Did the diet with Dickie work??

The results are in!  The post ride weigh in took place this morning and the results were  independently verified by an official (Janine).

First, a quick reminder that 2 weeks ago when we started this challenge, I weighed in at a rather hefty 83.5kg or 13st 2lbs in old money (ouch!)

10 days, 960 miles and 72,000 calories of effort later, I'm delighted to be able to reveal that post ride my weight has fallen to 83.0kg or 13st 1lb.  That's a massive 1lb weight LOSS. 

Which just goes to show that you can achieve anything if you set you mind to it.   Just another 7,000 miles to go to get down to my fighting weight of 12st 8lbs!

Dickie

Final Thoughts

Day 11: John O’Groats to….home

Cycling time: zero!

We’re on our long journey home now after a fantastic trip and thought we would sign off the blog with a few final thoughts and thankyous.

Let’s begin with the latter by thanking you all for your great support and interest in the trip. We know a lot of you have been following our journey very closely on this blog and we have all greatly enjoyed putting it together over a pint in the evening. We certainly haven’t been short of stories to tell and pictures to show and even videos. We also know that you were all avidly watching to see if your guess of our final cycling time was correct – ironically our final time of just over 64 hours was virtually an average of all the guesses we received.

Thanks must go to all of you who have offered donations to our chosen charity, Prostrate Cancer. We have now received well over £3,500 in donations, including well over £100 from complete strangers who stopped us in the street to dip in their pockets during our travels. It certainly seemed that the charity struck a real chord with people. One chap memorably started telling us about the treatment he was receiving, while several ladies told us how their husbands had struggled with the cancer. We are still counting our final donations but we expect to be very close to the £4,000 mark once all donations are finally collected.

A special thankyou too to all those riders who joined us at various points during the ride to pace us for a few miles. This was especially helpful during our epic day over Shap Fell from Preston when I think otherwise we may have really struggled, but in particular Greg’s humour kept us going! And a few other special mentions. Bev and Reggie for buying us a bottle of champagne for our final night’s meal; and Matt and Sacha for driving us to a great country pub on our second night when spirits were rather low after a very wet afternoon.

Finally we thought we would sign off with our own round-up of the various highs and lows of the trip. Goodbye all, and thanks for listening.

Best view: Remote northern Scottish highlands/Tintern Abbey, Wye Valley

Best hotel: Cherrybrook Hotel, Dartmoor

Best restaurant: Fiddlers, Dromnadrochit

Best pint: Monster munch, Dromnadrochit

Best breakfast: Ben Loyal, Tongue

Best cake: Coffee cake, Onich

Worst rainstorm: Gretna Green

Worst wind: The (long & winding) road to Kilmarnock

Worst hill: Princetown, Dartmoor

Stat box

Puncture count: Graham 4, Jim 3, Richard 2, Nigel 0

Dickie’s diet

Calorie burn: 72,000

Calorie intake: unknown

Result to be posted tomorrow once weigh-in has been completed…

We made it!

Day 10: Tongue to John O'Groats
Mileage: 74
Cycling time: 4hr 32m
Total mileage: 955
Total cycling time: 64 hours 15 mins 50 seconds

After 10 days of considerable highs (and a few lows!) we finally rolled in to John O'Groats at 4pm today where we toasted our endeavours in the sunshine with a bottle of champers and a wee dram of Dalwhinnie (thanks girls!).

However there was no easy ride in to JOG as we endured a very hilly first couple of hours, although the coastline scenery almost made up for the pain of taking on yet another hill! However our filling of scrambled egg and smoked salmon from breakfast kept us going (although Richard needed a push out from the traps - see video below) while the undoubted highlight of the morning was the awesome view from Bettyhill which overlooked fabulous Torrisdale Bay.

