Wow. What a day! It\u2019s hard to believe that what started as a pipe dream back in March has finally come to an end and in many ways its difficult for me to grasp what I have actually achieved right now, sat on the sofa of our Travelodge in St Ives. I am exuberant, delighted and exhausted all at once and it feels like this has all been a dream. Only the ever present aching of the tops of my legs and the roughness of my hands remind me that I must have really done this thing. Let\u2019s start at the B&B in Bude this morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I had trouble sleeping \u2013 I was up until late last night preparing items I needed for today and the magnitude of the last day began to hit me. I lay awake just planning how I would get through today and what I wanted to do along the way to make it more than just a hard slog to the end. Luckily we had persuaded our hosts to make breakfast early as I was determined to hit the road at 8am. I knew there may be an issue at the end of the day with the photographer and the Land\u2019s End sign so I wanted to give myself as much time as possible for the last leg. For the last time, I hauled the Azzurri Primo out of the car and set off into the morning light. Full of adrenalin I had worked out that ideally I would arrive in Newquay at 11 \u2013 11.30 and with the elevation I would encounter there was only one way this could be achieved. Ladies and gentlemen, a word that should by now be familiar to you all: RACEPACE. And this was not the \u2018chasing a cyclist\u2019 here and there RacePace, this was the real deal, head down all the way, progressive fast cyclising at full power both up and down the hills. Without a doubt the biggest effort I had put into any part of the entire JOGLE and the statistics spoke for themselves. Despite almost 3000 feet of climbing I averaged 17mph over the 44 mile route and arrived at 10.45am, well before Mrs W.<\/p>\n\n\n