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Rob Lee's UK LEJOG End2End X1 Offroad Blog
Rob's riding the UK End2End X1 LEJOG offroad as part of the 7ds, here's his rolling blog on the attempt.

Words and Photos by Rob Lee - posted 24/08/2010

Rob Lee's UK LEJOG End2End X1 Offroad Blog

Rob is riding the UK End2End from Land's End to John O'Groats in September following the X1 route and largely offroad. Here is a mini blog on his efforts in the build up and along the way. Rob is raising money for Let's Hike or Bike for Children - Just Giving Page

6 days / 68 hours / 626 miles - 08/09/2010

My X1 attempt came to an end. It was earlier than expected. I spent 6 days on the attempt, 68 hours on my bike, and I covered 626 miles of the route. It was intense and it was everything an adventure should be. It is one of the highlights amongst the 37 years of my life, a real gem, and I was priviledged to have had some of my closest and dearest there to support me.

I close my eyes and try to remember all the amazing views and emotions but I am at complete overload. It brought me everything I was looking for and much, much more. I am, for the first time since I first picked up a mountain bike in 1993, at complete peace with who I am, what I do, and where I am going to go.

The only thing I've ever wanted from my cycling was to measure up to my own standards. My question to myself wasn't "can I become a good cyclist?" but rather "am I prepared to do what is required in order to be in a position to have no doubt that I could or couldn't?"

I've never been afraid of failure, only afraid of failure through lack of trying. I tried my hardest and I found that I actually already knew the answer to both the question I'd asked and the one that people assume I ask. That was enough, that was more than enough, that was everything. The journey is, as I've often said, way more important than the destination.

X1 - Crazy day 5... - 05/09/2010

What a day! Crazy, crazy highs and lows that I could be forgiven if I were lost for words...

This morning when I woke up everything ached. No change there then as day 2 onwards has been the same story. This time though I had a new pain in the arch of my right foot and it was agony. Also tired and with a sore muscled body I wondered if I could even carry on.

It took a lot to motivate myself to put my kit on but I did it and headed out to my start point. It was a good place to start being a, flat disused railway, but my foot was just utter agony. I couldn't push at all with that foot. I cracked after no more than 5 miles and sat on a bench to contemplate my predicament. The pain was so much I seriously thought this ride may be over. I did an emotional video interview then phoned a friend to discuss what to do. I'm a bit 'all or nothing' but they seem to know how to balance me out. Good advice taken I called Clive and my parents and told them that I needed to rest for the day.

So I went to bed, then iced my foot, ate a load, listened to some music, and watched the clouds pass overhead. I looked at the plan and the map. Could I just do one stage and clear the Peak District? Baby steps and all that.

So that became the plan for the afternoon. I set out and Clive worked out where to meet me and keep tabs. At every check point I was ahead of schedule. I came across another couple of problems with the route - which remember is a black graded route endorsed by a National body - which were footpath. I diverted round both. I don't think I should advocate breaking the law, even if some of us don't agree with them.

And suddenly I was on the last descent and my god what a trail. Cut Gate has to be one of the best trails I've ridden anywhere in the World. Such a buzz to finish the day on, awesome.

So, 500+ miles in my legs now. I'm a day behind my original scedule and knowing what I do having seen a large portion of the route now I think I'll lose another day on that. Who can say for sure though? Only time. It nearly ended this morning so I'll just take it as it comes. So far it's been amazing. The lows are all part if that and make the highs all the much better.

The Pain... 04/09/2010

I'm not quite with it now and my world seems to be crazy cascade of emotional ups and down. Physically I'm in a world of hurt. Legs and sit-bones mainly, but hands are a bit sore too.

The highs are mostly the views and the occational trail. Today though a guy came out to meet me by the road-side, he brought his young son with him, and they had a flask of tea and a cake for me. I was really touched. I sobbed like a baby for about the next ten miles!

The lows? Well just one thing really: land owner attitude. I think mountain bikers must just be hated in Shropshire and Staffordshire. I've had so many detours, climbed over fences and barriers on bridleways, been shouted at, had dogs set on me and then a crazy, screaming, stick swinging woman chase me down a long driveway in her mobility scooter! Utter madness! I'm not going back there!

I'm still not sure if I can pull this off. So far so good but I'm living on the edge of my physical ability and, well, only time can tell really.

So far I've done a 17 hour day, a 12 hour, and a couple of 15 hours! I didn't know that I could do that mmm...

Tomorrow we have the Peaks and then into the Pennine Bridleway... My nemisis mmm...

I better get to bed!

