A stones throw.

Sadly, this is the end of the road for now. I was hoping after leaving my Backpack here and removing the tent etc from the back I would lose 12 Kilos and make the last stretch a little easier. Unfortunately my knee isn't going to play ball, I can barely walk from the Bedroom to the Lounge. This is really disappointing as I've pushed so hard to catch up from the first couple of bad days to see the finish line as close as Sunday would have been great. To complete it in 9 days would be personally rewarding as well as an achievement, but alas it's not to be. The final leg will have to be next weekend or sometime soon, for now I have completed the JOGG.

Apart from everybody I met thinking I was a complete Nutter for doing this on a fixed wheel, I started to enjoy it more after the first few days. It wasn't until I met up with Ali and he was leading I noticed how easily he made the minor climbs and long drawn out up hill stretches, he didn't break a sweat. I can safely say I had to push each pedal to work those hills with the sweet temptation of the slightest freewheel forbidden to me. I think I actually preferred the ride up hill than down, as when the road was too steep a descent I would have to pressure the back pedal to keep me from bouncing down the hill like a madman, backpack lurching around on my back and my ars being beaten into submission.

Ali once said after a long run down a hill.. "..That actually doesn't look that comfortable.." Well actually it wasn't. Who's crazy idea was it to do a fixed wheel anyway? (cheers Tom) To see Ali head down, tucked in and free wheeling most of the way made me almost glow green (hehe) but, I can say that I have pedaled every inch from the North to Here. Even the fact of only having a front brake wasn't really a bother, I only used to slow the bike a little on the really steep hills.

I wonder where I would be now if I had used a geared bike?

Thank you for all your text messages of support along the way, it was great to read them when I stopped or found some refuge from the weather especially the first couple of days. Thanks to the little Glaswegian punk who took my bottle as I would never have got into drinking the Lucozade 'Body Fuel' and Alastair from 'Fellfoot' for the initial doses of Ibuprofen and fantastic hospitality.

I'll run through the previous posts and edit my bad spelling and grammar from mobile posting and publish the routes for each day. I've taken a few photos on my camera which I'll also add.

Cheers.

to be continued...

Home.

130 miles later and I'm here. It feels like I've had a baby. Ali should be coming through Glos tomorrow before lunch. I'll have to see how my knee holds up by the morning.

That has to be the single most difficult test of endurance I have ever done. Today was tough.

I'm proud my legs got me home.
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Tewkesbury.

My fingers are frozen and the tears from the cold wind are freezing on my face. I sooo need that hot bath, I think I'll just dissolve.
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Worcester.

*phew*
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Who's been messing with the controls?

It's just gone really cold, making my way over the hills into Kidderminster was really hard going, After such a good run this morning it's a bit dissapointing to have taken this long to get here.

I'm hoping the road to Worcester isn't as energy draining, it's going to be a late one, I'll have clocked the miles today. Knee is getting pretty stiiff and I only have 1 power pill left.
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Tough cookie..

Been on the bike now for about 11 hours, Kidderminster is just over 10 miles away. Really feeling the strain now. I've been marinating in my own juices since hitting the Sun earlier, another couple of hours and I should be pretty tasty by the time I get home.
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Telford Tea.

It's hard to believe I set out from Liverpool this morning, I'm pretty chuffed I've made Telford by 1.30pm. I picked up this bike from Telford so I can almost taste Gloucester. I'll try to keep the pace going but the Sun is out which is nice, but I'm melting.
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