Lands End to John O'Groats, Day 13 - Goodbye Nick

Day 13 Morning

We were up nice and early on Day 13 as we knew we would take a bit longer to get ready as we were expecting Danny and his fella Ben to drop Ant off with us. I was looking forward to having Ant back with us, I really enjoy chatting to him and he makes a good brew! It was good to see Danny when they arrived, I'd not seen him for a while. He tried his best to congratulate me but Danny suffers from an extreme form of lack of enthusiasm and is just as blunt as me. It was nice to get a "you're doing well." out of him! I have a lot of time for Danny, I like people who's faces can't hide what their minds are thinking! I'd not met Ben before, he seemed nice but I was a bit embarrassed shuffling about in my lycra the first time I met someone!
It wasn't long after they arrived that my dad and Elouise arrived at the campsite. Elouise was just here with us for the day, she was going to cycle the full day with me and then get a lift back to her car with Nick when his dad was taking him home. Dad was staying until the end of the challenge to share the driving with Ed so that Ed could do some cycling. When Dad and Elouise started unpacking the car I noticed there were two bikes not one. I asked dad who the other bike belonged to
"It's mine, do you like it?"
My dad has a serious damage to his back that has resulted in him having two operations on it. Some days he can't get out of bed, quite often he can't stand up straight and walks like he's crapped his pants. Here he was with his bike telling me he was going to cycle. My dad won't be told when he has an idea in his head. Luckily, with Elouise cycling I needed someone helping coordinate the other people coming to see me that day. Nick's dad was coming to pick him up, my mum was coming to see me after the push and an old running friend Vicky Breeze was also coming along to see me at the end of the day. Dad agreed to help Ed coordinate and to take some photos too. I was worried that he would hurt his cack and then not be able to drive which would hinder my progress plus I just didn't want the bloody minded old git hurting himself.
 We needed to set off to the start as I was getting an escort to Scotland by some cyclists from Carlisle Reivers Cycling Club, this was what I'd hoped every day would be like but with everything that had gone on that resulted in the date change I hadn't had time to contact cycling clubs and ask for help. This had resulted in one big advantage, I hadn't needed to stick to a time table, I could stop for a rest when I needed to and push miles further each day when I felt like it. I now know that Amanda for Carlisle Reivers had been messaging the dream team quite regularly trying to pin down when I was going to be in the area, thankfully it landed on a day she wasn't working and she was able to gather a little team to ride with me. At the start point I met the Reivers and introduced them to Bonnie and the gang. We posed for photos and then got ready to leave.

My little crew at the start.

 I let every one know all the do's and don'ts of riding near me. Don't get too close to my hands, don't stop suddenly if I am behind because I can't stop quickly and more things like that. I also warned them all that I am very slow on climbs but quite fast on downhill sections. I told them I wouldn't wait for them on the descents because they would catch me easily as soon as the downhill ended. With that we set off. I quickly learnt that I was actually further from Carlisle than I thought. I needed to push almost 10 miles to get to Carlisle. The road was an undulating one so I soon demonstrated how slow I was on the ups and how I could drop my little pack of cyclists on the downs.

Amanda waiting for me as I struggle up a hill with Nick and Elouise

We spent the morning getting to know each other. I really liked all of the cyclists from Reivers, Amanda was nuts but in a good way and she had me laughing quite a few times. There was a lad called Dan who had a stutter or another similar speech impediment, I had plenty of time to let him get his words out so that didn't matter to me. I enjoyed chatting to him. Then there were two more lads who were really interested in how the chair worked and the technical side of pushing and racing in general.
 As we started to get into a busier area I gave Amanda one of the collection tubs and she was brilliant at collecting, waving it at cars and stopping at bus stops and asking folk in a really happy, bubbly way. When we got in to Carlisle itself there were large numbers of people doing the Sunday morning walk of shame. Amanda was straight on to them and in their still drunk, bewildered state she managed to get them donating. In the busier areas of the city I had three cyclists collecting donations and another three keeping me company.