Sunrise number 4... - 03/09/2010

Up early today to make best use of the light. Amazing day yesterday, for both highs and lows. Must crack on!

X1 two days in... - 02/09/2010

Well, I've been hard at for two days now taking on the might of the X1. So far it's been one hell of a journey which has already delivered some amazing things to remember.

I started yesterday with a heavy schedule and high ambitions. I wasn't sure yesterday was even possible for me but you don't get answers unless you ask the questions!

The answer was yes, I can cover the first 162 miles of the route in one hit. The essential information though was that it took 17 hours. That sort of nonsense is all well and good for one ride but doing that and then riding again the next day? mmm...

Yesterday was tough and I didn't eat or drink enough, felt sick and got to bed real late. I woke this morning and was in a rough state. I put my start time back by 3 hours.

Today was a sorter distance, at 100 miles, but with a lot more offroad which included Exmoor, the Quantocks and the Mendips. It started badly with me crawling at a 5mph average speed for a couple of hours before getting onto Exmoor proper and averaging... 5mph!

Exmoor was stunning, so beautiful and that kinda set me up. The boys followed me around a lot so we did a few repeats on sections for the film so I could have gone faster as I'm calculating average speed including all that...

Then it wss up onto the Quantocks and I started to feel really good. Again it was beautiful. Coming down from there I really got my legs back and started bashing out the miles across the levels. I got to Cheddar after sunset.

Oh, and the sunset! We caught it perfect, you'll have to wait for our film. You'll know it when you see it and it's burnt onto my memory forever.

So, I'm back in my home town of Bristol. In about 7 hours time I'll be riding into Wales. For now though I'm off to bed. Happy days!

The start - 31/08/2010

End2End X1 starts soon...

No more planning - 31/08/2010

Well, it looks like I'm all out of time now. Anything that isn't ready now just isn't going to get done. Mark is on a plane down from Glasgow. Clive has all my kit and is on the way to Bristol airport to pick him up. I'm in Zoe's car, with a whole load of food, enroute to Lands End...

Time - 30/08/2010

For the first time in a long time I'm daunted by what lies ahead of me. When I ride a 24 I know it can be done and when I rode TransRockies I knew it could be done. Quantifiable adventures that I can enter myself into where I already know how I stack up.

As we moved into the point to point rides of the Seven Deadly Spins that started to change. Terrain began to be difficult to account for. Riding a distance can be greatly affected by the weather. Even the packing, prep and logistics grew beyond that required for solo racing. Some of these rides have taken me to my limit.

But now I have the End2End to deal with. The equivalent in distance and elevation of all 6 of the previous 7ds rides put together back-to-back. It's daunting with a capital D!

I'm tired but hope I can sleep it off tonight. I'm slightly undertrained but hope the extra rest will serve me well. I don't know most of the route but I hope I have the skills and reactions to stay in one piece. I'm slightly under the weather but hope that I wake up well in the morning...

Whatever. It's been an amazing adventure so far. I just need to embrace whatever comes my way for what it is, because that's the way the best adventures come to be...

Top notch nutrition... 30/08/2010

Zoe is working like a Trogan getting all the nutrition ready. I've got to pack a few personal items, check all the electronics, have a shave and then it's early to bed. We now have just 36 hours to go!

Fleet ready... - 30/08/2010

The main bike for the E2E ride - Santa Cruz Blur XC Carbon - ready to roll. Will take it for a sort test ride this afternoon and set the shocks...

10 Minutes... - 30/08/2010

So far so good...

Bike 3... - 30/08/2010

This is bike 3! How long do you reckon it will take me until it is ready? On you marks...

Bike 2 is also ready to go... - 30/08/2010

Santa Cruz Stigmata cross. I'll be using this for a few of the faster sections in the South West on the first two days of my attempt. It is also fitted with a reverse Exposure mount for filming, and a normal frint-facing for lights obviously!

The eagle-eyed will notice I'm running powertap system with Joule head unit. I find my pacing good offroad but often I go too hard on road/fast moving sections, so I'll be monitoring my power output for the first couple of days. After day 3 this bike will be sent back home and I'll stick to the mtb's in all unknown terrain.

Bike 1 ready... - 30/08/2010

Bike one - Sana Cruz Blur LT carbon - is ready for the adventure. Check out the reverse Expose light mount! This is for mounting the interview camera on for film footage!

Getting there... - 28/08/2010

The End2End is so close now that I feel like I can touch it. We have the technology all ready for full interaction with Twitter updates, Blog updates, Google Earth maps and a live SPOT tracker. The maps of every stage of every day are now up to view HERE.

