The end isn't near, it's here

I'm currently on my way back up north, feeling a little hungover but overwhelmingly satisfied with myself.

Though yesterday wasn't a grandstand, all out celebration the weather was ok, the ride went well and I made it! I set off from Restronguet, just outside Falmouth at about 10 with 30 miles to cover. There was a pretty killer headwind throughout but as with pretty much everything else I've encountered in the last month I kept my head down, swore a lot and kept my legs turning. After passing Breage I called the local paper in Penzance to let them know I was about an hour away so as I arrived at Helen Glover's box a reporter and photographer were there to welcome me in...

After my media duties were done I went in search of Helen Glover's parent's Ice Cream shop. I found it and they gave me free ice cream. Result! It's probably the mark of how good Jelberts is that it only does vanilla and is still successful!

Well, that pretty much completes the story of my challenge. From there I found my accommodation got showered and changed, then got merrily drunk.
While that happened it appears something quite big has been arranged. Still awaiting full confirmation but it seems as though I'll be getting off this train in Bristol (not been there for a while) and getting a HELICOPTER back to Bolton.

Tonight I will be back home, curry with the folks and then to the pub.

There's been some ups and downs throughout this ride and this blog has been fun, in a cathartic way, so all that really remains is to thank you all for your support, without it I wouldn't have managed to keep getting out of bed and riding day-on-day for the last month.

London 2012, Team GB and each and every athlete, the joy, happiness and togetherness you promoted inspired me; which I'd like to think is what LOCOG and Seb Coe envisaged with their legacy mantra.
This is my way of honouring you. Thank you for a great summer

@Pedal_Medal
www.justgiving.com/samlevey

The final push

Well yesterday was my last big effort, a 75mile ride through Devon into Cornwall to Ben Ainslie's postbox at the Pandora Inn at the bottom of Restronguet Hill, Falmouth.

I guess in order to book-end my journey properly that chap upstairs decided to have a laugh again and sent a few bucketfuls of rain down on me along the way, but I've been through far worse and at this stage nothing is going to stop me.

One major disappointment on the ride was that I didn't see the fabled 'beast of Bodmin' but I suspect there isn't a puma living in the moors of Cornwall so I shouldn't be too surprised. I did, on the other hand find a few hills. Nothing compared to the horror stories people had been describing in the west-country but a fair few long drags as well as a couple of really steep, but short slopes. The worst I found was turning off the main road after Truro towards Carclew. It ramped up and kept going, so my gears plummeted and I kept my legs turning. To the top, turn left, turn left again and roll down the 25% gradient to the sailing lake and pub. Find postbox, take photo lose phone signal, go to pub...
Just after buying a pint my hosts, Hillary and Paul arrived with another Falmouth Wheeler so we sat and had a bit of a chat about what I'd done and why. We then headed back to their house, a mile away but up that 25% incline I'd come down earlier.

The landlord at the Pandora Inn took a few details and a picture of me at the box so hopefully that might boost a little bit of awareness and add a late kick to the funds, and a kind gentleman who was listening as I explained what I was doing gave me a tenner, so that's with the other donations I've recieved along the way to be added when I get home.

Back at Paul and Hillary's we ate and tried to find a few people to ride the final stretch into Penzance with me, thus far we've been unsuccessful, but the chairman did pop round and give me a Falmouth Wheelers jersey, which I will wear with pride back home, when I get myself back on my bike...which could take a while.

Final push now. Falmouth to Penzance. Hopefully to get in local paper and get an ice cream from Helen Glover's dad as well as checking off the last box.
I don't know if I mentioned this in a previous blog, but the first gold medal we won was the Women's Two in rowing. The winning pair...Heather Stanning, with my first postbox in Lossiemouth, and Helen Glover with what will be my final one in Penzance. Quite annoying, but also, in some ways quite fitting

Cully Cully

I had absolutely loads of time to write this yesterday, I simply didn't do it. Mainly because the ride was uneventful but also because I was having a really nice afternoon and evening.

