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In 84 days’ time; on 24th June 2023, my friend SJ and I will be cycling the C2C; an iconic route cycled by hundreds of people every year, usually over 4 or 5 days. But we will (hopefully!) be doing it in just 1 day!

We will be attempting to cycle the stunning 150-mile route (with 4500m of ascent) road ride from the mountainous Western Lake District, through the Yorkshire Dales, across the flat Vale of York, and finally, the Northern Valleys of the North York Moors, finishing by the sea in Whitby. You can see the route below, including Hardknott Pass and Wrynose Pass.

I’m sure over the coming weeks there will be more images of Hardknott & Wrynose Pass as we get more scared and closer to the event.

Today was the Betty’s Fat Rascal ride. It was an absolute contrast to yesterday’s journey around independent breweries. Today started at Betty’s tea rooms in York with bacon butties at 7.45am. We left Betty’s York to head to Harlow Carr in Harrogate.

From Harlow Carr we rode to the band stand opposite Betty’s Ilkley…

…and then onto The White Swan in Wighill for afternoon tea

Another 84 miles so 172 miles over 36 hours. That fills me with a bit more confidence for C2C.

Today was the Paria Paperboy sportive. 51.7 miles from Leeds, through to Harrogate and onto Otley and back through to Leeds. YRCC had over 20 people attending and seven of us met at 6am to cycle the 30 miles to Leeds before the event.

The weather and views were tremendous. Unfortunately, with good views come big hills and today had over 5,300 feet of elevation.

Another ride tomorrow meant that at the end of the ride, I cycled back to Leeds station – that was scary in itself! and got the train back to York. 88 miles in the bag today!

This morning I was back out after a few days off over the weekend. It started with 4.6 mile fast walk at 5.30am, and 45.5 mile ride at 6pm.

It was another fast one. No time for photos, and just a quick stop to take on some gels at about 30 miles. It was an average of 15.8 mph.

O. M. G. I got home and crawled straight up the stairs and into the shower. I was brought porridge and a cup of tea to my bed (I think just to stop me complaining)