GBDuro / Off-road Lands End to John O’ Groats via Wales / A long squiggly line from the bottom to the top of the UK
Around 2000km in total
4 stages – Stop at the end of each stage to recover and all start at the same time.
Lowest aggregate time ‘wins’
Taking the decision to only race in the UK this year, it only seemed right to put an entry in for GBDuro, and luckily I got in. With just starting a new job a few months prior, the run up was a bit of a blur to be honest, but surprisingly I had the bike built and bags packed earlier than the usual night before mad packing spree. I must be getting the hang of this thing now.
10th August – 2 days til the start
I pedalled the 10 miles or so and caught the long ol train from Durham station to Newton Abbot to meet with Andy, an old pal from university.
On the way down, I managed to get seated and talking to Kirsty, who was also doing the race when she got on the train at Sheffield. This saw the hours go by nicely and before I knew it I was rolling into Newton Abbot and saw Andy on the platform.
Not feeling 100%, I wasn’t too keen on his suggestion of riding up Haytor before tea, but hey I might never get the chance again, so instead of taking my heavily loaded bike, I dropped it off and borrowed one of Andys nice light road bikes.
The ride up was tough, but worth it for that decent.
After a lovely night of food, wine and chat, I slept amazingly and was pleased I did.
11th August – 1 day till the start
After a nice ride into Newton Abbot with Andy on his way to work, I got the train to Penzance, the end of the line.
There was another rider on the train who was doing the race too and we exchanged previous racing stories and talked of what we expected of the week or so ahead.
I stopped for some lunch by the sea in Penzance at it was fairly warm and I made the most of being able to sit and not look at the watch, as this is a constant pressure in races. I now never take sitting in cafes and not looking at the time for granted anymore, its great.
I cycled the 10 mile or so to St Just, where my bnb was for the night above a pub. I relaxed for a bit then headed down to Sennen Cove, where there was a pre-race meet up on the beach.
I stayed for a couple of hours chatting with other races, which was good to swap excitements and anxieties before the race, but after a while I was ready to head back, faff with the bike, get some food and sleep. So I did just that.
Jordan Matthews 