Epilogue

This is roughly what I said at the final rap session. Pretty much all my adult life I've wanted to do a cycling challenge of about 100 miles per day as I think this is the limit of my physical ability. Four years ago I started seriously looking into it and found Mike Monk's tour diary for this ride which was taking place at the time. Since then I've wanted to do this specific ride. Every time I've been out on the roads in those four years I was thinking about this trip. I expect when I go back to riding the roads of Oxfordshire I'll still be thinking about America.

I paid tribute to Mike, Barbara and Karen, who've done a great job throughout. There were several instances, like when I needed help on the first and second days, when my wheel bust in Albuquerque, that I really needed their support. Even if you followed exactly the same route, the logistics of finding or carrying enough water would make this a very different type of challenge if you were doing it without their assistance.

I was given several pieces of useful advice before starting, including "don't forget you know how to ride a bike" which has served me well. However perhaps the best was from Kate who said, "don't just survive it, go and enjoy it." I've certainly done that, each day has been a challenge and an adventure. The difference between those first uncertain days where I was starting to think that it was beyond me and the final few weeks where I was in no doubt that I would finish, was remarkable. I'm now in the best shape of my life and am a more skilled cyclist.

I’ve been asked by a few people if there’s any advice for anyone contemplating such a challenge. First I think you’ve got to choose something that you enjoy doing anyway. Of those who took on this challenge, not many were what you would call athletes, but all had a long history of riding bikes. You’ll need a very good bike. Only one person had a bike costing less than about £1500 and he had several bike problems. It’s a good idea to do some sort of practice tour, I learnt a lot from a week in Spain the year before. It says in the literature that you should be able to ride 100 miles in 6.5 hours. This is probably true, but that’s not to say you’ll need to do it every day. Some days, including the SAG stops we weren’t averaging much more than 12 mph. Most importantly you’ll need the support of friends and family. Training 5 or 6 days per week for 8 months and then using all your annual leave in one go is certainly something to be discussed well in advance.

One aspect that I've only briefly touched on in these posts is how dangerous this trip is. I found out yesterday that in forty five cross country trips there's only been three where everyone has made it across without anyone having to retire through accident or injury. We're the smallest group they've ever taken and therefore our chances as a group were reletively better, but it's still a remarkable feat and the most important thing that we all made it across safely. Linda's accident on day four was fortunately minor, but demonstrates how disaster can come out of nothing. I'm very glad that I managed to keep the rubber side down for the entire trip. I found out by chance about three days before leaving that on this equivalent trip last year a guy died. He was in his 50's and had been pushing hard for several days. Then one evening he met up with his family for some very gentle socialising. That night he had a heart attack and died in his sleep. Knowing that influenced my decision to get in the van on day two.

We were very lucky with the group we had, no massive egos or aggresive atheletes. (Bermuda) Mike, Jay, Paul, Robert, Andy and Linda, it was great riding with you. In my final speech I talked about team Kysirium (Tom, Ron and Sam) and how great it was working as a team. I probably didn’t mention Eric and Jack enough, I really enjoyed their company.

Writing the blog has also been a rewarding experience. I think (hope) that there are many people reading this and I hope you've enjoyed it. At times it's been a challenge to go beyond the 'got up, cycled a long way, felt very tired' repetition. I've been aware throughout that I'm writing for quite a diverse audience of friends and family.

So that’s it. What’s next? Well my enthusiasm for cycling has only increased so there will certainly be something. Next stop Asia?