Carlisle with my crew.

 Carlisle looked like a lovely place, somewhere I'd never been before but somewhere I do want to explore again in the future. Not long after Carlisle I was pushing really well on some super smooth roads. I was really enjoying my day and showing off a little bit. I upped the pace slightly on a relatively flat road. At one stage I was flying along at almost race pace, I was at the front of the group and I missed a turn off I should have taken. I had no idea and I was pushing hard. Dan appeared at the side of me trying to talk to me, he was struggling slightly so I just carried on pushing whilst he found his words, I didn't want to put pressure on him. Eventually he said
"Wrong way"
I looked behind and it was just us two the others were at the turning waiting for us to go back. Fancy sending the lad with the speech trouble to hunt me down and stop me! It's like asking me to teach someone the Argentine Tango! What a cracking lad for actually doing it and stopping me. I could have gone miles out of my way if Dan hadn't stopped me.
With that little drama over, the local cyclists told us we were very close to the border so Ed, Ant and Dad left us to drive over the border and get ready to take photos as I crossed the border. I was really excited, I'm not sure why. I knew nothing would change over the border. It was just another big step forward and another landmark ticked off. Maybe I was excited for Nick to reach his target in memory of his son Charlie. I was really happy for Nick, cycling the whole of England with no experience and no training wasn't easy. I was relieved that I'd got him to the border but a bit upset that I knew he'd be going home in just a few hours time. We spent 10 minutes or so at the border taking photos with the various landmarks, we were a bit longer than I wanted to be as when Nick and I were posing for a photo with the way marker signpost that matched the one in Lands End and the one in John O'Groats some dizzy mare wondered into the back of shot just as My dad was about to take the photo. She was reading an information board but kept stopping to gawp at my in my wheelchair. After a few minutes I was getting bored of waiting for her to bugger off and dropped a few hints, she still didn't bloody move so after another few minutes I asked her if she was waiting to be in our photo. She tutted a walked off. There was a queue of traffic on the England-bound side of the road so just before we left Amanda ran down the traffic jam with the collection bucket, I think she got plenty of change but she did get a telling off from one guy, you always get one miserable sod.

Me and Nick at the way marker signpost.

Photo's taken, photo bombers and tight arses upset we got back on our way, passing through Gretna Green and seeing the famous buildings of the town. Nick hadn't heard of it but when we explained the history of English couples popping over the border to get married without all the English red tape he seemed to be taping note, maybe he was planning his own hasty wedding! We crossed over the motorway bridge and joined the old road that ran parallel to the motorway, it was here, not yet 2 miles inside Scotland that I was introduced to Scottish tarmac! Who knew it would be so different to the English stuff?!?! It had lots of stones in it which made the surface really rough, at the time I didn't know that most of Scotland is covered in the stuff, I thought it was just a stretch of shoddy workmanship. The stones were vibrating the whole chair and making the push uncomfortable. My bust ribs and my shins were hurting due to the vibrations and my speed dropped too.
 After 4 or 5 miles of being shook about whilst trying to climb I decided it was time to have lunch. Nick spoke to Ed, Ant and Dad as they overtook us and asked them to stop at the next available spot. When we caught them up they were in a layby busily brewing up and preparing cheese sandwiches. They were being eyeballed by some cows and half the team were straight over to the fence to pet the cows! Not me, I was gagging for a brew. With Ant being back I was handed recovery drinks, a recovery bar and a brew within seconds of finishing. Top notch service! Dad was trying to work out how many sandwiches were needed but Amanda and her team were turning back at this point. I wish they could have done more cycling with us because I'd had such a good morning with them. We said our goodbyes and waved them off back to England. Elouise, Ant, Ed, Nick, Dad and I sat down for lunch.

Amanda, Elouise and Dan petting the cows.

