LEJOG day 1 Killing the Lizard

Early start to the day, leaving the Jones' around 6 a.m. Gareth kindly escorted myself and the 4 other cyclists (namely Ben, Ben, Chris and Guy) plus our bikes to the start - Land's End! The 4 cyclists who started yesterday were able to spend a while longer in bed, until the cyclists in my group (but not me) cycled back to the Jones' for breakfast. I wouldn't be cycling to the Jones' because I had a certain Lizard to kill...

At Land's End we all had our photo's taken and then we were off on our epic journey. We cycled as a group to Helston and then I parted company with the others. The others were going to meet up with the remainder of the group, have breakfast and cycle to our destination in Copplestone. I was cycling to the Lizard, the Southernmost point of mainland Britain. No one else was brave enough (mad enough?!) to join me.
The trip to the Lizard was well worth it, very pretty and gave me a good feeling that I had achieved another goal. One of the hills was pretty tough and was a 17% gradient. I passed through a place called Cury which I found of some amusement. At the Lizard, I treated myself to a well earned full english breakfast before I set off again.
Cycling such a distance by myself was hard work - no one to slip stream and only the voices in my head to keep me company. Guy would phone or text me at random times to update me on there whereabouts and check to see if I was ok, which was nice. John V, and my sis Jane also text me to wish me well which was also real nice, and I spoke to my dad (and ma by proxy) on the phone.

After a long stretch on the A30 I pulled over and had a break at Mc Donalds and suitably fed and watered myself here. Phoned Guy, he was in Wadebridge (which was only like 12 miles away, but at the time I didn't know that). Left Mc Donald's and continued my trek.

After I had cycled 110 miles I eventually caught up with the other 8 cyclists in Bude. This was such a great meet, because now we were all together, and better yet, Hannah (Ben Adams girlfriend) was there doing a wonderful job of supporting us (ie getting us food and drink, and transporting all our luggage and providing me with a plaster for my 'cyclists nipple'). The other cyclists were Nathan, Dave, Ian and Steve.
We cycled as a group all the way to Copplestone, stopping and stretching at random times. It was nice to talk to others and share a experince. Steve is a youngster at only 17 years of age, Ian is only cycling till Monday, both of the Bens and Nathan have never cycled more than 50 miles in one shot before. Apparently a girl called Fleur is joining us for some action soon.

After I had cycled 151 miles (some 30 miles more than the guys I set off with, and 50 more than the others), we reached our destination. Our destination was the domicile of the Avery's. The Avery's were awesome and suitably catered to our needs and cooked us an amazing BBQ. Sweet! I write this blog on Gareth Avery's laptop! Plan to shower and crash now, ready for another day of cycling tomorrow.

Cycled a distance of 151.79 miles, at an average speed of 14.7 mph and a max speed of 41 mph.