I left my guesthouse in Weston at 9.30 yesterday because there was no major need to rush. Got on the A370 towards Taunton then joined the A38. That was pretty much it. Cycle, cycle, cycle over flatish terrain til I saw signs for Cullompton, then follow that road to my parents oldest friends Ren and Geoff. Arriving just before the rain started the bike was locked safely away and I was inside having a cup of tea.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing and refueling while catching up with the info of a family I've not seen in way too long. The last time we'd met, Ren and Geoff were dropping their youngest, Cait, off at Uni about 5 years ago. The last time I was in this house was probably 15 years ago, so a reunion was definitely overdue.

Today is the final really big effort, a big day's ride to Falmouth to collect Ben Ainslie's postbox before an overnight there ahead of the final leg into Penzance for the newly gazetted Helen Glover MBE's postbox and the glorious culmination of 4 weeks solid cycling!

An absolute Weston

The last 2 days of riding, despite being very important to the challenge have been staggeringly frustrating. The reason why will become clear very soon.

The day started stupidly, me and my friend Mat Reynolds set off from the hotel and within about a minute I had fallen off my bike. As with the previous tumbles this was nothing major. Basically as I attempted to mount the curb I got my angles wrong and the wheel skimmed the edge while my weight was still going sideways and down I went. A bit of a bruise on my hip and a couple of scratches on my knee.
Anyways, we rode into Cardiff and encountered a halfwit on a moped. I think I'll give him some leeway that perhaps he was a 16yr old, new to his scooter, but basically he wanted to overtake is and turn left but completely got it wrong and as a result cut in front of me so close that my mudguard skimmed his L Plate. Other than that the ride was uneventful and we reached Cardiff and found the postbox in decent time, here is the final member of the Men's Team Pursuit team, Geraint Thomas' box next to Cardiff Castle...

This is where my fruatration with the riding started to kick in. We rode directly back to the hotel, so after four hours of riding we were back where we'd started. Mat had to get to work so left me here leaving me to take the exact route I'd ridden the previous day back to the bridge and across to Avonmouth then back into Bristol. I got back to the Clifton suspension bridge at about 3.30, almost exactly 24hours since leaving it. It's a little bit soul destroying retracing your steps so much, but needs be I suppose.

From Clifton I got on the A370 and figuratively flew down to Weston, covering the 30miles about 45mins quicker than I'd expected. That good news was soon improved by the fact a guest at my b&b had decided to stay another night so I got upgraded to the family suite. Bunk beds, result!

I then found an all you can eat pie buffet, which replenished me somewhat and returned to the room.

Tomorrow has the potential to be a killer, it all depends where the hills start. With some luck I should avoid anything proper but I fully expect to be grimacing my way up and over some shockers.
No boxes to collect tomorrow, but it sets me up well for the last 2 days and final 2 postboxes!

I go back to Clifton to see an old friend

After a long day I did reach my hotel in Magor, just east of Newport.

I set off well fed and pretty well recovered at about 9.10 from the land of no signal, Sherborne. From there it was a matter of heading north. Almost directly north, to Bristol making good time and arriving shortly before 2.

I'd agreed to meet a friend of mine in Clifton Village at 2.30 but because of work he was running a bit late. Nonetheless I found a pub and ordered some food before Mikey T arrived. We had a catch up and I realised something quite important. Mike is superb for directions if you need to find a pub or bar, however if not it appears he's not the greatest.
"I need to get over to Avonmouth," says I.
"Your best bet is probably cross the suspension bridge towards Portishead" comes the reply.
That is not the case. After a lot of messing around and avoiding motorways I did managed to get myself back on track, way behind schedule but comfortably within daylight. Crossing the Severn Bridge was quite fun though the lack of A roads or adequate cycle path directions caused some more hassle when I reached the Welsh side of the water.

At 7.08 I reached the hotel, checked in, showered, changed and went down for dinner. It was difficult to decide what to have so I settled on a lasagna and a chicken pizza. I love the amount of guilt-free food this ride allows, I less so enjoy the cost of buying 2 dinners!

Today's ride is quite a hefty one, but I think shouldn't be too difficult. Along the coast to Cardiff to visit Geraint Thomas' post box, then back to the bridge over to Bristol and round to Weston-Super-Mare for the evening.
Not long to go now, just need to keep spinning my legs and wheels for a few more days!

