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DAY 1 Land’s End to Okehampton – 103 miles
Sunday 7 June 2009
The Be Number 1 LEJOG cycling team departed from Land’s End shortly after 10 o’clock this morning as they embarked on a nine-day odyssey that will hopefully see them arrive in John O’Groats a week tomorrow.
After all the painstaking preparation, the team, which includes Olympic windsurfing bronze medallist Nick Dempsey, Sarah Webb, the double Olympic sailing gold medallist, and Jason Gill, a disabled hand cyclist, appeared relieved to finally hit the road.
“There was generally a mixture of nerves and excitement amongst us before the off”, Dempsey said after the team reached Okehampton, Devon this evening, following a 103-mile journey across some tough, undulating terrain.
“That said, I have to confess that I slept like a log last night after everyone had eaten as much as they possibly could to get plenty of fuel on board.
“After arriving in Land’s End yesterday afternoon, we had a good look around, walking along the cliffs and seeing a constant stream of cyclists finishing their journeys from John O’Groats. In fact, so much so that there are even a couple there who make their living by taking photos. The average length of time the newly crowned End-to-Enders took to cycle from John O’Groats seemed to be around 12 to 14 days, so completing the journey in nine days will certainly be an exacting task for us.
“I think part of our nervousness arose out of the fact that we didn’t really know what to expect in terms of fitness and time in the saddle. But the build-up for the team was pretty good. I wrote a training programme for everyone three months ago. I am not absolutely sure they totally adhered to it! But it was evident from the first day’s riding that they have all done a decent amount of training.
“The weather conditions were dismal at times, but we ticked along pretty well. Our satnav system isn’t necessarily the best and we took a few wrong turns. We spent most of the morning criss-crossing the A30 and ended up at various times on pedestrianised high streets, cul de sacs and farm tracks.
“Lunch, though, cheered us up somewhat. Sarah [Ayton, Dempsey’s wife, who is providing support to the team] served us up a feast of pasta with freshly cooked chicken before we saw Jenson Button winning the Turkish Grand Prix. Heaven!
“After lunch, we used mostly dual carriageway and arrived in Okehampton in good shape, having been in the saddle for almost exactly seven hours. Not surprisingly, we are all aching a bit and it feels like we have been climbing all day. In fact, we climbed a total of about 7,000 feet, which is a quarter of the height of Everest! There will be steeper individual climbs facing us over the next week or so. But, overall, today will be the biggest climbing day. So, just another 800 miles to go!”
The Be Number 1 LEJOG project, in which Robin Simpson will also attempt to break the world record of six days and 17 hours for cycling from John O’Groats to Land’s End and back again to John O’Groats, is raising money for the British Heart Foundation.
In addition, a team led by Ayton, Webb and Pippa Wilson – ‘The Three Blondes in a Boat’ - will be visiting schools along the route to present health and fitness workshops to highlight the links between diet, lifestyle, sport and health.
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