Extreme

It's our longest, most long anticipated, and most feared day today.  The one that caught all our attention in Malta during the pre-trip briefing way back in June.

We have a 5am wake up call, so we can be on the road for 7am and break the back of this beast without getting home around midnight! I was more tired than I realised last night after that cold end to the day and managed to sleep all the way through with no distraction.  That's no mean feat when you know what went on around you with 9 other people getting ready for bed, snoring etc, and getting up in the night.  For the first time it passed me all by - my tiredness protected me from worst the sardine style sleeping arrangements could throw at me, which was a real relief as it could have been horrendous.  Maybe it was, but what you don't know won't hurt you!! :)

The morning definitely came too soon. It dark and cold outside. The individual style accomodation (over a hall) made everyóne slower to get ready too. It was gone 7am and my frustration grew the longer we waited for everyone when we weren't all ready. By quarter pas I was about to explode, and we ended going in staggered groups rather than wait for the whole team to be ready.

Dan, Nick, Chris and I formed a group and left with those that were ready.

It was cloudy and spitting with rain.  I think, after yesterday, we'd all have traded our souls for this to hold out for the next 12 hours. We made pretty good time through the essex countryside and made the first checkpoint in 2 hrs - a nice village. We had a nice chat with the oaps in the bus stop, sheltering from rain that ad just started.  Clearly no one was listening the offer of our souls.

A quick Richard Bloch sponsored coffee and flapjack break, and we're off again feeling ok with the warmth of the coffee and the uncontained joy of sticky flapjack over a nutella sandwich. It's a short stop to try and beat the rain - futile when you look in hindsight at a 10 hour journey.  A few minutes won't save anything really, but it felt right at the time. 

The rain and the wind pick up, and by checkpoint 2 we're soaked and covered in dirt from the roads. Dans mudguard looks great but serves no function to those behind him as it's too high. Nick doesn't have one. Nor Chris. So, no matter who draft behind it's like getting hosed with dirty water constantly as the spray from their rear wheels covers me and my glasses.

So, that's 4 hours and 85km. Just another 7 hours and 165km!! Today we covered Essex, Hertfordshire Cambridgeshire, Northants, Leicester, Rutland and Leicester again. Crazy!  I used to drive from Dartford to Thrapston to pick up my kids. That was 2 hours in a car and considered by all concerned to be a long drive. I can't believe I rode it today! And then carried on to Loughborough!   Without doubt the most extreme thing I have ever done, and also most of my fellow riders too.  But not just because of the distance.

So, apart from the extreme distance, how was it?  At no point did we think we wouldn't get there. It was just a case of when and in what condition.

Extremely wet. There's only so wet you can get. Once you are, it doesn't get any worse. That took about 20 minutes. If it hadn't been for the extreme cold that followed it would have been ok to be honest - I think playing football in the UK for all those years conditioned me nicely for the wet.

Extreme winds. Gusting in our faces all the way except for the final 10km when we started to head south before looping back north again. The wind takes so much energy out of you that is a total waste, and it's been a constant factor this trip.  Today was as strong as any we'd had.

Extremely cold. My toes were frozen inside blocks of ice after the first hour. 10 hours of my toes, like the sword on the stone, encased in ice in my shoes was so uncomfortale, it only got better when they were so numb that I lost all feeling!

My knees were so cold that every stop, no matter how short, took half an hour to recover from. Its was like having an ice stake driven into my left knee with every pedal stroke. It sounds a bit over the top, but the your body temperature drops so quickly in these conditions that your legs stiffen and any injury takes an age to get going again.

Extremely hilly. There were so many ups and downs it was ridiculous. Nothing mountainous and you may be forguven of accusing me of being a bit soft after what we have done. But they were long enough to cause distress, especially in view of the conditions. There wasn't even any joy on the downhills because the faster you went the colder you got.

Extreme roads. The lorries heading north show no mercy to anyone. The buffeting and shower from each one would have been fun if it wasn't for the danger that it involved.  It took a lot to stay focussed wondering just what was sneaking up behind you. 