@Pedal_Medal
www.justgiving.com/samlevey

Starting to get weary now

The cumulative effect of 3 weeks constant cycling is starting to catch up with me now. Just as I reach a very hilly final stretch. Lucky me.

Yesterday, despite my tired legs, was a good ride. Leaving @MrStevethechef's house shortly after 9 with a few Andover Wheelers in tow (Alistair and Nick), Steve led us out towards Bradford on Avon, due to work Alistair had to turn back so three of us completed the ride to Ed McKeever's postbox on The Shambles...
While we were looking for the postbox we asked a family for directions and I've picked up another follower, the lovely @firobson who added me as we got directions. The joys of mobile internet!

From there we called into a café for a brew and a snack, had a bit of a chat and plotted the next route down to Sherborne. Nick went straight back to Andover, leaving me and Steve to journey south together.

Once again the route was pretty simple, down towards Frome then pick up signs to Bruton and then Sherborne, however I've started getting back into hilly country so there were some long constant drags as well as a couple of steep, short climbs. We made it in good time though and got to the Peter Wilson's postbox on Cheap Street quite easily...

After that we waited in a pub for Caroline to collect Steve for their trip back home and my onward journey to accomodation. This time my cousin Hannah's in-laws, who have fed me superbly.

With a bit of luck my legs have got a bit more riding in them because I'm up to Bristol to cross the bridge to Wales today. Spending tonight in Newport.
Five more days of riding to go, three more post boxes to collect! In the words of Mortal Kombat, "Finish Him"

On a final note if anyone might be in and around Penzance on Friday early-afternoon I would really appreciate a bit of a welcome committee as I finally reach the end of the ride!!

@Pedal_Medal
www.justgiving.com/samlevey

No doubt about it, the best day so far

Greetings from a lovely Andover. I hope you've all had a similarly warm and sunny day, because to be honest it's been delightful here.

I think today was my most punctual set off of the whole journey, the 9am target was actually met-ish.
So from Camberley I went south, through lots of places I've never heard of, Frimley, Farnham, Farnborough etc to reach Alton. Despite it's name there was a worrying lack of roller coasters, which makes me very glad I've never spent my money on visiting before! I found Peter Charles box easily enough and spent a fair while waiting for a passersby to take my photo, but it happened...

What followed was an absolute delight. Through the South Downs, although there were some Ups, was a lovely ride. A few undulations but in the sunshine I was actually (for the first time this month) warm.
I made fantastic time down to Hamble to reach Dani King's postbox, completing the Women's Team Pursuit team and was also greeted by a Twitter fan @SpudPR which really makes my efforts worthwhile. While at the box we also met some holiday makers who donated their change and posed in the picture with me...

Annoyingly, but logistically my next step was retracing my path back to Botely before riding into Winchester and meeting 2 Steve's from the Andover Wheelers, @SteveDance18 and @MrStevethechef who guided me to town.

This evening I warmed up, had a couple of 'stubbies' before popping to the local for a swift half (2 pints). We're now back on the Lady Clark - who gave Steve-the-chef time off and a donation - Estate waiting for what smells like a devine roast chicken dinner with an incredible looking apple pie with ginger ice cream for dessert. I could very soon be in a food coma, but rest assured I will be on my way again first thing tomorrow!

Give me a follow @Pedal_Medal and donate at www.justgiving.com/samlevey

Not for the faint hearted

You know what, a lot of people love London. It's the thriving hub of our country, has plentiful opportunities, has the resources the rest of Britain only dreams of and particularly in relation to this ride, hosted the best Olympic games ever.
Now that's all well and good, but it's simply not designed for people. The roads and pavements are in poor condition, the signposting is completely random and there just isn't enough space for all the people that need to be there.

As you can tell, this is going to be a really cheery post!

The day started quite well. I woke up, had breakfast and loaded my bags on my bike. It then went downhill. Part one of my 'the road signs are ridiculous' rant, Watford. Quite a well known place, just north of London, decent football team. Nah, don't want to put that on any signs. Oh, actually let's put them on 1-in-6 signs so for the vast majority of the time you're just hoping.   But I got there, bouncing along on cycle paths or roadsides perhaps, but made it. To my great surprise I found Anthony Joshua's postbox quite easily...
At this stage, thanks to the stop-start nature of London's traffic I was already behind schedule, but alas I soldiered on.

