Twitter: @johndcaudwell
Photo's: http://flic.kr/s/aHsjAofJyf
I thought Day 6 was by far possibly the worst cycling day I had ever endured in my life. But, I was not prepared for what the final day had in store for me. Only approximately 70 miles to do to get to the finish line, but took us around 9 hours to complete!
Again, the weather was against us from the moment we set out. The relentless rain, the cold strong biting head winds and the horrendous fog all conspired against us, setting us back hours. It was a constant battle fighting against the weather. Many times we just wanted to give up and surrender, but we were sponsored to do the entire distance and, in any event, failure is not a happy soul mate, so we pushed on through the pain and torture, and kept going yard after gruelling yard for the last agonising 15 miles.
Finally, we made it to the finish line - feeling mentally and physically destroyed, exhausted and battered from head to toe - our bodies in pain. I truly hope that I don’t experience anything quite so close to my breaking point so many times in a week ever again.
To put it into perspective, 8 years ago we cycled from Athens to Stoke-on-Trent, did 125 miles each day for 17 days, experienced lots of traumas, breadowns and crashes, but nothing like the pain that we have just suffered.
I am not sure why it was so difficult, whether it is my age, whether it was because I had the flu two weeks before, whether it is the distance of 135 a day or whether it was the completely atrocious weather conditions. Maybe it was all of these things just conspiring to be a bridge too far.
As I sit here at my desk this morning writing this blog, feeling awful, the two consolations that I have are that one, we finished it and two, we raised a lot of money for Caudwell Children.
We are just so relieved to have achieved the goal we set out to do. We definitely couldn’t have done it without our wonderful support team and the support of our friends, family and everyone who has followed us, especially those who have donated. So, a huge thank you to you all, for really helping us through the emotionally lows.
John, we have never met but I am friends with your brother, Simon O and James S who were with you on the ride. Sounds like it was a real test of endurance for everyone, and as a cyclist myself, can only say what an incredible achievement to do end-to-end in just 7 days......and as you say, great to see it all done in a good cause. Hope the knees recover in short order! Peter
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