Photo: David and Mike before the rain

“LEL – Unfinished Business” is the name of a little WhatsApp group. Just the three of us. David, Mike and me. The only ones from the original six of LEL Giro for Gino able to attempt our little plan. Lorenzo and Rachel were back in Italy, Chris was still crocked.

Our plan was to ‘finish’ London – Edinburgh – London by riding the course that we weren’t able to due to storm Floris. We wanted to say thank you to all our fantastic supporters raising money for Spinal Research in Gino’s name.

We planned to ride the exact course of the route: Richmond – Brampton – Hawick – Moffat – Dalkeith (Edinburgh) – Innerleithen – Eskdalemuir – Brampton – Richmond, staying in hotels along the 599km route.

Traditionally “What goes on tour stays on tour” but this little piece of banter set the tone for the whole weekend. As it happened before we started riding then technically we weren’t on tour.

Having just got off the train at Darlington with our bikes:

Mike “I need the toilet”

Colin “Me too, we can do it in shifts”

Mike “I only need a piss”

Colin “I said shifts Mike, shifts”

Our ride was also typified by of acts of kindness, even before we started. The first was from Cai at Wahoo support. With a few days before we departed my Wahoo bike computer stopped charging altogether. Thanks to Cai I received a replacement, expedited by him to make sure I got it in time for the ride. Thank you Cai. I’ve always enjoyed excellent support from Wahoo over the years, but this was exceptional.

Day 1 Richmond – Moffat (260 km)

We started where Lorenzo, Mike, Rachel and I left off. We’d spent the night with 1,200 other riders here back in August.

The first job was to pass the village hall at Mickleton (46 km) where David had spent the night with 120 other riders as Storm Floris battered North Yorkshire. We did this so quickly that we sailed past the hall without realising it.

It was warmish but dry. Until it wasn’t. We had Yad Moss to climb before the descent to Brampton. Not a deluge but we got very wet in the drizzle. We were at least rewarded along the way before starting the climb proper.

As we started climbing I prepared for a long slog in the rain. Endurance cycling is all done in the head. Having prepared myself for far worse I was pleasantly surprised when we hit the highest point of the entire ride, 600m above sea level, a lot sooner than I was expecting.

Three wet riders entered a café in Brampton (115 km) for lunch. Rain jackets off to try and dry out. Bill and Rachel saw our Spinal Research jerseys and gave us a fiver. We had a nice chat with them. Fellow cyclists, they weren’t riding today. Way to wet. We had no choice. Thank you guys for your kindness.

Approaching the Scottish border Mike warned me about the hawthorns strewn across the road. Having tempted the cycling gods they duly obliged and I punctured. A kind farmer let me fix it in his barn, though the conversation was somewhat limited.

Colin “Can I fix my puncture in your barn out of the rain?”

Farmer “Aye”

Colin “Are we still in England?”

Farmer “Aye”

You get the picture.

Puncture fixed we messaged David who was slightly ahead of us when we stopped. We’d already agreed that as we were planning on 260 km on the first day then maybe he could go on in a breakaway to make sure we checked-in on time to secure our room for the night.

“About five mile” the farmer advised us how far the Scottish border was. It turned out to be about 2 km so I missed the sign. Despite being faster than us David’s eyesight was clearly better.

In the café at Brampton Bill told us we’d make Moffat easily that evening. What he didn’t know was that we had to go via Hawick. Two sides of a triangle, not one. Mike was begining to feel the strain of not being able to ride his bike since LEL. I’d managed a 200 km audax the week before so I was fine.

A first for me. Domino’s pizza in Hawick (189 km). The cycling gods were back. As we left for the final leg to Moffat in the gloom it was Mike’s turn to have a puncture. A good job we sent David up the road. It was a long slog in the dark. We both thought we’d like to come back and ride the same route in the day some time. We had to concentrate though as we faced unpredictable mobile road blocks. Sheep.

Arriving at the hotel in Moffat at 22:50 we’d just made it before closing time. David was waiting for us with our reward.

Day 2 Moffat – Langholm (191 km)

I was really looking forward to the start of this day. But first we needed to be fuelled. When in Scotland.

The last time I was in Moffat was for the 2022 edition of LEL. I remembered the stunning climb, the Devil’s Beef Tub, out of the town. It was as beautiful as I remembered, a glorious start to the day and a great way to warm up.

An unscheduled stop. David had a call from the hotel. We’d been so keen to get started we’d forgotten to pay and he discovered he still had the room key. Fortunately the village shop at Broughton (37 km) was also a Post Office. Bill paid, key posted back.

It was my time to go up the road in a breakaway. I thought I might ‘win the stage’ by getting to Dalkeith (81 km) first but David reeled me in easily then dropped back to help out Mike.

More Scottish cuisine over lunch.

We followed the route but of course the controls weren’t open. At Innerleithen (119 km) we had to make do with a bus stop to put all our wet weather gear on.

Wet and lumpy from Innerleithen to the Eskdalemuir control (168 km) we shivered in the cold whilst chatting to some locals who had volunteered for LEL 2025. They were delighted by our story and handed us three of the two thousand fridge magnets they’d had made for the event. We felt we’d accepted them on behalf of all riders who never made it to Eskdalemuir.

Those god’s decided on another twist of the knife. With 10km to the hotel Mike had another puncture. David rode on to get us checked-in and I went back to help and ride with Mike as he had no more spare inner tubes. At the hotel a hot shower, steak and ale pie, chips, green shit and a pint awaited us.

Day 3 Langholm – Richmond – Darlington (172 km)

Up early to have breakfast before all the other guests we headed out into the cold at first light. We were rewarded for the two previous days of getting wet with a stunningly clear sky and sunshine.

At Alston (66 km) the climb back over Yad Moss loomed. Only one thing for it. Another breakfast.

The climb was a joy. It was over before I knew it and we enjoyed fantastic views over the top before the long descent towards Richmond.

Back where we started. We’d ‘finished’ LEL. We started in London on the 3rd August and finished in Richmond on the 21st September.

We’d fulfilled our promise to complete the course.

During the ride we also enjoyed the support and banter from our much bigger WhatsApp group ‘LEL Live – Giro for Gino’ which helped us, especially when the weather was so dreech.

At the time of writing LEL Giro for Gino has raised £5,764 from 110 supporters towards the Team Gino total of £16,674 for Spinal Research. We’re keeping the JustGiving page open until the end of the year:

LEL Giro for Gino