It's all down hill from here!

Well yesterday (Sunday 9 June) was probably one of the longest days I've ever exercised!

But after 11hrs and 58mins and a number of climbs being over 1600 feet I completed the 132 mile dragon ride!

It was a long day all round, with us being up a 5am to get ready and fuel up for the day.

Russ mum was a legend and got up too to sort us out with porridge and a bacon sarnie!

We knew it was going to be a hot day when you wake up to a clear blue sky at that time in the morning.

We got on the road and headed to the start with a few nerves kicking in. The start was just as beautiful with the sun starting to hot up.

After putting the bikes together we got down to the start area and were marshalled through to the holding pen ahead of our start time.

We set off just before 8:30 and we were both in good spirits and the fun word was used.

We were making steady progress and at this point the route was relatively flat something that wouldn't last for long!

We got to the first feed station and I was having a few issues with my bike, fortunately at events like this they had mechanics on hand!

So after a bit of fine tuning and actually attaching the front wheel properly (oops) we had a quick bite to eat and was back on the road again.

It was shortly after this that the roads started to go upwards and we had to take on a couple of cheeky little climbs, I say little but clearly they weren't and in fact they were the size of some of the hills in Essex but in comparison to what came later they were little!

We now reached black mountain territory and we started to climb and climb and climb some more until finally reaching the summit which was 1635 feet.

We set off again but this time we could enjoy a zigzagging down hill section which was over all to quickly.

The hills and the heat was starting to take its toll on both of us but we pushed on through to the next feed station around the 60mile mark.

At this station we were listening to other riders talking about what we had still to come and bearing in mind we were only 60 miles in the fun word was never used again!

One thing you could say was how beautiful the landscape was and with the blue skies to help it really did look amazing.

When we reached the third feed station and we had a conversation about being able to complete the course. 

There was a cut off time from which the race organisers wouldn't let you carry on the ride and there was some confusion around as to what that time was. 

Whatever time it was it was 15 miles away which given the fact that we had already cycled 80 by now and it was already 4pm it didn't look good.

We set off again and it was at this point that Russ and I split up, not in a your never going to be my friend again way but I pushed on to try and reach the cut off point close the the time and if I had to beg them to let me through or cry on them.

Then came a timed climb which was a bit of a king of the mountain type thing it was only about 1.5km in length but had a gradient of 20%, which is probably like going up a set of stairs in the house.

I pushed on and I certainly didn't win any prizes for being the quickest but I got up that bad boy without getting off the bike and pushing although it was very tempting.

When I got to the top the following 10ish miles were down hill and I made it to the cut off point (95miles) at around 5:15, fortunately no one was there from the events team so I carried on with a big sigh of relief.

After another monster climb I reached the final feed station which was at just over 100 miles and by now most of the food had gone so I stuff down a couple of bananas and an apple pie and get back on the bike. The saddle at this point was beginning to feel like a razor blade which was not nice knowing I had another 30 miles to do!

The scenery continued to be amazing.

I knew I still had 2 more climbs to go before the 15 miles of down hill to the finish and to make things worse I'd been told that the last climb was the toughest and the highest!

However I got through it and to the top but by now I had been on the road for 11 hours!

Here I met a guy called Adam from Billericay of all places. We stayed together and helped each other get to the end with the last 19 miles taking only an hour (I did say it was downhill!)

So that was it after nearly 12 gruelling hours on the saddle I'd reached the finish!

What about Russ I here you say, he did an awesome job and got through to the 100 mile mark before the hills finally broke him.

But true to form he got the minibus driver to drop him off before the finish so he could cycle over the finish line so he now has an official finish time 1 hour quicker than me!!!! Although I did forgive him as he did treat me to this bad boy at the end!

But joking aside he did an awesome job and it was great to spend some time with a quality friend that I just don't see often enough!

So that is it I am officially at the halfway point of the 12 challenges in 12 month!

As you can see from the stats below I've covered quite a few miles since training began back in October.

But there is no time to dwell on this as the job is only half done and we don't quit at halftime! 

I've now got 4 weeks to recover before I take on 124 miles in and around Newbury.

Please help spread the word of my challenge and let's smash the £5,000 target for Spring Board.

As ever to donate please visit -

https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/averagejoe