Next on the list was Pete Reed's 50th post box, this time in Chiswick. What I discovered here is that the Brent area of London must LOVE cup final weekends because it must bring some order to their roads. It was like everyone in the town had seen a documentary on how crazy the roads are in India and thought to themselves, 'yeah, that looks good'. Cars, pedestrians, bikes just going anywhere regardless of road markings or traffic signals! After fighting my through that, Chiswick was quite nice and Pete's box was easy to find...

Next up, a 3.5mile straight road to Mo Farah's first box in Isleworth (with requisite Mo-Bot)...
Before a slightly more difficult 4miles to his second in Teddington. Here I met up with Klem, a follower on Twitter @MiddleRinger,  who joined me for Mo's second box...

The two of us then went looking for Wimbledon. You know Wimbledon, that world famous sporting and tourist attraction? Oh, let's not bother signposting that either. For one of the most tourist-popular cities on the planet it really doesn't want people to get anywhere.
Eventually we made it though and picked up Andy Murray's second box outside the All England Club(why he has two I don't know)...
Then a quick jaunt a mile down the road into Wimbledon centre for Sophie Hosking's box...

From here the journey became quite pleasant. Away from the overcrowded dangerously busy roads to a nice little village called Cheam, where we found the final box of the day, celebrating Jo Rowsell...

We then aimed towards Chobham to go our seperate ways, but not before a visit to an awesome cyclist's café in Ashtead @bikebeanscafe for a brew, some homemade cake and soup as well as a few pics, a £20 donation and potentially a little mention in a local paper. Honestly, if you're a cyclist and ever find yourself in the Epsom area I highly recommend it. Good food and good people.

In Chobham Klem and I separated, he returning home to Windsor as I carried on to Camberley.

As with yesterday, the day got much, much better as it went on and although there was a lot of stopping and starting all over the city, I got 7 more boxes checked off the list!
So now there are 7 days remaining, 7 boxes remaining and just the small matter of somehow getting back up to Bolton on Saturday!

Don't forget to follow @Pedal_Medal on Twitter and to donate www.justgiving.com/samlevey if you have the inclination to share my blog as well that would also be greatly appreciated!

London Calling

Well I'm actually already in London, but as this is a review of yesterday you'll just have to understand what I'm getting at!

Yesterday started terribly. After such a great welcome to Bedford, the difference was horrendous. You remember that wind I rode into the whole way from Reading? Well that turned arpund completely and carried a load of snow with it!
I fought my way to Stotfold to find Vicky Pendleton's postbox, however I found literally nobody willing to brave the cold so had to take a pic myself...

From there a truely disgraceful journey over to Elsenham followed, it appears nowhere on this God forsaken rock has any inclination of warming up. It's freaking April, stop being freezing! I reached Ben Maher's postbox and went to Yeomans Bistro to warm up...

Spicy parsnip soup later I hit the road again down to Harlow to find one of Laura Trott's boxes and the weather actually started to not be dire...

From there a hop onto the A10 for a few miles to Cheshunt to find her second one...
For some reason Laura Trott's (and Vicky Pendleton's) post boxes seemed to be tucked out of the way somewhat. No idea why, but when all the others are on a main road, the relative remoteness seems a little disrespectful.

From Cheshunt I got back on the A10 again, exiting at Enfield and finding Charlotte Dujardin's second postbox...

After that it was a simple game of traffic dodging, making my way onto the North Circular to Muswell Hill and finding my friends house.
As they say, all's well that ends well and my last couple of hours riding, followed by a top evening with a good friend and a few really lovely tweets from Charlotte Dujardin and some other, less famous but equally appreciated, followers and supporters made up for a pretty bad day in the saddle.

Today should be a good one. Meeting a Twitter follower @MiddleRinger around lunchtime, collecting a few postboxes in London before heading over to Camberley where my sister did her officer training at Sandhurst. Seven postboxes on the way today, which really brings the outstanding totally plummeting.

8 days to go...

Wind and Winning!

