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Andy Colman's End To end

SOME FAQS FROM OUR TRIP ...

• Pictures at http://www.flickr.com/photos/andycolman
• First and foremost, Matthew (aged 14 years and 42 days) coped just fine and I am the proudest Dad on the planet. I was worried that he would get fatigued after a couple of days but all that happened is that his appetite went through the roof and his acne cleared up.
• A ‘Boost’ bar can propel a 14 year old for around 30 miles without the need for re-fuelling.
• Our official mileage was 926 but that excludes things like riding round Lockerbie trying to find a chippy and horsing around on a mountain bike one evening (Matt only)
  Yes, we have recovered. In fact, we’ve already been out on the bikes since we finished.
• We didn’t have any major problems with knees or nether regions.
  Neither of us lost any weight. Although I’d like to think that my fat to muscle ration has improved quite a bit.
• We took around 250 photos – you can see 58 of them at www.flickr.com/photos/andycolman. More to follow.
• We stayed in 8 different types of accommodation - Hotel (twice) , Youth Hostel (twice) , B&B (5 times), Stayed with friends (once), borrowed a relatives house (once), home (once), tent (once), caravan (twice)).
• We didn’t have ANY punctures. No, really.
• We used a couple of my old racing bikes as our steeds. There were fully serviced (by me) beforehand and nothing fell off them or went wrong with them. Only my bike had panniers – they weighed around 10 kilos.
• Both bikes had 16 gears, 13 of which were largely superfluous.
• Despite a couple of near misses (both my fault), we didn’t have any accidents. Matt fell off once at about 3 mph but we’re not counting that.
• Maximum recorded speed was 36 mph although I’m sure Matt went faster than that on some of the descents.
• Our best average speed for a day was 12.2 (Day 10 – Whitchurch to Aldridge). We normally averaged between 10 and 11 mph but on day one we were closer to 9 mph.
• Our average mileage for the 15 days was 62 miles per day.
• Our shortest day was 39 miles (Day 15 – Perranporth to Lands End)
• Our longest day was 82 miles (Day 6 – Edinburgh to Lockerbie)
• High spots (altitude wise) were Drumrochter Summit (1518 ft), Shap Summit (1400 ft) and Slochd Summit (1200 ft). Also a highly commended for Romsley (near Bromsgrove) at just under 1000 ft.
• We got rained on on 7 of the 15 days.
• We rode into a head wind on 6 of the 15 days.
• We were in Penzance (10 miles to go) before we found a KFC on the route.
• Around 500 motorists pipped us and/or suggested that we got out of their f*******g way.
• Yes – I would do another big tour given the chance.
• Sponsor money is still coming in but I think the final total will be around £2000.
• If you are umming and arring about doing something similar, get out there and DO IT !!!