As a warm up to doing the Race Across AMerica Chris Hopkinson is riding the LEJOGLE (1800 miles) in one go. He’s 270 miles (Birmingham) in after less than 24 hours. Sounds like it was a cold night for him, down to -4.

Track him and shout encouragement on Twitter @Hoppo347 (support team are passing messages on).

Live tracking is at; http://www.teamhoppo.co.uk/live-tracking/

I think the way that social media and gps tracking have changed these sorts of activities is great – rather than just a ‘He’s off!’ and some time later ‘He’s finished!’ message on a website you get to appreciate the real journey that these people undertake. Fascinating.

Oh, and Go Chris!

Brave move in this weather. Had to scrape the ice off my motorbike seat this morning. Good luck.

Is it true he is attempting this in 5.5 days? 😯
Will be watching with interest, it would be fantastic to break the record.

crazy crazy man !

Looking at that website I conclude that the man is an absolute beast! The bit that made me smile the widest is the 24 hr ride he did as a recovery ride…

He’s be into a head wind all the way too! 😯

Latest tweet:

We are having an issue with the car, are there any mobile vehicle mechanics about between stoke and Penrith?

Can anyone help them?

He’s got to Bolton. Not bad for 24 hours riding.

Makes my 4 miles commute home seem a little less of a challenge. Only a little, mind 😉

I do hope he’s done a bit more research into the route than the link on his website suggests. There’s a couple of bits local to me where cyclists are forbidden 😯

He’s be into a head wind all the way too!

Well to be fair, only until halfway.

Meh – sods law and all that!

Staggering stuff.
Top bloke.
Were I a wearer of any form of head wear it would be duly dothed.

Nutter 😯

But awesome all the same.

yeah he’ll have to find another route instead of Edinburgh bypass, no bikes allowed.

He’s between Wigan and Preston at the moment so what time is he going to stop for the day ?

Surely he gotta sleep sometime 😯 depending on what I’m doing in a bit, I might go for a drive and catch him up

he seems to have 90mins kip every now and then, seems nuts, would be interested to know his average speed

Doing multi-day adventure races, 90 minutes kip a day is the norm. Wouldn’t normally get the first sleep less only 24 hours in though.

Looks like he’s pulled over in a lay by in Coppull, not moved on the live tracking for an hour or so.

Edinburgh bypass and the road he’s taking to the forth road bridge are non-starters for bikes.

His follow vehicle has broken down – they’re asking if anyone can help

Contact via twitter is probably quickest?

Be a shame if this ended it 🙁

Moving again! 🙂

Just getting into Preston but they are aiming for Lancaster by 10pm 😯

Think I saw him early this morning passing Worcester, wondered was was going on admit often you see a rider with support vehicle

As far as I’m aware this guy has the record at the mo

Distance: 1880 miles.
Time: 5 days 21 hours 8 minutes
Calories burned: c.105 000
Av. Daily distance: 324.1 miles
Sleep: 210 minutes
Weight lost: 8kg
Elevation: 66 956 feet

http://www.rockettrides.com/

That’s right, joeydeacon, back in August 2010.

Looking smooth and steady leaving Lancaster. 🙂

He had 3 hours sleep overnight think they were climbing Shap about 1am and he got some rest after that, mind you anyone would need a rest after Shap.

They are approaching Edinburgh ATM and, judging from the tweets, are working out a way of getting round legally as the Bypass has a no cycling rule.

Follow them @hoppo347 is Chris @themartincox is in the support car / van

Some good pictures being tweeted today and I’m hoping to see them on the way back

He’s done 1200km in 72 hours and nearly at the half way point.

Let’s hope he gets a tailwind on the way back.

Is he still on target ?

This sort of feat just depresses me. Just when I feel my riding is getting better & faster some chap pops up and puts it into perspective.

Bugger – hopefully he cant do doubles or skids or fall off like I do.

I’m not sure ont he target – he’s aiming for just under 6 days so taking more than 3 for the first leg is setting himself a fairly big challenge for the second.

I don’t know if he’s been heading into this prevailing wind the whole time or not – if he has then taking 25% off for his return is perfectly possible I’d imagine.

I don’t know if he’s been heading into this prevailing wind the whole time or not

You haven’t noticed which direction he’s going in and which direction the wind is blowing?

<checks local weather – yep, still a North Easterly here>

still North Easterly here in Hove too but I didn’t see him going past my door at any point and I carried out a detailed meteorlogical search for wind directions and strengths at each point on his journey over the past 72 hours. silly me.

That’s him at JoG then. That’s taken him 3 1/2 days so it looks like any record attempt is well out of the question. He seemed to take a weird route into and out of Edinburgh too – that must have cost him some time.

The wind must have been really strong. Shame for the record, but bloody impressive stuff. Hope the return journey is easier wind wise but the legs must be pretty tired, with the cold temps not helping. Once again, its an impressive feat.

Unfortunately he has abandoned at JOG, from his Facebook page:

Arrived John o’groats cause of numerous probs I will be ending my record attempt here.we have learnt lots+its been v good training for RAAM

Still 3 1/2 days into a freezing headwind is a bloody fine effort.

Unfortunate, but no big surprise. If he started off with the record as the main target, then knowing that the record is impossible must be very demoralising.

Not a bad training ride – animal! The current wind direction would have been more helpful going back south.

Having looked at the route, he does seem to have done an awful lot of extra distance between Carlisle and the Forth bridge – probably over an hour added on there. Most record routes go up on the old A74 (alongside the motorway) to Abington before cutting across towards Edinburgh – plenty of route advice available. Not that it would have made a huge difference in the end.