Due to some stupid route planning I actually had to ride back through Henley on my way up to Milton Keynes this morning. As a result I took a picture of myself at the postbox, no champions or medals this time, which was a little disappointing but oh well...

From there a long, difficult, freezing, windy journey up through Marlow, High Wycombe and Aylesbury, amongst others, to arrive at Greg Rutherford's box in Milton Keynes around 3ish...

Milton Keynes has recieved some bad press in the past, but I quite liked it. Fair enough it doesn't have a whole lot of character, but it was simple, orderly and made sense. Grid-system roads are so much better than old city labyrinths!

With about 18 miles to go and knowing there was a little bit of a welcome party due in Bedford I set off back into the headwind. I would say, honestly, that it was an equally unpleasant ride as some days in Scotland. Just an unrelenting cold wind. Awful.
About 10 miles out I pulled over and made a quick few phone calls, to the manager at Wilkinson's in Bedford, a lady at BBC 3 Counties radio and to Cllr Doug McMurdo telling them I would be arriving in about an hour.

Once in Bedford I went to Wilko's and with them went across to the post box, where the mayor was waiting. We shook hands and started taking photos as Doug McMurdo called Etienne Stott, the athlete for whom the box is painted, who jad arranged the mayoral reception. We had a brief chat, which was brilliant in which I thanked him for a superb summer last year and he told me I was doing a great job and that he was really impressed by what I was doing. It is incredible to me that elite athletes, champions at the grandest stage of them all, are impressed by me and thanking me for my celebration of their achievements.
Anyway, here's a pic of me and the mayor at Etienne Stott's postbox...

The Vikings Kayak club, who helped Etienne reach the top also came along to say hi, for which I am, again, very grateful.

From there we went up to the mayoral lounge for a brew and a biscuit and a chat, the result of which will hopefully be a much higher public awareness of the ride. I then briefly exited to have a radio phone interview and chat with a Uni friend, Ben Nye at 3 Counties radio before a couple of quick pics and me heading off to the night's accommodation.

As with yesterday, a great end to an otherwise miserable day! Looking forward to tomorrow, a fair few post boxes and seeing a very good friend, Sam Fearon.

Enter London, 9 days to go!

@Pedal_Medal
www.justgiving.com/samlevey

Please share my details and let's push the donations even higher!

Argh!

I know a couple of days ago I said I thought this blog was getting fewer hits while everything was going swimmingly...well yesterday was a bit of a disaster!

Set off well enough, made decent time to Nailsworth where I found Pete Reed's postboxes fairly easily...

From there I climbed a hill called The Ladder, which was a bit of a killer before finding the road I would be on for pretty much the rest of the day. All was going really well until about 7 miles outside Cirencester I heard my back tyre hemorrhaging air. I tried to remain calm, pulled over to the side of the road and switched inner tubes. At this point I discovered that CO2 pumps are unreliable so I resorted to waving down cars. Eventually a lovely couple, Mark and Mel, stopped and we bodged together enough air in the tyre to get to Halfords. There they told me that the old tyre was ruined, it was, and so I got a replacement and had them switch them over in the shop in Cirencester.

I set off again, probably about an hour behind schedule and with no trust in my bike, but fairly shortly reached Ampney St Peter and found Laura Bechtolsheimer's postbox, another one down...

I checked my route, it was about 60miles to Henley and then about 10miles to Reading, where I was staying the night. Luckily evening's are quite light til late, but it was still a big ask.
So, I set off again and a few miles down the road my tyre popped again. Luckily this time it went just as I arrived at a little village called Meysey Hampton so I went knocking on doors to beg for help. An exceptionally kind man answered after a couple of houses and took me and my wheel down the road to a Performance Cycles in Poulton. We changed the inner tube over again (very, very kindly donated) picked up a new pump and went back to the rest of the bike. Wheel fitted, bags reloaded, 55miles to go to Henley and still no faith in my bike, the joys! It was 3pm and my phone was rapidly running out of battery.

