Day 5 - Trentham to Blackpool

Well yesterday afternoon all three teams rolled into Blackpool after a cracking few days.

The day had started off quite dull but brightened up as the day went on. As we headed towards UU for lunch the boys stopped for a comfort break and were suddenly joined by a load of cows - we think Mike had made their acquaintance before by the noises the made when he left.

We had a great reception at UU and met up with Brainwave and Donna's dream House for photos before heading inside for lunch.

After lunch the teams set off for Blackpool with Team Simpson taking their customary position of last to leave and we our final team banter on the road before all the teams met up a few miles from the tower to ride to the end in convoy.

The end was really different from LEJOG last year as there was a welcoming party for the riders of family and friends and Len from Donna's Dream House. After the obligatory back slapping and photo calls (and noticing that the Start and Finish banner had Start on both sides) the riders headed towards the hotel for a celebration meal and few drinks.

The big question of who was the Puncture Queen was not resolved as we had a puncture free day so Rick, Jon and Tom all get to share the imaginary prize.

I'd like to thank Jon, Mike, Pete, Tony, Tom, Rick and the two Marks for a great 5 days of laughter, tears, punctures and crashes - driving without 8 lycra clad arses in front of you just isn't the same.

Finally a big thanks to Simon who spent 1000 miles, nearly seven days and six nights in my company without complaint about my farting, snoring, gutter humour and bike geekness -it's been emotional my friend.    

Everyone made it

Everyone made it to Blackpool. I'll do a proper write up when my brain function returns.

Day 4 - Oxford to Trentham

Another late start today for Team Simpson, which was great as I was feeling a bit rough today.

Right from the start it was obvious that there were some tired legs even though the pace was good. After a couple of hours we had the first break of the day before cracking on.

Tom had the only puncture of the day so tomorrow we'll find out who is the puncture queen as Jon, Rick and Tom have had two each.

Lunch was taken in the form of a roast and a pint and the riders continued on their way. Everyone seemed quieter today - it was even quieter in the van and no Primal Scream today.

An hour or so later as the riders slowed down for a set of traffic lights Mike suddenly went over the bars and didn't seem to move straight away. Jumping out of the van we soon realised his front wheel was jammed solid in a grid. Mike was okay if a little battered and bruised but his front wheel was buckled beyond repair so Mike and Tony have now killed a wheel.

After a long grind the riders finally reached Trentham after completing their longest day.

Stats.

Punctures: 1
Crashes: 1
Roast Dinners: 1

One day and two beds to go.

Lunch Time

Team Simpson aren't letting riding getting in the way of a Sunday Roast.
Stopped at the Hutton Arms for one.

Day 3 - Newhaven to Oxford

Night 3 (for the drivers) provided the accommodation and sleep on the trip so far made even better by Team Simpson's decision not to leave until 9am. After filling the van up with fuel (fuel gauge now working again) it was a quick clean of all the bikes, fitting new pads on Toms bike, truing a wheel on Tony's bike and adjusting Mark 'Daffy' Leyland's front mech.

The team set off at 0910 about an hour behind the first team off and we screwed up the navigation straight away (sorry guys). After a few early hills to test the legs it became obvious from the live tracking we were watching that the guys were making great progress then Rick had another puncture (Ricks Dad - he needs that puncture kit). A decision was made to have the morning break there and then and Ricks tube was changed.

The lads continued to crack on and reached Guilford for lunch which we took at the station and included a quick tweaking session on Ricks bike. Not far out of town the team passed the other two teams in quick succession and put the hammer down all the way to the end taking another 40 minutes out of them.

We had another puncture with Tom in the centre of Woking and a swift bit of teamwork resulted in the team being watered and the wheel changed in under 2 minutes.

To be fair to the guys they did try to be humble but it didn't last long.

The victorious team.

Stats for the day.

Punctures: 2

Crashes: 0

Day 2 - L'Isle Adam to Dieppe

Today was the only day on the event that had a time limit as we had to be at Dieppe for the ferry to Newhaven for 4pm.