Day 13 Morning Stats

Miles: 23.35
Time: 2:12:30
Average Moving Speed: 10.6mph
Top Speed: 38.9mph
Slowest Mile Split: Mile 4 - 7:52
Fastest Mile Split: Mile 3 - 2:44
Total Ascent: 978ft
Average Heart Rate: 140bpm
Max Heart Rate: 161bpm

Day 13 Morning Progress Maps

Day 13 Afternoon

It had started to rain during lunch so we waited a while longer hoping it would dry up but it didn't. It'd been a really sunny morning so I don't think any of us expected rain. We finally plucked up the courage to go out and start the afternoon session. It felt much quieter without Amanda and gang at first, it was just Elouise, Nick and I now. They soon got chatting away and we were laughing about the conditions, it was meant to be summer!

Wet through!

 5 or 6 miles in ant the end of a dragging climb I could see a group of people stood watching me, I assumed it was just people from a layby that Ed had got out of their cars to cheer me on. I put my head down and gritted my teeth up the hill and as I got closer I could hear that it was Mother Hubbard screaming like a woman possessed. When I looked up she was waving her McLeod tartan scarf around. I pulled over for a quick chat with her and Ste my step dad. I posed for photos with mother hubbard and of course the tartan scarf.  She said she didn't think we'd stop so I think that cheered her up. I didn't know she was coming to watch me push I thought that she was just coming to the campsite after I'd finished.

Me, Mother Hubbard and the Mcleod Tartan scarf.

After a quick chat the three of us got on the road again but now with Mother Hubbard and Ste joining the motorhome bunny hopping us. Mother hubbard was screaming out of the window every time Ste drove her past us. It had Elouise and Nick in stitches.
"Your mum's nuts"
"yep I know!"
After around 10 miles the rain became very very heavy. We were soaked and cold but we had another boost to morale when at the side of the in the pouring rain my bosses wife Liz, her sister Fran and some of their friends were cheering and beeping as I passed. They were on their way back to Lancashire after a night out, I had no idea we would pass them! I would have liked to stop and chat but we were going downhill at the time and there is just no way my brakes would have stopped me in that weather so I just tried to wave whilst also trying to keep control of the chair.

 We carried on until almost 17 miles and then called it a day. Ant had a brew and my recovery stuff waiting for me, we all tried to get a little dryer before setting off. I was cold, wet, tired and hungry so I just wanted to get to the campsite. We had another free pitch this time it was at Moffat Manor Country Park which was a huge campsite, a lot of the caravans had gardens so they must have been owned and used by one family. The touring pitches were all in the centre of the park which was on a bit of a hill. When we arrived Mike, Nick's brother was stood waiting for us near reception, his dragon must have let him out for a few hours. The thing is, I think she must have dressed him too. He was wearing one of those extra long T-Shirt things. I wound the window down and asked him why he was wearing a dress. I don't think he found it funny but Nick did! Nick's dad Pete had already found out where our pitch was so Mike told us to follow him round. We parked up and Pete parked behind us followed by Ste and Vicky who had just arrived. It took a few minutes to work out what the next step was but Nick started to collect his things (and some things that weren't his the little tea-leaf took some cycling shorts and so 51 foundation kit that left us short) he packed them into his dad's car. I gave him a hug to say thanks for everything and he told me off! haha! Elouise decided to stay a bit longer and come to the bar with the rest of us... So it was time to say goodbye to Nick, he'd kept me entertained the whole way so far, saved me from rolling back down hills in Dartmoor, saved me from rolling off the edge on the old railway path, followed me around the ring roads of Gloucester and Shrewsbury, he'd kept my gloves in working order and just been a good mate. We waved them off and I went for a shower whilst the others sorted themselves out. The shower room was absolutely freezing and the shower didn't let much more than a dribble out so even after my shower I was no warmer.
When I got back to the motorhome I was met with Ed, dad and mum all trying to pack away the cakes biscuits and sweets everyone had brought with them. I'd mentioned that I had a craving for sweet things so all my visitors had brought bags of sugary, cakey, goodness with them! The only trouble was we didn't have enough cupboards to fit it all in! Elouise didn't have a change of clothes with her so she was in borrowed trackies and a T-shirt  way too big for her. I ushered us all along to get to the restaurant, I was starving!
 Elouise, Vicky, Dad, Ste, Mum, Ant, Ed and I found ourselves a table in what was the nicest campsite bar and restaurant we'd visited. We had a really good evening, lots of laughing and story telling. I had another pint to celebrate getting in to Scotland. People were making bets on the day I would reach John O'Groats. It was nice that it had gone from 'if' to 'when' now. Before too long it was time for Elouise, Vicky, Ste and mum to head off home. I tried to talk dad through the morning routine and then got in bed. It had been a long day and the weather had made it hard work but it had been a good day because of the people involved. I ended my diary for the day with:

Great Day!

Day 13 Afternoon Stats

Miles: 16.87
Time: 1:38:01
Average Moving Speed: 10.7mph
Top Speed: 28.0mph
Slowest Mile Split: Mile 5 - 8:34
Fastest Mile Split: Mile 8 - 3:05
Total Ascent: 697ft
Average Heart Rate: 147bpm
Max Heart Rate: 170bpm

Day 13 Afternoon Progress Maps

Total Daily Mileage: 40.22

Lands End to John O'Groats Day 2

Day 2 Morning
The alarms went off at 07:30 on day two, I hadn't had a good sleep at all as the aches of pushing 38.5 miles on day 1 had kept me up all night. I moved the curtain to see it was a wet day which made me extremely nervous. I have never been good at pushing in the wet, I'm still learning technique and getting my gloves to stick to the push rims whilst wet is something I struggle with. The morning routine on day 2 was a little faster as we all knew our roles from the day before, Nick was slow to get up (I think he was as tired as I was bless him) but we were ready earlier than on day 1. It helped that we decided to push from the campsite, it was only 1km from the point I finished day one at and it would be faster to get ready at the campsite. We said our goodbyes to the staff, thanked them for our free pitch and the weather had brightened up slightly so I got on my way. I'd woken up with a slight pain on the inside of my elbow but that soon eased. A downhill start ended with the climb in to Truro, what a beautiful place it is, somewhere I would like to go back and visit! The rain started whilst I was in Truro and that made the going really tough, once through Truro there was no flat ground. I was slipping on long dragging climbs and struggling on the steep descents which aren't easy in a wheelchair with a brake so useless at stopping the chair most athletes just grab the wheels to slow it down.

The weather and aches and pains were eased slightly by truck drivers encouraging me by beeping and stopping to clap, a bus driver opening his doors as he overtook me to shout me on and lots and lots of car passengers cheering for me. I was getting so much support I was starting to worry my cover would be blown by people posting on social media. I must have looked like I needed help as people were really enthusiastic with their encouragement!

Day 2 Elevation Chart. No Flat!

I needed a few stops on the hills to try and dry my gloves and get some grip but after 22miles I was spent for the morning, there was a serious rain shower going on and I could see I had a mammoth climb to come so I pulled in to a layby for lunch. I don't think Nick was going to complain about stopping, he was as cold, wet and tired as I was. I got in the van and got stripped off and into some dry clothes as fast as possible trying to get warm again. Ed had made us cheese sandwiches whilst I had been climbing up the last drag at a snails pace.
 Whilst eating lunch I facebooked the dream team at home and asked them to search for a freebie campsite for the night as we still had nowhere to stay. Natalie, Elouise and Michael were on the case during their lunch breaks at work and it was Elouise that came up with the goods on day 2; Siblyback Watersports Centre offered us a free pitch.

