Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Home now and fatigue has kicked in as I thought it might but hoped it wouldn't. No complaints, Dr Mike Batley is a star and is trying really hard to help me. Without the steroid jab 4 weeks before the ride, it would have been completely impossible for me, I'm very grateful that it was possible at all.
My first conclusion after completing the wackiest JOG-LE or LE-JOG, whichever way you fancy, is that I planned the days rides too long and without rest days. In training we easily managed 12mph moving average with 20kgs extra load on the tandem. The 20kg would have been correct for Carine's pannier of clothes etc, my pannier of clothes etc, plus a 10kg Jake, but....... dog basket, food + treats plus bedding, water, wheat free bars and gels, protien powder, mixer, first aid kit, iPad, lights, chargers, pens, sweets, tape, spares, tools, bike-lock and on and on, nothing much we didn't need but we ended up carrying 35kgs, not 20. 12mph became 9(ish)mph moving average. 65+ miles per day should have been 50 miles per day with a 20 mile half day every 4th day. There just wasn't enough recovery for my health/years, whatever. 'Next time I shall be more wise', having said that I've had a lifetime of saying the same words...
The tandem was awesome, which is all thanks to Keith and Steve at The Bike Warehouse in Faversham. We were still adjusting seat angles etc right up to day 10 but the tyre choice and other bits were great, nothing was insurmountable and we were carrying the right bits in case they were needed. Riding a tandem is very different to riding alone and needs lots of communication between both riders. Sometimes the communication became less than complimentary but we never lost sight of the wackiness of our endeavour and laughed our way through any clashes, mostly....
The B+B owners were just brilliant! All very different, from Mandy and Lesley in Altnahara, Sutherland, to John and Leslie in Bridestow, Devonshire, all kind, helpful and all doing everything in their power to help us with our quest. No one from any of our stops made us fit in with their plans, everyone was helpful, flexible and very very kind, even when we turned up late, soaked, cold and tired. The drying room was empty and the hot water was abundant, in Fort William they even ran us into town so we could eat earlier, thank you Barry, and thank you everyone for sharing your home with us for our brief stay.
The weather was on the whole very kind to us. Some of Scotland was raining (all Day!), but in general apart from the first day when we turned East out of John O'Groats and straight into a 30 mph head-wind, we were mostly sheltered from the worst of the wind or it was helping us along or to the side. Most people ride South to North, to go with the prevailing wind. Logistics demanded that we ride North to South but the wind was not coming from it's normal direction, we were lucky.
In the pub next door to our last B&B, a lady and her man came in, ordered 2 pints of lager and told everyone that they had 'done' The Lizard that day. Poor Lizard, I thought, then it got me to thinking about the thoudands and thousands of miles Carine and I have travelled in our van in this country, looking through the windscreen. It then struck me that the windscreen could just as easily been a TV screen and I realised that we hadn't really experienced much at all. When we stopped in the middle of Sutherland, on a deserted road, all you could see was moorland, from horizon to horizon. All you could hear was the trickle of water in the stream next to the road, it was below the heather and you couldn't even see it, and NOTHING else. It was majestically beautiful and even now brings a tear to my eyes to think about it. Carine and I have walked a few long (100+ miles) walks and now cycled JOG-LE, I trully think that to really see this beautiful country or ours you have to walk, cycle or some other way get into the open to really appreciate it's majesty. I've travelled a fair bit, but this ride has taught me that to really look, you must use your legs to open your eyes. This country is magnificent, I've just learned how to look.
Apart from living in an amazingly beautiful country, we're doubly blessed with it being populated by amazing (an over-used word but in this case true) people. Admittedly we were strange to look at. There's not too many others on tandems (we saw one other), there's not many tandems with a 12kg dog in an Asda shopping basket on the back, but the vast majority were kind, laughed, smiled, and asked, why? There are always exceptions, that's the nature of our being, but we met such wonderful people along the way, it really refreshed my belief in humanity. I believe God exists, I'm just not sure that he lives in a church.
To all the drivers trying to get from A to B with a pair of idiots in the way, going up a steep hill at 3.5 mph, with a Jack Russel in a HiViz jacket on running/walking on their nearside, I say sorry for holding you up and thank you for being so patient. There was only one notable exception, the chord-wood timber artic driver when we were dropping into Fort William, soaked all day, cold and tired. Yes, I might have taken the cycle path but we were doing 25 mph downhill and cyclepaths aren't any good at speed. Two way traffic and he squeezed by, running us right to within a couple of inches from the edge of the tarmac with his loaded trailer, at the edge of which was a drop into a bed of stone chippings. We were literally a couple of inches of a very, very big accident. I've had 600 car races in my life and I tell you, we were a couple of inches from disaster. To the driver I say, would you have driven the same if it were your kids or parents on the tandem? I think not. When lorries kill people the burden of it sits with you forever, believe me, I know.
Of Jake, what can I say, he's simply the best. Even when he was bored, he knew when he could wander and when he couldn't. When we were climbing hard, really hard with heart rate on the buffers, on a lane too narrow for him to be walking on, he'd be there, just on my heel, not in front, not behind, just there. His intelligence amazes me. I had to change the last B&B so he could stay with us and not in a stable. We started together, we'd finish together.
The picture at the top of the page is my favourite photo of us and leads me to thank my lovely wife for humouring me and riding 927 miles in 2 weeks, in all weathers, sore bum etc etc. Carine cycles roughly 150 miles per year, to have taken on this challenge, for me, her husband and to comit to this was such a gift. I've always wanted to complete JOG-LE or LE-JOG one way or another, since Sittingbourne Striders ran it as a relay thirty years ago. I couldn't make it and had always hankered to do it somehow. To my lovely wife I say thank you, thank you for everything, we are one.
So that's it, JOG-LE with Jake. Thank you to those who have donated to Macmillan and thank you to everyone who has supported us with your wishes and words and smiles and waves, You're amazing.
Martin xxxx
- comments
Chris Sam. You would be better off in a racing car Martin.They were the days of our youth.94.tootsy 94.