Apologies for the fact that all has gone quiet on the blog front for the last few weeks but I am pleased to say I am once more up and running. The reason for the break is the fact that I was riding LEJOG for the third time during late July and early August. The successful completion of LEJOG 3 presents me with a problem with regard to the format of my blog and I feel compelled to change tack and incorporate this recent journey and thoughts about it into my writing. So, with that in mind, here goes.
On December 7th, 2018, I turned 70. This I felt called for a celebration and so a party was organised by Julia and Jo and the music was provided by the “Rooftops” with guest spots by your truly, my son Adam and the hit of the night my Grandson Noah along with other family acting as back up singers. Alongside plans for the party, plans to ride LEJOG again had begun to ferment and I was keen to do this ride one more time and raise money for Cancer Research a charity very close to my heart in the light of my own diagnosis of prostate cancer three years previously. By the time of the party the team had already been formed: myself, Ollie Garrett, Lizzie Garrett, Scott Negus and Adam Elfred. The support team would consist of Julia and Mary Garrett. I introduced them to the party goers during my short speech and asked the folk present to sponsor us and thus help to defeat this “bastard disease”,
As 2019 began and the excesses of Christmas and New Year faded, training began in earnest. Knowing how difficult and demanding this ride is and having reached my 7th decade I felt that it would be legitimate to get a bike which would offer me a little extra assistance and so, in March of this year, the team headed off to the Bike Show at the Excel Centre to look at gain bikes. Having tried a couple and finding them much of a muchness I settled on a Ribble full carbon model with top end quality gears, wheels and disc brakes. There was a bit of a delay in the bike arriving but when it did and I tried it out on the road I was well pleased with it.
Training took on two forms: some on my newly acquired Ribble, either alone or with one of the team members, and the rest on my turbo trainer. Once the cycle racing season got underway, I dragged the trainer out of the undercroft at Gadbrook and set it up in front of the TV. I then spent three or four hours a day riding with the pros in the various Grand Tours – well in my head I was in the peloton. Through this effort I lost around half a stone in weight and considerably strengthened my legs. Physically I was ready for the off as the start date approached. Psychologically, I was more or less sure I could do the ride again particularly with the extra help my new bike would give me when required. In the light of this I set myself a new target – to ride up all the hills without having to get off and walk my bike up some of the worst bits of the steepest climbs. I intended to ride as much as possible unaided and then use the assist element of the bike on the most vicious inclines or when my legs got tired at the end of the day so that I could keep up with the others and not lag too far behind.
I know that many readers enjoyed and appreciated Julia’s daily blog whilst the ride was on, what follows is my personal account of what turned out to be a very gruelling LEJOG which for various reasons proved much tougher for the whole team than the previous two rides.
Diary for Friday 26th: We were up at 7.30am and on the road by 8.40. Quite a good journey down to Cornwall apart from the normal hold up around Stonehenge on the A303. We had lunch at our favourite American style dinner. We arrived at the Youth Hostel at St Just at around 6pm. Such a beautiful spot to watch the sun go down. We have not stayed at this hostel before but our room and the facilities were excellent. We had lasagne for supper, a couple of beers and a planning meeting to think about the day ahead of us as we started this momentous journey, the third time for two of the team, myself and Ollie. There was a nasty moment when Julia got an email saying that our accommodation for Sunday night had been cancelled. This, it turned out was due to us renewing our credit card recently. Fortunately, the situation was rescued by Julia over the phone and so we have a bed for Sunday night, which was a relief.
And so, the adventure proper starts tomorrow.
Ezekiel's Wheels 