Well they're off. All those sweaty weekends pumping away at the pedals are finally paying off. Or not. Five hundred guys and girls set off from John o Groats to cycle to Land's End yesterday. I'm calling it the Not Dead Yet tour.
Some of them are elite riders. Most of them are just ordinary folk with day jobs who train when they can. One of them is a guy just short of 55 who is just hoping to finish.
It's not Everest or the South Pole, but it is 1,000 miles in ten days, no bunking off for a pint and a pizza.
It's a tough call. Most people do it from the other way when you get the benefit of the wind. Yesterday it was all in the faces as they set off west across the top of Scotland for the first 35-mile leg. With rain like stair rods - only sideways. All fronts were sodden, backs dry. That kind of rain. Our man took four and a half hours to do this first stretch. To say he was suicidal is an understatement. He could barely speak. Get a load of grub on board and then do another 35, then another until finally pitch up at camp. Some of the group got the broom wagon to sweep them up and drive them in. Not our lad. One day down. I'll keep you posted.
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