Extreme concentration. With such tough conditions you focus. Totally. On what's in front of you. Just the square metre from your handlebar to the wheel in front, and a small way either side. Don't move your head. It takes energy and gets you wetter. With so much spray on my glasses its also all slightly out of focus, which is nice.

Extreme emotion. The beauty of lifecycle is that its done in foreign parts where you can immerse yourself in it with no distraction. Speaking to family in the evening is good but you can still detach and not miss anyone too much. I've been fine all week but today was tough. I knew I was riding near the kids house, but wasn't ready to cycle through their village and a stones throw from their house. Past the pub I took them for dinner when I told them I was leaving to move to Malta for a few years. The familiarity of the surroundings, probably heightened by the tiredness and conditions (it must be that because I ususally have a heart of stone!!) caught me way off guard. It suddenly hit home just how much I missed my family and wanted to see them all righ now, and there was a serious danger that the inside of my glasses would be wetter than the outside.

I cycled hard until we were the other side of Corby and away from anything that would remind me of home - not sure what the others thought about Botha's sudden blinding turn of pace, but I just needed to get away.

You really go through all the emotions all day - but at least on the bike you can also release them.  You can sprint off should you just need to get rid of some new found adrenaline.  You can find the whole thing frustrating, it may send you in to a rage, it may be unfair.  In any of these cases it's great to just be able to be in a place where you can yell at the top of your voice and let all of the emotion out as you ride along.  On the road, no one can hear you scream!

Extreme annoyance. Some more conceptualisation to get you through the day. I can't believe xxx did xxx!! etc.  Here's an example of the best kind.

At checkpoint 4 we had done 175km and had just passed my daughters village, and used roads that added 5 superflous km to the route to get us here.  We were told that we'd be skipping the last planned one as it was only 55km more to go, and not the 80km we were expecting. Result! Are you sure Alan? Yes BUT, and here comes the ultimate caveat.... But if its wrong, don't blame me, blame soner, its his text!!  We took the good news as an offering from Lance, the Bike God but in reality should have known better.  Listened to those voices telling us there's no such thing as a free lunch.

The four of us were still together, and had picked up Cliff along the way too.  We covered 40km in awful conditions, like drowned rats, and were all just sensing the worst was over.  We were in Melton and had only 5km more to go.

We see Eric who has set up an emergency checkpoint. Apparently Alans just told him we have another 45km to go! What??? Another 2 1/2 hours? That can't be!! Surely? Can it? Fair to say you shouldn't shoot messengers but it was close!  We were all so taken aback our moods went through the floor and we did the whole cycle of emotions from shock, anger and denial to acceptance in about 30 seconds.  And then went round again for good measure.  Eric received "feedback" from us in each of those states of mind - God knows what he thought he was talking to - a bunch of schizophrenic lunatics probably!

Anyway, it turns out it was only 25km left, and was actually the originally planned distance. SO, not the 5km we had psyched ourselves up for but far better to only add an extra hour than 45km and 2 1/2 more. It was hard to drag ourselves on I have to say.

So, finally, after 11 hours we made it to the Loughborough stop.  5 of us soaked through and worn out but immensely proud that we'd made it in such good time.  The hard work was done.  The big one was beaten.  We only had one more day left and we were there.  For me I was as good as home, nothing was going to be as hard as 240km in those condition was it?  If I can ride that, I can ride anything.

 

We were told to sleep anywhere we could find.  All the "best" (relative) spaces were gone, so we set up shop on the first floor landing.  As with houses, it's all about "location, location, location" when talking about the sleeping accomodation on LifeCycle.  As it turns out we got a prime spot.  It had plug sockets galore, and was close to the toilets for those mid-night wake up calls of nature that keeping hydrated brings.  It even had a radiator.  That worked!!  How could anyone have missed this prime piece of real estate?  We snapped it up and built 4 homes on it in record time.  If there was only one requirement for my sleeping arrangements it would be a plug socket - amazing just how refined you can make your needs when you have to.  The rest is a nice to have.

 

So, in by 7.30pm and ready for bed by 11pm.  One more small ride and all I can think about as I turn out the light is seeing Claire tomorrow.  4am wake up call - great, it means that moment comes sooner rather than later.