Day 2 Morning Stats
Miles: 22.38
Time: 2:54:06
Average Moving Speed: 8.2mph
Top Speed: 38.9mph
Slowest Mile Split: Mile twenty one; 15:00
Fastest Mile Split: Mile two; 2:29
Total Ascent: 1487ft
Average Heart Rate: 152bpm
Max Heart Rate: 182bpm
Day 2 Morning Progress Maps

Day 2 Afternoon
It had rained right through our lunch break, I'd been sat looking out of the motorhome window at the hill I would be starting the afternoon push on. There was no way I could've got up it at the end of the morning push and I wasn't confident that just over an hours rest and a couple of cheese butties would get me up what I could see ahead of me. Thank god that I couldn't see the full extent of the hill that I was about to tackle, if I'd of checked google maps I think I might have hidden under the bed and refused to come out! I summed whatever positivity I could find and tried to gee Nick up to get ready, that lasted all of 15 seconds. For some stupid reason I talked myself into putting my wet clothes back on as I would be wet again within a few minutes anyway. That silly choice meant that I was already cold before I'd even got sat in the chair and ready to go.
The push started with a 100m roll back down the hill as Nick had pushed me to the motorhome just before lunch and that is obviously against the rules. Nobody would have known if I didn't redo that short bit of the course but as much as I knew I was going to struggle on the climb I wanted to do it under my own steam, that was the entire point of the challenge. Straight away my gloves were slipping on the push rims, it took a good 6 or 7 minutes to get the 100m back to the Motorhome still parked in the layby where we had had lunch. The hill was a complete bastard, I tried three sets of gloves but they were sodden within 5 minutes of changing them. At one point I got the lads to swap my disk wheels for my quads. Quad wheels are carbon fibre the same as the solid disk wheels but they have four wide, blade-like, spokes with open space between them. I thought if I put them on then I could grip one of the spokes and use that to turn the wheel rather than the push rims. I didn't get very far at all before I realised the quads were dangerous. My grip kept slipping and my hand was going through the gap between the spokes and as the chair rolled backwards my hand and wrist was getting trapped between the wheel and the chair frame. It hurt a lot! So the lads quickly changed the wheels back to disks.
Nick was walking behind as I inched forwards, he was wearing a camera on his helmet to give a view of me in my chair and to prove I wasn't getting any help. All he could do was stop me rolling too far back down this arsehole of a hill. I was literally turning my wheel a quarter of a turn and then rolling back almost as far as I'd gone forward before nick would ram his bike's front wheel into the back of the chair to stop me rolling off. It must have been so frustrating for him watching me and not being able to actually help me move forward. I wasn't being good company either, I was rhyming off every swear word I knew in every combination I could think of. At one point I got so angry after running over my own hand I started leathering my wheels with my fists and doing a half growl, half shout thing at the top of my voice! I was furious that I wasn't moving anywhere near walking speed. The first mile of the afternoon push took me over one and a half hours to complete, that's more that 15 minutes slower than the world record for a marathon in a wheelchair! I was cold, wet, tired, angry, frustrated and not in a good frame of mind. This was only day 2 and I was struggling big time. In that first mile I had climbed 450ft, in my running days I had done plenty of fell races that weren't that steep!
 Both of the lads were great with me on that hill, they kept me going by being positive whilst I was having a melt down. Over one and a half hours climbing had taken a lot out of me both mentally and physically. I was running on empty I managed another two small hills and then a decent downhill but when I met the next hill I'd had enough. I climbed it for 15 minutes but I was so exhausted I was falling asleep in my chair, I had nothing left at all. I called it a day after just 5 miles on the afternoon push. Those 5 miles took almost two and a half hours and they most certainly were not fun!
I hadn't met my daily target mileage and even though the total for the two days together was still on target I felt like I'd failed that day. I thought that if I felt that bad on day 2 there was very little chance of making it to John O'Groats. Was day 2 the beginning of the end? Ed made a phone call to our mate Danny during the drive to the campsite, I can't remember what it was about but I remember Danny asking how I was doing and Ed answering with "he's had a tough day but he's keeping his spirits up." I thought to myself I'm in a foul mood and have been most of the day, I wonder if that is a pre arranged code for "he's doing shite, I think we will be driving home soon". Haha!
When we got to Siblyback Watersports Centre all three of us were blown away by the beauty of the place. The campsite was completely empty so we chose a pitch right next to the lake. The only problem was I didn't have the energy to get up the campsite to the shower block, Nick had to push me! I was meant to be pushing the length of the country and I couldn't manage the length of the campsite! After my shower Nick helped me back to the motorhome and we were met with the news that we had forgotten to pack the pans in our rush to get on the road two days earlier so our only choice of food from what we had with us was toast, microwaved beans and grilled bacon. Not the most nutritious food but needs must! Nick was happy though, he'd heard of toast, beans and bacon so he was confident we weren't trying to poison him unlike day 1's Couscous-gate!
I was in bed and snoozing by 8pm, before the lads went to bed Ed did some more route planning and Nick added lots of small bits of tape to my push rims to try and give me more grip. At least the campsite was silent that night with it being so remote.

