.

Lesotho is one of the poorest countries in the world and has the third highest HIV prevalence (23.6%). More than 130,000 youth have been orphaned by the disease. The epidemic has had a devastating impact on families, communities and economic development.

Every penny counts, is very gratefully received and feels like a vote of confidence from you in my chances of completing the challenge. I'm hoping to raise a whopping £3000!

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Anyway, here are my favourite cycling quotes that I've found while clicking around the net:


“Ride as much or as little, or as long or as short as you feel. But ride.” Eddy Merckx

"It never gets easier, you just go faster." Greg LeMond

"Training is like fighting a gorilla. You don't stop when you're tired. You stop when the gorilla is tired." Greg Henderson

and this gem;

"It's not about the bike" Lance Armstrong
With hindsight it actually wasn't!