After finally finding somewhere for a coffee we pressed on towards Thurso where the hills finally subsided, and as the Orkneys came into view we knew we were closing in fast on our final destination and spirits raised. After meeting the girls for lunch in 'Le' Bistro in Thurso we had the final run in along the coast although at this point the wind decided to change direction right into our faces which meant we were made to work hard right to the end.
Just before John O'Groats we took a small detour to mainland Britain's most northerly point, Dunnet Head, which gave fantastic views towards the Orkneys and was well worth the small diversion, before the final straight run in to the finish where the girls were on hand to capture the moment on video.
Meanwhile, what about the news you all want to know - who has won our bottle of bubbly for coming closest to correcting our total cycling time? Well the winner, subject to final confirmation, was Hubert (chip) Connelly who predicted a time of 64 hours 12 mins 50 seconds - just three minutes outside our final figure. Well done Hubert but a number of you were extremely close to our final time, not least Janine's mum Eileen - Janine is particularly devastated as she says she would have got to drink the champers!
We're all a little tired to write much more tonight, but tomorrow we'll return with our final thoughts on the trip and our rundown on our favourite places and memories.

Into the wilderness

Day 9: Drumnadrochit to Tongue
Mileage: 98
Cycling time: 6hr 38m
Total mileage: 881
Total cycling time: 59hr 43m

Another awesome day in both the saddle and in terms of scenery as we headed right up to the north coast before our final assault east to John O'Groats tomorrow. Saying that, to be honest we don't even feel we are really in Britain at all such is the stunning solitude and scenery in this part of the world. With moorland and great forests surrounded by towering peaks and giant tarns it reminds me more of a Canadian skyscape than anything closer to home. One wonders how many people in Britain have actually ever ventured this far north!
The day didn't begin well with Graham puncturing within two miles and having major problems with his tyre, but thankfully our back-up van was still behind us and we were able to sort the problem without too much delay. Graham now heads the puncture count league table with four!

After nearly getting mown down by a bus on the A9 we were relieved to leave the main road and branch off for our coffee stop where we found a treasure at the Cornerstone cafe in Evanton where we were treated to some fantastic carrot cake while the staff also gave us another £35 towards our charity. However when Richard asked if the road was flat to Tongue they just laughed at us!
In such a remote part of the world sorting eating stops required serious pre-planning so we lunched a little earlier than usual in Bonar Bridge, before attacking the serious climb into the northern highlands. As the "A" road turned into a single track with passing places it wasn't just the hills that were against us but the midges which came out in force and, believe you me, made cycling very uncomfortable!
Late afternoon we took refuge with a pint in the extraordinary Crask Inn, which must be one of the most remote pubs in Britain, where we were joined by two-gear Kate and no-cleat Janine who had cycled up the valley to join us (see today's video clip along with a clip of the boys taken by Lance, who was obviously finding the cycling far too easy and decided to video on his iPhone!). The only problem was that afterwards we had to face a brutal final 20 miles as we passed through Altanarra, officially the coldest place in the UK, and then a final never-ending climb before we dropped into Tongue.
A tired team finally made it to the village just before 7pm, but were cheered up by the thoughts of a seafood pie which will hopefully fuel us sufficiently for our final few miles tomorrow.

Monster action

Day 8: Oban to Drumnadrochit
Mileage: 95
Cycling time: 6hr 6min
Total mileage: 783
Total cycling time: 53hr 5min

A very gloomy, wet and windy start in Oban didn't augur well for the day ahead and our route up the Great Glen towards Inverness. But as we took the weaving coastal route towards Fort William the skies started to clear and the after-effects of our curry the night before also thankfully started to wear off...
On good, fast roads and with the wind behind us we made good progress, and a couple of hours later it was time for a very pleasant coffee stop in Onich where Nigel and Captain Lance partook in the most enormous slice of coffee cake. Conscious of his calorie count Richard decided not to join them but as a result was rather sulky in the corner.
Onwards up the Great Glen and some fantastic scenery as we criss-crossed the stunning Caledonian Canal, interspersed with long stretches beside famous Loch Lochie (original name or what?) and Loch Ness. The girls were able to enjoy a great 10-mile run from Corpach along the canal, so along with us were well ready for our lunch stop in Invergarry where Graham stocked up on some haggis and I had a much-needed pasta boost after my energy stores went into a serious dip!