Our motorhome at the beautiful Siblyback lake. Click for larger image.

Day 2 Afternoon Stats
Miles: 4.98
Time: 2:23:47
Average Moving Speed: 6.1mph
Top Speed: 35.2mph
Slowest Mile Split: Mile one; 1:36:34 (yes over an hour and a half for one mile!)
Fastest Mile Split: Mile four; 6:54
Total Ascent: 722ft
Average Heart Rate: 139bpm
Max Heart Rate: 166bpm

Total Daily Mileage: 27.36

Day 2 Afternoon Progress Maps

Handcycle arrived!

  At last my handcycle has been delivered. I bought with the compensation money I received from being run over whilst training almost two years ago. I have never tried one out before but I have noticed other athletes becoming fitter and faster wheelchair athletes by using a handcycle for cross training and I wanted to get in on the action. It arrived with a couple of bits missing so it was stranded in my front room for a few days before I could use it. On the morning the wheelchair manufacturers sent the missing bits I was lucky the weather seemed calm and sunny. Knowing it would still be bitter I wrapped up well and headed out on my new toy to do my longest training route that I do at home in my race chair, It's 19 miles but quite hilly.
  I had heard that handcycling was easier than wheelchair racing and faster than wheelchair racing so I wasn't expecting the hard time I was about to have. Firstly I hadn't put the pedals in the correct position (not even sure if they are called pedals if you turn them with your hands?) I was having to do a mini ab crunch to reach the pedals when they were at the furthest distance from me. I had also forgotten about how gears work, in my defence it is 15 years since I have been cycling, I forgot that the big cogs on the wheel do the opposite of the cogs at the pedal end, doh! So I cycled miles in a gear that I was struggling to turn and only noticed when I was almost home! I didn't have any sports gloves and elected not to wear my normal gloves which was a bit of a silly choice, my hands were numb before I had covered 2 miles.
  When I had reached the turn around point I was way behind the time I would have done in my race chair, I was completely knackered and the heavens opened. Part freezing rain and part hailstones, it hurt. In a hand cycle you are laid on your back so it is impossible to keep your face and eyes out of the hail, I tried shielding my face with one arm and pedalling with my other arm but I was too wobbly with steering one handed. At the same time as being pelted in the eyes with mini blocks of ice the roads had become wet and the front wheel was spraying me with water as well as cars spraying me as they overtook me. I was completely sodden,  freezing and fed up. I considered stopping and phoning for help but then thought by the time anyone had got to me to pick me up I could have been home. I soldiered on, hating it but getting on with it nevertheless. For some reason I didn't think to stop and get my emergency rations or my thermal hat out of my bumbag!
Once home I really struggled to get my legs out of the cycle and then get to my door. I struggled to get my key safe number in because my hands were completely numb. Then my dad opened my front door,  he had turned up to do some jobs for me when I had been out and had let himself in, I've never been so chuffed to see his ugly mug. He dragged me into the house and then went to collect my cycle. By the time he got back in I had stripped down to my boxers to get out of the wet clothes and was sat in front of the fire which was on full blast. He wrapped me up in towels and put the kettle on. It was a good 10min before I could talk properly and over an hour before I stopped shivering!  A true baptism of ice! It hasn't put me off though, I shall just check the weather forecast more closely in future and be properly prepared before setting off.