The Finish Line
We managed to complete our round the world trip and not even get run over. Quite an achievement even if I do say so myself… I was sure I was going to get run over at least once!
I’ve updated all of our ‘Cycling Stats’. For anyone still interested in how far we cycled here’s some of the more interesting stats from the trip:
In the sebring race we cycled 328.24km For 11 hours and 16 minutes we managed to average 29.1 km/h (about 18 miles an hour) and burned 8117.6 calories during the race. Something we both needed to do after too many cocktails in Miami.
The trip (including the race) totaled at 13583 miles (21860km) and took 163 days of cycling. That works out at 83.33 miles a day. We spent an average of 6 hours 19 minutes in the saddle every day we cycled and no real saddle sores! I still can’t believe that myself.
After our race in Sebring we had a couple of days before our flight home and spent our time partying with some friends, dressed as mimes, obviously. (Sorry but the pictures aren’t uploading) Thanks to Maite and Lee for such a fun weekend.
The only downside to all the partying was lack of sleep. We still had more cycling to do before we’d actually finished. And a long haul flight.
We were met by a huge crowd of our biggest fans at Stanstead. Namely members of our immediate family, waving banners and holding ‘welcome home’ helium balloons. We had a great evening catching up with more family at my aunts house. We were fed like kings (or should I say pigs). Something we were now far too used to.
I spent a while putting the bikes back together. Most of the bits went back in the right place. More thanks to both our families for meeting us at the airport and to Stella and family for your fabulous hospitality.
Our last morning of cycling of the whole trip and we woke up to snow. The British weather was also there to greet us. For the last time we donned our thermal gear, layered up and set out to City Hall and the finish line.
As it happens, the ride into the city was quicker than anticipated and we were early. Time to say hi to all from Nokia, Solar Century, Solar-aid and warm up with a cup of coffee before the hoards arrived. Met by litterally tens of our family and friends we had a fun photo frenzie and reunion by the bank of the Thames. We were presented with plaques and solar panels to commemorate our journey.
Check out the articles from Solar Century , We support solar and an interview by Luke Walsh.
A nice lunch by the Thames with more family and friends paved the way to the real finish line, the party. Would either of us make it through unscathed?
The evening was fabulous and a huge thankyou to everyone who came along. Especially those who traveled long distances and surprise appearances. It really did make the evening great. It was so nice to catch up with so many people after spending such a long time on the road.
Somehow we both managed to make it through to the finish line without ‘falling off the bike’ as it were. I can only put this down to all the partying we did in our last week in the States. Thanks to everyone who helped us build our resolve in the States!
I think we’ve both just about recovered from the party and are now trying to come to terms with the temperature. Having cycled through deserts for 9 months it is quite clear we’re not used to the British winter. The sun rules! We hope you’ve enjoyed our journey following the sun, right through to the finish line.
It’s not quite the end yet. There will be another blog or two at least. I’m going to be posting a bumper photo blog with some of our favourite shots, coming soon…
In the meantime please find time to donate to Solar Aid if you havn’t done so already. We’ve managed to make it round, I hope you can make it round to donating!
ta ta
February 22nd, 2010 at 12:40 pm
Congratulations, team Solar. x
February 22nd, 2010 at 3:17 pm
Many congratulations! Following your trip has really spurned us on… 5 weeks before we head off. We will neither be as fast as you or cycle quite so far but we hope to enjoy as many adventures.