The first week! My thoughts

Well, I thought it was about time I blogged and stopped just observing the rest of the teams thoughts.
So how can I encapsulate the first 7 days of LEJOG?

It's been emotional!
It has been fantastic to see many months of planning come to fruition and we are now a team working together to reach our goal of Land's End to John O'Groats in 12 days.
As Andy has mentioned, we are (or is it 'were' now?) not cyclists. Many of us hadn't ridden a bike for years and I hadn't been on one for over a decade when we decided to do this in a moment of madness, during a discussion in a performance review with Becks.

And here we are now on day 7, over 500 miles completed and hitting Scotland tomorrow!

There have been many highlights and memories for me so far.........
Driving down the A30 last Sunday and seeing those hills in Cornwall made me go VERY quiet and also resulted in a sleepless night! What were we doing??!
The beauty of Land's End on the Sunday evening - Simply stunning
Riding those same Cornwall hills the next 2 days and staying alive (Day 1 was certainly no training ride for me Keith!)
Smiling like never before when I saw the services sign for where we were staying after a very long and challenging day 2.
The outstanding work of our support team - I would like to take this opportunity to both thank them again and apologise on behalf of us all for our demands and diva moments (Yes we really have eaten bananas and then held out the skins to be taken to be disposed of!)
Tom praying for Red lights on Day 6 so he could get a breather.
Helium induced laughter (yes indeed!)
Shap Fell - The achievement and the views were simply stunning today.
And most of all the camaraderie, laughter and tears that come with the bonding and emotions a challenge of this size brings.

I have no doubt that this trip will leave us all with lifetime memories and amazing photo albums to look back on. It may also leave us with erectile dysfunction and penile numbness, however I'm sure that's just scare tactics from a long distance cycling book I read before leaving!!

This is a tough challenge and one that we are all loving!

Bring on Scotland tomorrow


Mark
PS My loo breaks are simply driven by the desire to stay hydrated. I've never drunk (and eaten) so much in my life!