DAY 1 - Ben Nevis, 2 trashed bicycles, 180km cycling.

It was alarm clocks at 5.10am in our 1 star “Backpackers” (courtesy of Fred..) for the start of our first day of 'The Challenge'. Sleep had been sparing due to the fact that all 5 of us were in a 6 man dorm (bunk beds and all), as well as the fact that half a dozen piss heads decided to talk rubbish outside our window at 1.30am. Despite this, team moral was high, and we were dressed and ready to tackle Ben Nevis by 6am sharp. It was a 10 minute drive to the base of the Mountain, and after stuffing in the 14th banana of the morning we were on our way up to the highest point in the British Isles at 6.20am.

The climb bends its way up the Mountain for the first hour or so, before having a 1km flatter section ahead of the final 30 minute push to the summit.



As we approached the top the clouds moved in, and very quickly the temperature dropped to freezing. In the last few hundred metres of the summit, large areas of snow were common.



The pace that we had ascended the Mountain meant that we were kept warm, however it was at this point that Mark received a revealing text message from Tom (his 21yr old brother, our 'Support Crew Manager' for the next 5 days) which read: “Please call urgently, we have a serious problem”… On the hastily returned call it became apparent that the problem was indeed pretty serious, in that 2 of the bikes had been damaged after coming off the roof rack on top of the Land Rover. A lorry carrying a skip had hit one of the bars on the roof rack, causing both Quentin’s and Fred’s bikes to come off and sustain damage to the frames. With Tom under instructions to find a bike shop and get an experienced opinion on the damage, the rest of the climb was completed in a sombre mood. On reaching the summit we only stayed for around 2 minutes to take a few photographs before eagerly heading down to see the damage to the 2 bikes ourselves.



The descent



We were able to get up and down the mountain in under 3.5 hours, which would have put us bang on schedule if we had been able to jump straight onto our functioning bikes. In reality we spent the next 3 hours driving between 2 different bike shops in Fort William in search of replacement bikes, as it immediately became apparent the both bikes were not going to be able to be ridden over the coming days…. The bicycles had made it the full 600 mile journey up from London on top of the car, but couldn’t survive the 1.5 mile journey from the Backpackers to the base of the Mountain and back…

At 12.30pm, we left Fort William on 2 spanking new bicycles (having negotiated a charitable discount of 10%...) with the realisation that were going to be pushed to finish the 180km ride before dark. Fortunately the terrain was very favourable, and we were able to average over 28.5kmph for the first 2 hours. After a rushed lunch stop, we pressed on, getting to the 100km mark in 3hrs 38 minutes – not bad at all. It was around then that we heard that Tom had been pulled over by the Police and accused of drink driving around Fort William the night before… did he really sneak out of the dormitory after we’d all gone to sleep?

The 4 of us took 5km turns at the front to pace the other 3 riders, a system that worked very well all day. At this point the only concern any of us had was riding behind Fred whilst he was wearing his bright green 'day-glow' crop top...



Meanwhile, Ben began to suffer with a large blister he had picked up on Ben Nevis, however of a greater concern to the rest of us were the extraordinary sounds that were being produced out of his cycling shorts (“Was that a duck quacking?”). Meanwhile, Mark was stunned to realise (after several months of training with them) that with clip on pedals you can pull up with your legs on each revolution to help you go faster.. Soon after, Fred took a stationary tumble whilst forgetting that he was clipped into his pedals, as schoolboy error that temporarily rendered both brakes and his bike computer useless... A twenty minute repair job followed.

The cycling around the Lochs from Fort William down to Hunters Quay was spectacular. With so much scenery to look at the kilometres were passing by pretty quickly, and we realised we were indeed going to make it to our first night's stop before dark.





We rolled into Hunters Quay at 9.20pm (in front of Tom shining the roof top headlamps of the Land Rover to make it extra special) which meant we were not all showered and ready for food until 10.30pm. With “The Golden Sea“ Chinese restaurant the only place still open at that time, we had little alternative but to stuff our faces full of duck pancakes, shredded chicken and prawn toast...Bedtime wasn’t until 11.45pm, a loooooong day!

Highest Peaks in the British Isles conquered: 1
Total distance cycled in 1 day : 178km
Calories burned on the bike : 6,686