‘morning all,

My good friend James set off at about 8pm last night to ride the King Alfred’s Way solo, starting in Wiltshire and working his way round from there. He’s doing it unsupported in one hit to raise money for the Motor Neurone Disease Association. You can see how he’s doing (Hint: really rather well) here: Garmin Livetrack

Now the important bit: Jim and his brother have already raised a ton with a variety of really rather long bicycle rides. Please take a moment to read their story and, if you have a spare bob or two, consider donating: https://gofund.me/5c55f678

boink for visibility…

He is clipping along!

I rode out to pedal with him for a bit. From his estimates, I thought I’d be able to leave at 7, ride back along the route and meet him at Frensham.

Good job I woke up early and checked the bipper – I left at 5:40 and met him at Thursley. Very chipper, and not hanging about. Strong pace for me, I’d done 10K – he’d done 200!

His Garmin then threw a wobbler on Thursley Common, sent him the wrong way and then rerouted backwards when we met the path again. 2km extra of sandy goodness. I’d like to think it wasn’t my fault, but either way, my presence certainly didn’t provide any support! Sorry, James!

That’s good going!

Chuffin’ hell that’s shifting!

There’s only one steep hill, just after Broughton, left, everything else is steady away.

Well he’s up the hill out of Broughton, so if Whitestone’s right about the route, he’s got about 25 flattish miles to go and over 4 hours before 24hours ticks over. Looking good!

Though he did say he lives in the middle of probably the worst part of the route – loads of chopped up grass tracks, so the home stretch isn’t much to look forward to!

Just ticked over 200 miles and (for the first time I’ve seen) dropped below 10mph. Hopefully he didn’t drink all the IPA we left with them last week and has a nice cold one or two in the fridge.

average dropped below 10mph when he stopped in Broughton.

I didn’t say it was flattish, just that the climbs were steady. There’s a long drag out of Amesbury, one up to Larkhill and one out of Orcheston. They aren’t hard climbs by any means but with over 300km in the legs they’ll feel harder than they should.

Just finished. 223.44 miles in 22 hours 32mins.

Very well done indeed, James!

Great ride, well done.