I got on the road again and rode for all I was worth, through some small places I've never heard of then over to Didcot, Wallingford and dropping into Henley at 7.45. I found the box easy enough and turned on my phone. Carl, my sister's fiancé, was on his way to collect me and Alex Gregory and Pete Reed wanted to come out and see me. Alex arrived first and we had a chat, he gave me some energy gels and such, then took a picture of me wearing his gold medal (one of the main goals of the trip for me!). Carl then arrived and took a pic of me and Alex at the post box before Pete arrived and gave me chocolate bars (they're already been eaten). We all spoke for a while and they told me they were really impressed with what I was doing and hoped I was successful and that I should get some publicity for it, which was brilliant.
As a side note, I don't think I've ever seen two bigger men in my life, I'm 6ft and was completely dwarfed by them! Men-mountain the pair of them.

All-in-all the ending in Henley went a really long way to making up for the nightmare of the rest of the day. Seriously, my longest ride of the whole journey and that happened! Ok, moving on, all's well that ends well.

I had to skip the remaining 10miles to Reading, but I'm here, fed and just about rested.

10 days to go. Reading to Milton Keynes to Bedford today, before the joys of London traffic tomorrow

The cold is getting old

Morning everybody, firstly I'll apologise for the slight delay in getting this done. I felt good last night and had the time, but I simply didn't do it before I went to bed.

I checked out of Stratford upon Avon college a little bit later than expected, due to seeing out of the window and not really being inclined to freeze, but I got going eventually. From there it was a pretty simple 8miles to Alcester for Nick Skelton's second post box...

Following a slight detour I got myself back on track taking some country roads through to Worcester, through Malvern, who had an unappreciated welcome for me...it's a big hill. I'd seen the hills on the horizon a few miles earlier and just knew that I would be going up them! From there it was a fun, if freezing, decline to Charlotte Dujardin's box in Newent, Gloucestershire...

The next target was Cheltenham for Alex Gregory's box, about 17miles away. Annoyingly enough this took me onto my first busy A-road of the day, but it was only for about 6miles so wasn't too bad. I found his box after a little minor messing around (one way system in a place I don't know)...

After that is was a matter of phoning my hosts for the evening and making my way to their house for dinner. Dave and Dee, my sister's fiancé's parents are great, very friendly and very accommodating.

I spent a bit of the evening contacting people for the next few days to confirm accomodation and company en route and it looks as though I'm good up to  Newport, Wales. Waiting to hear back about that, need to find somewhere in Weston-Super-Mare and Okehampton and then I'm golden to Penzance!
I'll be staying over in Penzance on the Friday night then getting the train back north on Saturday (I wonder if TCAA would donate the train fare or a helicopter ride for me? - I have put in quite a lot of effort suppprting them after all)!!

Today's ride is my longest of the challenge, about 95 from Cheltenham to Nailsworth then Ampney St Peter, from there to Henley on Thames before ending at my sister's place in Reading. Long ride but pretty flat...except the first drag up to Nailsworth!
Let's hope I get a bit of warmth today!

Don't forget to follow @Pedal_Medal on Twitter and donate at www.justgiving.com/samlevey

Stratford upon Awesome

Despite the awful fact that I lost an hour's recovery time last night I did get up and gone at a slightly delayed time of 9.45 but my host Vikki, manager of TCAA charity shop in Rugeley and her husband, Steve, fed me well before Steve joined me on the ride to Tamworth before heading back to the on-laws and leaving me to continue to Bedworth to visit Nick Skelton's first post box...

In Bedworth I met Jo, from TCAA and her husband, Ian, who rode alongside me for the rest of the day arriving at Stratford upon Avon at around 4ish. Stratford college actually donated a room for the night which is brilliant and Di (the lady behind my video) met us there, got some new material to update the vid and took me out for dinner.

I'm now fully fed and recovering well, ready for a bit of a monster ride tomorrow heading to my sister's fiancé's parents in Cheltenham. Looking forward to it, now I just need to hope the weather stays clear and the terrain stays pretty flat!
Good times

Half way!

Yesterday's ride completed the halfway stage of the challenge!
Anyways, I got to Flint nice and early, got the photograph taken at Jade Jones postbox, which is just round the corner from Jade Jones Pavilion (they're quite proud of the girl up there it seems)...
From there I rode up what they call Flint Mountain, but I'm sure it's not a real one, and back down into Wrexham a couple of hours later, finding Tom James's box nice and easily...

