LEJOG Stage 5 – Leigh to Crosthwaite

Distance: 84 Miles / 135 Km

Elevation: 4,051ft / 1,235m

In your best Proclaimers voices folks . . .

“And we have ridden five hundred miles, and we will ride five-hundred more,

Just to see the sign at John O’Groats, so we can watch the Whisky pour . . . Ba-da-da-daaaaa” . . . etc, etc

Beyond proud today as we are HALFWAY. This means that we can started counting backwards instead of forwards which is always important on an Endurance event such as this. Sores have starting becoming agonising, muscle cramps are becoming tears, but its all a part of the experience (apparently).

The team took a different shape today as Diesel had to leave the peloton for today, but our Axle’s back in the saddle! In fact, last night ended with Axle bringing a “donor” bike over to the hotel for Foz and Diesel to raid for parts, which was done under the watchful guidance of Martin the mechanical wizard. All good.

Diesel’s cassette swap came with a caveat to not run big ring to biggest cassette cog otherwise the result would be catastrophic, but more on that later. . .

So . . . let’s wind back . . . First the daily board, here’s Julie:

During the brief, ZT spotted that he’d had a complete gearing failure. His electronic setup failed due to being discharged (we think), but before long, he got up and running with a different charger:

After waiting for some juice to flow, we finally got going . . . and then disaster . . . remember that earlier caveat of Diesel’s?:

Hmmm . . . That’s a pic of a derailleur that’s been sheared off and gone through the spokes which happened 200 metres into the ride. Diesel therefore had to walk back to wait for Julie and the van whilst the rest of the team set about the ride.

Ha’way Man’s response was priceless . . . “It’ll polish out, I reckon . . . ”

By first brew, talk turned to how Diesel was getting on . . . who was now driving to Blackburn for spares. Here’s ZT and Axle refuelling:

A few more cities got either ticked off or circumnavigated today including Bolton, Preston and Blackburn. This was a bridge in the middle of Lancaster and at least three of us are in this photo somewhere:

Talk in today’s peloton turned to weird bodily signals being thrown up during the challenge so far, from feeling sick, to fighting fit, to hungry to full, all within short time frames. “Ha’way Man” likened it to Pavlov’s Dog theorem, in that when we now actually sit down to eat, the body has learned what’s coming next . . . I think he may have a point.

It was then up into the southern part of the Lake District with a cracking view back to Grange-over-Sands:

Finally, we finished the day in Crosthwaite, easily the best digs (and evening meal) so far at the Damson Dene Hotel. By mid-evening each night, though, we’re starting to notice a distinct smell of “Deep Heat” up and down the corridors.

This was funny . . . Beyond Diesel, there’s another NZ rider in the group (Symon) who’s a great character. He has the biggest handlebar bag you’ve ever seen and whilst out on route yesterday a chap riding alongside asked him, “why the big bag, man, what are you carrying?”.

With a dead-pan look and perfect timing, Symon turned and responded “All of my money” and then focused forwards and pedalled on his way. Superb.

We’re expecting the first spell of rain tomorrow, but more importantly we’re heading into Windermere, climbing out via Kirkstone Pass and finishing the day in Scotland. Yes . . . Scotland . . . ALREADY! Strange days indeed . . .

Thank you to everyone who has supported us this far, we are riding for an extremely important cause that’s close to our hearts. Our full story can be found at:

https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/b2blejog

Thanks for reading folks, and remember . . .

TOMORROW WE RIDE!!!

Team B2B

#teamb2b

#getyourtoein

#lejog2019