In the beginning ...

Some years ago, on the way home from the pub, a friend mentioned to me that he was going to cycle from Lands End to John O'Groats in 5 days for charity. I thought he was nuts. He said that it was more of a psychological challenge than a physical one, and I fell for the bait. In 2004 I decided that I would join him on the event in summer 2005. I had a problem though - I only had a really heavy and old mountain bike. So I started riding that.



My friend told me I absolutely had to have Lycra shorts. Once again I thought he was nuts. Anyway, eventually I went out and bought some skin tight cycling shorts.



Then I had to go bike shopping. Eventually I spent much more than I had intended to, and bought a lovely Specialized Allez Elite, which I thought was the dog's wotsits.



The difference between my bikes was like going from driving a tank to a sports car. I was hooked.



At some time in December 2004 I did my first 100 mile ride. What an achievement that felt like. Anyway, apart from our main experienced rider betting his wife that we would never make it, we trained hard and had fun, and then did cycle about 975 miles in 5 days, raising a lot of money for charity.



Now I am doing it again.