From there it was a small matter of 50miles to Stafford, where I was being met at the train station for a list to Rugely where there's a TCAA charity shop. They'd rounded up their volunteers and we did a little photo session, which I'll share a link to when I can (pics aren't on my phone) before donating some money and giving me a very lovely little miner's lamp as a memento. Then taking me to the pub for a couple of beers and some time chatting. Really great group, and very much appreciated.

Today's ride looks like fun, from here to Bedworth solo then meeting up with a TCAA employee and her other half and riding in to Stratford-on-Avon to see Di (the lady behind the video) and hopefully rest and recover well!

Hopefully tonight I won't be completely shattered so will be able to do the blog then, but if not we'll have to wait til morning. Enjoy your Easter everybody, hope you have a good day.

@Pedal_Medal
www.justgiving.com/samlevey

Pride comes before a fall

I don't know why I do it, but every time I think the worst has past something comes along and gives me a swift kick in the whatsits.

Yesterday, leaving Sheffield was a bit of a drag, nothing too major just constant and before I'd properly warmed up. Once going strong I started to make good time towards Leek until I hit a disgusting hill. I'd actually taken a different road, but seeing the view stopped off and took a picture...I then checked my route and saw I had to go up it. Arthur's Way in Castleton, an evil 20% incline with my panniers dragging me backwards. I'm confident without the additional weight I'd have dragged my way to the top, but this was the first road to defeat me as I climbed off and pushed the second half.

From there, aside from a couple of difficult but manageable hills the ride to Buxton then Leek was fairly simple and I arrived at Anna Watkins post box just as the Good Friday service was finishing in the middle of town. The box itself was easy to find so here's the picture...

From there it was a small matter of riding 45ish miles to Chester/Wrexham which, thanks to being out of the hills meant I could ride along at a good pace so reached my goal around 5.

My mum's cousin Alan collected me and just when I thought the day was over a real disaster struck. My pannier rack broke. Evidently the challenge of carrying my bags and bouncing through the potholes I couldn't avoid  took it's strain and the actual frame snapped. These problems can be solved so a quick trip to Halfords (other companies are available) to buy a replacement and all is looking good...and the checkout girl was gorgeous, but that's beside the point.

Today's ride hopefully won't be too difficult, Flint, North Wales for Jade Jones then back to Wrexham/Wrecsam to collect Tom James's before another long slog to Stafford.
I say this cautiously, but I think the big hills are behind me for a little while which should help, the traffic will hopefully be lessened over the Easter weekend and by the end of the day I'll have finished half of the ride!

As ever @Pedal_Medal and www.justgiving.com/samlevey so please donate and share the link!

Peak District? You call them hills?

A good, if frustrating day today. Started off well enough, traffic and poor road maintenance the only downsides on an otherwise straightforward ride from Bolton to Manchester. As I entered the city my regular problem hit so I spent a while meandering the streets looking for road signs and clues as to where I was going. Anyways, eventually I found the GB Cycling post box at Piccadilly Garden...
Before an inefficient, though successful journey round the corner to Albert Square for Philip Hindes box, thus completing the Men's Sprint boxes (Hoy, Kenny and Hindes)...
This left me with an unenviable trip across to Sheffield, a ride that had loomed large for a while. As it was I followed signs for Sheffield rather than getting into Glossop before the Peaks so took the longer, but easier Woodhead Pass rather than Snake Pass. The ease with which I coped however leads me to think the 3.2mile, 7% incline wouldn't actually have been that big a deal. Easy gear and keep the legs turning. No great secret but highly effective. There were some interesting road signs as I got off the Pass, first saying Sheffield was 16miles, then a couple of miles later telling me 21, but nonetheless I rode them, getting to the city centre around 3.15. As ever there was some messing around to find the box, but I did do. I suspect this is the closest I'll ever get to Jessica Ennis (unfortunately)...
From there another cluster-cuss of a journey to find my hostel but it was eventually located. I'm now warmed up, fed and hydrated (water and beer) and looking forward to the ride back to Leek and on to Chester.
Final picture, a lovely scene from the bottom of Woodhead Pass...

