Day 1

We started later than planned after Matt and Chris' flight to Edinburgh was delayed and they didn't arrive at the hotel until 1:30 this morning. We met for breakfast at 8:00 (note to self: don't have a Full English Breakfast before riding a long distance on your bike - it's porridge for me tomorrow). We finally reached the start point at BT's Alexander Graham Bell House at 10:00 and left soon afterwards.

Within a few hundred yards of the start we lost the support vehicle (by going through a bike only barrier) and wasted about half an hour trying to meet up with it again. Leaving Edinburgh (in fact leaving Scotland) was hard going with some up hill sections lasting nearly 10 miles!

We finally crossed the border at 8pm and arrived in Carlisle at about 10pm.

I can honestly say that it was the hardest day's cycling I've ever done - I'm really not looking forward to tomorrow!

Today's stats are:
Total Distance 96.59 miles
Total Riding Time 7 hours 42 minutes
Maximum Speed 37.7 mph
Average Speed 12.5 mph