Waking up after spending a night in our 'prison cell' Etape Hotel room the signs weren't good as we were woken up by torrential rain bouncing of the porch roof. After a very brief breakfast we were ready to go at 0730.

About a mile into the ride Tom declared that he hadn't put his bag in the van but had left it outside the hotel so a quick call to Team Cavendish got his back picked up.

The riders were soon in the groove but got a bit spooked by a dual carriage way so asked us to re-route them around it. Rick then had the first puncture of the day and a quick wheel change and we were off again only for another puncture a few minutes later when Jon had a front flat.

Eventually we were back on route and soon passed another team and the guys were making really good progress then Jon had puncture number three. In one town we came round the corner to see Tony dusting himself down after failing to bunny hop a curb - no injuries happily.

After a lunch stop for the finest egg and ham salad butty France had to offer we were off again making excellent progress mildly amused by the trouble Tom was having with his hayfever and the state of his eyes.

We arrived in Dieppe with plenty of time to spare to back the vans, the riders to get changed and for me to get assaulted by a temporary ex-pat.

The ferry trip was a little rocky but uneventful and we were joined by a load of riders on their cycle challenge - Paris to London so we told them we wouldn't get out of bed for that.

Once in Newhaven it was a few beers and bed for the best nights kip so far.

Ride Stats:

Punctures: 3
Crashes: 1

Day 1 Paris to L'Isle Adam

Well we arrived safely in Paris after an interesting drive via the Champs and the Arc.

Once the riders arrived and after a few photos they set off and thanks to the Paris traffic it took us 12 miles to catch them up.

Arrived at the 'hotel' to double bed and bunk bed room - I have the big bed tonight.

No mechanicals or punctures so far. Tomorrow is a 730 start with a 1600 ferry deadline so hopefully more than a 4 hour sleep.

Warrington to Dover.

Apart from none of the 12v sockets working in Wiggins the journey down was cracking with no issues on the M25.

However we've had some 'fun' since then. We filled up the three vans with fuel at Dover and the fuel card needed authorization. Whilst you would have thought this would be simple it was a twitchy bum moment only resolved when we produced a UU pass.

On getting back to the hotel we noticed that Simpson was only showing half full of fuel but dipping the tank confirmed it was full.

A blown fuse was found to be the issue with the power sockets.

Crap nights kip last night but Eurotunnel at 930 and drive to Paris.

Tower2Tower - 1 Day to go!

Well tomorrow the three support vans driven by me, Simon, Beccy, Tony, Alan and Billy will make our way down to Dover before heading over to Paris first thing on Thursday to meet up with the cyclists at the Eiffel Tower.

The last few days have been hectic. We found a few routing issues which had to be rectified including one part of the route that was down a flight of steps over the weekend. Yesterday we had the vans liveried and loaded 500 litres of water onto them Today we loaded all the riders kit into the van, sorted the spares and started to fit the light bars but after doing one we called it a day as we'd been working for nearly 12 hours.

Tomorrow we are expecting three more sets of kit, have the final two light bars to fit and hopefully will have some chargers arrive to power the tracking devices for the live tracking which will be live as we depart at 1200hrs.

Here is a sneak peak of what our vans look like.

I hope to be keeping the blog updated throughout the event (and beyond with my usual blabbering) but obviously this depends on the connectivity available so there may be some shorter updates.

Don't forget to sponsor the riders here.

T2T - What's in a name?

If you've taken a look at my page with the live tracking for Tower 2 Tower you'll have seen that all the teams are named after famous British professional cyclists so here are some more details about each of them.

Tom Simpson


Until 2011 and the victory of Mark Cavendish, Simpson was Britain's only World Road Race Champion winning the title in 1965 (and BBC Sports Personality of the Year just like Cavendish). In 1962 he became the first Britain to wear the yellow jersey in the Tour de France and finished 6th overall - the highest placing by a Brit until 4th place finishes by Robert Millar in 1984 and Bradley Wiggins in 2009.

Simpson's major wins include two stages of the Vuelta a Espana (Tour of Spain), Paris-Nice in 1967, Milan-San Remo and Giro di Lombardia in 1965.