As ever, thanks for the support. It means everything to me, particularly on these days of isolation!
Here's the obligatory reminder to follow me on Twitter (@Pedal_Medal) to donate www.justgiving.com/samlevey and to share my challenge with everyone you know

Another great day, let's hope this keeps going!

To my knowledge I'd never been to the Isle of Man before, but judging on how great it was yesterday I will be going again.

The interview I gave from Liverpool went out in the morning, and although it only got one person on the road with me it was gold medallist Peter Kennaugh's dad! We met at the sea terminal, so I could thank Brian for organising the donated ferry crossing before setting off. Now, the island had just suffered it's worst snowfall in 50 years so a good section of the place was unavailable, but we made do. There were some good hills, great scenes (once the snow stopped) and, as it turns out, some interesting history. Pete Senior was a top tour guide and inevitably very knowledgeable about cycling and particularly Manx riders so we talked about track and road cycling, Cavendish, Ben Swift (he just bought a house on IoM) the Kennaugh brothers and the Olympic experience. It was an brilliant insight to a world 'normal' people just don't see. After the tour and some lunch in a proper, quaint little teashop we made our way round to Onchan and visited firstly his son's gold phonebox (nobody else has one of these) followed by his postbox.
I also took a picture of Pete Sr at Pete Jr's box.

On my way back to the ferry port, as it would have been rude not to, I stopped off at the TT starting point, as I know a few of my friends are into that kind of thing, so there's also a couple of pics of that...

My next couple of days are going to be a bit brutal, but I feel well rested and I'm reasy to get it done. Today it's a casual jaunt over Snake Pass between Manchester and Sheffield, through the Peak District. Only a relatively short day, but a lot of climbing. Head down and keep pedalling is the key!

Interviews and the Isle of Man

As expected yesterday was and easy, if time consuming day.
With only the 30 miles to cover between Bolton and Liverpool and a ferry crossing from 7 it was very much a case of waiting.

My original plan had been to leave home at 12.30 but I was taken to an interview with local radio station Tower FM just beforehand, so departure time was pushed back. The interview went quite well, hitting the salient points of what, why and when so I set off at 2. The ride to Liverpool is really quite straightforward, which makes a change, get on the East Lancs Road and keep going til you find the water.

All that remained was getting on the ferry and crossing the water. At least that's what I'd thought. I posted a couple of messages on Twitter (@Pedal_Medal) and lo-and-behold a reporter on Manx Radio said they wanted to do have a chat. Hopefully that'll go out this morning and will get me some company riding around the island later and if not, it's more local media showing an interest, which can't be bad!

So, for today a short ride up to Onchan before a ferry back this evening. I think I'll probably do a little sightseeing while I'm here, particularly if I find some company for the ride. If not I'll just find somewhere warm and wait til the return journey.

Much harder days coming up, so must make the most of these shorter efforts. Particularly with Snake's Pass over to Sheffield looming large on Thursday!

All systems go

In the immortal words of Ice Cube, "Today was a good day".

Thanks to the weather delay Huddersfield was covered on Saturday, resulting in a much reduced mileage today.
Starting the day in Colne at Steven Burke's postbox wearing my slightly delayed, but nonetheless awesome customised cycling jersey...

I met up with an old school and Uni friend, Stu Powers who took the train from Lancaster to join in for the day, which helped bring about the most fun ride of the challenge. From Colne to Blackburn for a quick cup of soup, flapjack and banana (thanks to my Dad running the support vehicle) we got over to Eccleston for the first of two Wiggo boxes before (eventually) rolling through to Chorley to collect the second...

After that, due to a good pace being set we were able to take our time heading to Bolton. Stu was starting to struggle - this was his first ride for a few weeks and his longest of the winter/spring season - so a stop off for Frederick's for the world's greatest ice cream was well deserved, followed 20mins down the road by a quick brew at home before the final 10-15mins into the town centre to get both of Jason Kenny's boxes...

Stu then went over to the train station to head back to Lancs before I was collected by my Dad and brought home for a mountain of spag bol and a cheeky couple of beers.

Another short day tomorrow, Bolton to Liverpool for the ferry to the Isle of Man, let's hope this dry weather continues because that will definitely keep me motivated, as will any offers of company along the way!

"Today I didn't even have to use my AK, I got to say it was a good day"