Now I'm boxing everything up so that the crew will be able to find everything between all their kit and the film kit, the food for everyone, etc. Tomorrow I'm riding the Bristol sections of the route with some of my friends who will be riding with the helmet-cam on the actual attempt. On Monday I will do the final service and prep on my bikes, fill my iPod and charge all the electronics.

Tuesday I'm back in work for the day then in the evening we pick up Mark, from Reset Films, from Bristol airport in the early evening before driving down to the campsite a mile away from Lands End. The on Wednesday morning...

Obstacles... - 26/08/2010

Today was a day of obstacles. Trying to get stuff ready for a ride like this is one thing. Sorting out the logistics of covering the whole thing on web, mag and making it interactive with maps, live tracking, twitter and blog, and also collecting footage to make it into a film, whilst also raising money for charity is a whole new level of challenge!

I'm very tired at the moment and just a little bit concerned that I may start exhausted which really isn't the best strategy for a 1200 mile ride! Sleep becomes harder to come by the more problems we uncover and the more I discover different levels of support from some of the people I'm counting on to help me.

Still I'm clinging to the positives, and there are a lot of them. This is going to be an amazing experience, up or down, good or bad, it will be a special time. Not sure how many days there are now until I start. What day is it today?

This time next week... - 25/08/2010

...I really hope it will not be raining as much as it did today! What a bad day for weather. I'm hoping that we get all this rain out of the way and I can enjoy some sunshine. It rained a lot today and going by the comments on twitter a lot of people were in the same boat (no pun intended!)

Anyway. I had a lot to do and seeing as I woke up feeling a bit under the weather I opted for sorting stuff out rather than riding my bike. I got a lot of my packing done, did some washing, got some essentials from town and then started going through the map book and making filming and refuel notes for my support crew.

In the afternoon I took all the spare stuff plus any bikes to my store room. Bristol is notorious for bike theft so I never ever keep bikes at home, and whenever I go away I put all my spare kit in the store too. It's safer that way, and cheaper insurance to boot. Another job done and ticked off the list.

Now I'm in the laundrette drying a load of kit and writing this blog post. Just enough time and then I'm out for a meeting and then a bit of R&R before bed.

Less than week to go and I'm just about ready...

Down to a week... - 24/08/2010

I couldn't sleep last night which was mainly due to writing a section of my book and then getting really excited about everything. Excitement turned to awe, then worry, then back to excitement! Then I got caught up thinking about everything else that is going on in my life at the moment. Sleep was hard to come by.

So my day started slowly and in a bit of a worse for wear state. I didn't get anything done before work and this evening I had a load of intervals to do. My coach is certainly on it though and the intervals were just the ticket for picking me back up. My legs felt fantastic as I rode back into Bristol.

Tomorrow is my day off work so I hope to get a whole lot of stuff sorted for the End2End. I'll need to as this time next week I'll be in the van heading for Lands End! Hopefully tonight I can get a good night sleep to set up a productive day tomorrow.

End of a season - 23/08/2010

It tasted like Autumn today, just a tad, a scent, a feeling. It's like a season is coming to a close; the end of another chapter. I'm feeling it now. The bike, the ride, the last of the Seven Deadly Spins. Almost done and yet so much left to savour.

Everything started to slot into place. Support, equipment, my mindset. It was a good day and it finished with the sun on my face, a beautiful ride.

8 days to go...

Nine days and counting - 22/08/2010

The whole flat seems to look like this at the moment. In fact my whole life feels a bit like this. Everything in boxes, half here, half there, waiting, preparing, but not yet anywhere in particular!

Today I took some time out; Went for breakfast, collected some stuff from my store and moved some stuff from work. Then I went for a good long ride in the Mendips with Andy and Jen. Escape time.

Eventually though it was back to the flat and now I'm alone, surrounded by boxes, wondering what to sort out next. The End2End is too close for comfort, yet far enough off that I can't get excited. Nine days to go...

Rob Lee - Technical Editor

Rob Lee is a Bristol-based endurance cyclist who specialises in 24-hour mountain bike events and challenges. He was the first UK racer to return victorious from the 24 hours of adrenalin Solo World Championships (in 2005), and the first rider ever to break the South Downs Double record unsupported (2008).

Rob has won most of the top UK endurance events at one time or another and has coached several other athletes to do the same. He is the owner and Manager of the UK's number 1 endurance race team - Team Syncros Endurance - and the founder of the Seven Deadly Spins; a collection of ultra-endurance challenges based in the UK countryside.