The County Durham rider infamously died of exhaustion on the slopes of Mont Ventoux during the 13th stage of the 1967 Tour de France.The post mortem found that he had taken amphetamine and alcohol, a combination that proved fatal when combined with the heat, hard climb and a stomach complaint.

Mark Cavendish MBE


The 'Manx Missile' is the current World Road Race Champion riding for Team Sky Professional Cycling in the coveted rainbow jersey. Originally a track cyclist specialising in madison, scratch and points race, he has competed on the road since 2006 rising to prominence as a sprinter.

On the track Cavendish was World Madison Champion in 2005 and 2008 with Rob Hayles and Bradley Wiggins respectively and won gold in the scratch race at the 2006 Commonwealth Games riding for the Isle of Man.

On the road Cav's achievements are phenomenal. Winner of the points classification in the Vuelta a Espana in 2010 and the Tour de France in 2011 (first Britain to win the green points jersey). Joint 6th on the all time list of Tour de France stage winners with 20 victories and 10th on the list of all time grand tour stage winners with 33 stage wins. Only the second Brit to win Milan-San Remo, the first Brit to wear the pink jersey at the Giro D'Italia (Tour of Italy). Only the second Britain, after Robert Millar to win a stage in all three grand tours.

All in all Cavendish has 81 professional wins on the road since turning pro in 2007 compared to second place on the list Chris Boardman with 41 wins between 1993 and 1999.

Mark Cavendish was the only member of the 2008 British Olympic Cycling Team that failed to come home with a medal.

Bradley Wiggins CBE


The son of a professional Australian cyclist, a British mother and born in Ghent in Belgium, current British road race champion Bradley Wiggins could have competed for either of those three nations.

Now based in Lancashire, Wiggins began his career on the track as a specialist in the pursuit and the madison. On the track he won a bronze medal in the team pursuit at the 2000 Athens Olympics, gold in the individual pursuit, silver in the team pursuit and bronze in the madison at the 2004 Sydney Olympics and gold in the individual pursuit and team pursuit at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

He turned professional on the road in 2002 but this side of his career was limited by his track cycling until 2007.

In 2009 Wiggo showed his grand tour potential by finishing fourth in the Tour de France (joint highest placing with Robert Millar in 1984) famously riding up Mont Ventoux with a picture of Tom Simpson taped to his top tube for inspiration.

In 2010 he moved to Team Sky Professional Cycling and followed that with a disappointing 24th in the Tour de France leading to speculation that his result in 2009 was a fluke.

2011 saw Wiggins win the Criterium du Dauphine, the first British rider since 1990 to do so, proving that he had good form for the Tour de France but a crash on stage 7 saw him abandon with a broken collar bone. After healing Wiggins returned to race the Vuelta a Espana finishing 3rd behind team mate and compatriot Chris Froome becoming only the third Britain to make the podium of a grand tour (Robert Millar being the other). Ten days later he won a silver medal in the World Time Trial Championships before going on to ride as part of the Great Britain team that helped Mark Cavendish take the road race world title.

Bradley Wiggins again appears to be on good form in 2012 having become the first British rider in 45 years to win Paris-Nice, also winning the Tour de Romandie and currently leading the Criterium du Dauphine by 38 seconds.

Matt Cronshaw


We have named our spare tracking device after a young professional with a bright future (waiting in the wings you might say).

24 year Matt from Carnforth, is currently riding for Node 4 Giordana Racing under the guidance of British cycling legend Malcolm Elliott having previously ridden for Rapha Condor Sharp and Raleigh. Matt is a superb bike handler (despite his two crashes in this years Halfords Tour Series), who is well suited to criteriums and has a fearsome sprint having already taken some decent scalps.

Career highlights so far have included 1st place in Tour of Blackpool Grand Prix and 1st place on stage 4 of the Tour de Beauce in 2009, 1st place on stage 1 of the Tour Doonhame in 2011 and 6th in OCBC Cycle Singapore Professional Criterium in 2012.

Cronshaw is currently the North West road race race champion and a regular in the Halfords Tour Series.

Apart from being a professional cyclist Matt describes himself as a 'successful repeller of women with a penchant for camel skin briefs'.