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Inverness to John O'Groats – 120 miles
Monday 15 June 2009
Well, they’ve done it. The Be Number 1 LEJOG cycling team rode into John O’Groats at 8.30pm this evening after a nine-day journey during which they covered 853 miles - an average of 94 miles a day. More than that, Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Pippa Wilson led a series of highly-acclaimed workshops on health, fitness and diet - and what it takes to become an Olympic gold-medal winner - to six schools on the route.
All in all, it has been a fabulously worthwhile event, which has also raised a sizeable amount of money (a sum that is still rising) for the British Heart Foundation. It’s not too late to join the growing band of people who have so far donated! Still, after such an arduous trek, the riders were relieved to finally reach their destination.
“Yes, it was more a feeling of relief that happiness to get here,” said Nick Dempsey shortly after the team arrived. “We were sure that we would get here okay - and we celebrated with a big bottle of champagne. But it has been a long, old grind being in the saddle all that time. When we did finally ride into John O’Groats, the scenery was absolutely stunning. We could see Orkney and the Shetlands as we made our descent, and you just forget about the pedalling at times like that as you take in the views.
“Physically, we are all in pretty good shape. There are one or two niggles here and there, and Nobby [Rob Clark] managed to sprain his ankle at lunch today. But any small ailments tend to fade as you get closer to your goal.
“It’s been a brilliant all-round experience, as well as being great training for me for the windsurfing World Championships in September. I am used to training flat out, but not for eight or nine hours at a time, and my power output and heart rate were getting better and better by the day. It takes a lot of mental strength to cycle almost 100 miles a day for nine days in a row, however, and the challenge was more mental than physical for me, even though you are taking your body to another level.
“I was burning about 3,500-4,000 calories a day while the other guys were burning about 5,000-6,000. That was probably due to their size and the way their bodies work, but we had an amazing support team who made sure that we got all the calories back on board.
“And doing the school workshops was unbelievably rewarding. I know that Sarah [Ayton - Dempsey’s wife - who is expecting their first child at the end of this month] got a huge amount of joy spending time at the schools and helping to inspire hundreds of schoolchildren. It was really nice to see the smiles on their faces and hopefully we at Be Number 1 can do similar presentations to other schools in the future.
“The Be Number 1 LEJOG project has been one that I will never forget - for all the right reasons!”
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