Welcome to the weekend!

This blog post is given over to Colin Dobson from Hemsworth who you might remember we followed on the Breakfast Show during his marathon bike ride from Lands End to John O' Groats.  Colin has kindly written a short summary of his trip which you can read below. He's also planning his next charity challenge!

Have a good weekend!

JT

Land’s End to John o’ Groats by Colin Dobson

I completed the 888 mile bike ride from Land's End to John o' Groats in 64 hours and 52 minutes over eight days, arriving at John o' Groats last Thursday afternoon, July 22nd. Altogether, I managed to raise just over £3000 for the Motor Neurone Disease Association thanks to local businesses and individual sponsors. Most of this was donated through my on line campaign at www.colindobsononline.com . Over five hundred people were tracking me live as I cycled across the country. I had a GPS tracker fitted to the bike and people could view my position live on the Internet. I also posted regular updates on my website, Facebook and Twitter. I posted a bi-daily video too that proved popular with the people keeping track of the ride.

The bike didn't go exactly to plan. I set off on Thursday 15th July from Land's End and it rained, quite persistently and sometimes torrential for all except one of the days. On day one I was battling gale force winds of up to 60mph that were blowing me into speeding traffic on the A30 in the South West. A puncture while speeding at almost 40mph down a hill almost made me lose control and I was inches from being hit by a lorry behind me.

I suffered a knee injury on day three that I thought would end the ride. I got off the bike to take a photo and when I got back on and clipped my feet into the pedals, my left knee made a snapping sound and I was in absolute agony! I couldn't press down on that knee or pedal for over an hour. Eventually, the knee loosened up and although I did manage to carry on, I had to take it easy for the remainder of the trip. I'm now having physio on it.

On day four I was almost flooded out of my B&B when the river running by the side of the building rose to within twelve inches of my room! I spent most of the night checking the level of the river and keeping my kit on shelves in-case it flooded. On day five, I was minutes away from developing Hypothermia as I got caught in a storm on the peaks of the Cumbrian mountains. My clothes and kit were soaked through and the temperature had dropped to only 7 degrees. My body temperature had dropped due to the wet clothes and strong, cold wind that was blowing. In the isolated mountains I had to wave down a passing Camper Van and ask for a warm up! They gave me shelter and dried some of my clothes while the worst of the storm passed.

Every day I would get soaked to the skin, despite wearing waterproof over-clothes. The rain was so heavy and persistent for the first seven days that I would have to spend my evenings drying out my kit ready for the next day. Even the bike suffered from the constant water and it was an extra effort to keep the bikes essential parts dry and lubricated. On day six I was travelling from Broughton to Pitlochry in Scotland during the worst torrential rain storms in seventeen years. I had to make several diversions due to flooding and accidents. The following morning I was stranded in the village with all but one of the road and rail links closed. I eventually escaped the village when the main road re-opened, although it had been damaged by the flood-waters.

I arrived at John o' Groats at 4pm on Thursday 22nd July. I cycled an average of 111 miles a day over the eight days of the ride. I burnt over 55,000 calories and climbed over 33,000 feet over the 888 miles. Most of the route was on quieter roads although through the South West and in Scotland I had to use major roads because of the flooding. I am now taking a couple of weeks rest and some physio to recover. After that I will begin plans for an event for 2011. To cycle to Africa! 2000 miles across four countries and two continents.

People can still donate and also read my detailed blog and see the photo galleries from the event on my website at www.colindobsononline.com

John Tolson