Reinvigorated we all considerably sped up after lunch as we soared pass old Nessie to our right. No sign of the monster but there was some monster big ring action on the road as we sped down to our evening stop in Drumnadrochit, so much so that we even arrived before our support crew.

Looking forward now to tomorrow and our push over the remote Northern highlands as we near in on our final destination. Suddenly after 8 days on the road the end is fast approaching but the team is holding together well and spirits remain high - although they couldn't fail to be amid such stunning scenery.

Into the land of lochs

Day 7: Brodick, Arran to Oban
Mileage: 77
Cycling time: 5hr 45m
Total mileage: 688
Total cycling time: 46hr 59m

Another action packed day which began with a brief pre-breakfast Wilmslow Running club morning team jog (me, Janine and Kate) alongside the beach at Blackwaterfoot next to our hotel, before we jumped back on the bus to rejoin our route at Brodick. We then took a beautiful route up the east coast of Arran following the shoreline, before a rather stiff climb under the shadow of the great bulk of Goat Fell brought us to Lochranza and our ferry over to Kintrye.

The day was memorable for stunning scenery throughout as we passed beside beautiful lochs, glorious countryside and the odd red deer. Thankfully the weather held up virtually all day with only a sprinkling of rain on the moor tops, although yet again we had to face a bracing wind although not as bad as yesterday.

Waiting for the ferry at Lochranza we met the first of quite a few cyclists today in the shape of iron-man Alex from Munich who was spending three weeks on the road, also on his way to John O'Groats, complete with his 25kg bike load.

On the road to Tarbert we also bumped in to Emma and Zoe from Cambridge University who were in training for a 1,000 mile race around Britain called the Varsity Triple Crown Challenge (www.varsitytriplecrownchallenge.com). Emma actually lived nearby and was simply on her way to Tarbert for a can of cat food!

After lunch in Lochgilphead with Alex and girls, it was heads down for the afternoon on the way to Oban where Richard demonstrated an astonishing change of pace thanks to a bottle of strawberry milk and even left Captain Lance trailing in his wake!

Finally we descended into Oban where seeing cars and shops again came as quite a shock, and checked into the harbour-front Caledonian. The end now feels in sight although we are all now feeling decidedly weary, but I'm sure our curry tonight will perk us up.

A windy affair

Day 6: Dumfries to Arran
Mileage: 78
Cycling time: 5hr 43m
Total mileage: 611
Total cycling time: 41hr 14m

Come back rain, all is forgiven...After mistakenly thinking that today might just be an easier day we were sorely mistaken as a north westerly gale buffeted us virtually all day, bringing us at times almost to a standstill and certainly testing team spirits. Although our mileage was down on previous days we all felt there had been no less effort involved.
The sun was actually shining when we left Dumfries but that was about all we saw of it. It was almost all we saw of Richard too after he took a wrong turning at the very first roundabout....but have no fear, we just sent Captain Lance to track him down and do a few extra miles in the vain attempt that we might be able to slow him down (no such luck even though he did have four croissants for breakfast...).
After two hours in a wind tunnel we were well and truly ready for a coffee, although finding a cafe open on a Sunday was easier said than done. But we came up trumps in sleepy Sanquhar where we were memorably sent on our way by a group of old ladies going into church who were rather flustered by our lycra.
The afternoon was all about counting down the hours to Kilmarnock on the never-ending A76 (not something I would recommend) where for some reason I was particularly inspired by a Twix bar and found my climbing legs on the interminable straight roads. Sadly Kilmarnock wasn't quite as inspiring and after a brief stop we pressed on for our final destination, the port of Ardassan, from where we could catch the ferry to Arran.

A grateful hour spent reading the Sunday papers and getting warm on the ferry and we had arrived in Brodick, where we were greeted by no-cleat Janine and two-gear Kate who had been out cycling for the day themselves around the south of the island (although a cream tea was also involved).
Finally, it was onward in the team bus for our night in Blackwaterfoot and a super spot overlooking Kintyre - a view that made the A76 worthwhile after all. Tomorrow it is on to Oban for the boys, and some whisky drinking for the girls so whether the van arrives is another matter....