The VC’s Life Cycle 3 Blog: Day 4 – Innerleithin-Edinburgh – Cumnock

When I started cycling, less than three years ago, I never imagined a day would come when the prospect of setting out on an 86 mile leg would be met with a sense of relief (albeit a small one). Following the last two days, that day was today. Blog writing time was restricted last night, …

The VC’s Life Cycle 3 Blog: Day 3 – Slaley to Innerleithin

Nick and I cycled 102 miles today. We hadn’t planned to do that. More later. Overnight accommodation at Slaley Hall was very comfortable and we were joined by Susan and Jenny Wright and her boys. There had evidently been a bit of argy-bargy on room sharing arrangements. Now that Nick has an OBE, Lord Neville …

The VC’s Life Cycle 3 Blog: Day 2 – York to Slaley

Why is York so difficult to find a way out of? We stayed there on our ‘Way of the Roses’ training run and got lost. Today, within minutes of leaving our accommodation in one of the Halls at York University, there was a Garmin disagreement between Steve and Stefano. In the meantime a group led …

The VC’s Life Cycle 3 Blog: Day 1 – Nottingham to York

At breakfast we were discussing weather forecasts. After Chris had reported, he said ‘By the way Nick, I’ve checked your horoscope; you’re going to have lots of punctures over the next two weeks’. How prophetic was that. Within three miles of departing we had our first puncture. But it wasn’t Nick, it was Chris! (And …

The VC’s Life Cycle 3 Blog: Day 0 – Final Preparations

Oh how time flies! It hardly seems like yesterday since we arrived in Dover to complete Life Cycle 2. It was a full year ago, yet so much has happened since then. Perhaps that’s the point, there is so much going on that time passes almost unnoticed. We had our final briefing earlier this week. …

Life Cycle 3

During a visit to our School of Economics, I was asked ‘does this get easier each year?’ Psychologically it does help to have cycled over 1,000 miles, in that you have some sense of what is coming. But physically it most certainly does not get any easier: partly because 14 consecutive days in the saddle …