man ride 2018

Day 1 & 2

By Black Sheep Cycling

October 5^th, 2018

what got goes up…

Forty-eight hours in and its time to reflect on a massive few days for our Soloists. Ben Hitchins and support Carlos Orozco in Colombia have already notched over 450km and an incredible 9000 metres of climbing, including Alto de Letras, the longest paved climb in the world – 100km from Honda to the peak at over 4000m. Europe, too, has endured some big days of vert, Oliver Grenaa and sidekick JoJo Harper amassing 4475m on Day One and 4588m on Day Two, taking on the iconic Pyrenees pass of Col d'Aubisque and meeting plenty of interesting characters along the way.

Team UK only had themselves to blame for a prolonged Day One - dirt roads, single track and some wrong turns meant their 218k day was not an easy one and it took its toll on Day Two. Liam Yates and photographer Jake Armstrong are the only Soloists not to have car support, so for Jake, particularly, carrying all his own film, camera and computer equipment, it was a long day in the saddle and an after-dark finish with a niggling knee and tiredness to contend with.

There are no straight roads, though, when it comes to riding 1000km over 5 days. What began as a beautiful misty but sunny start to Team America's ride in Grand Junction, Colorado soon went south by Day Two when torrential rain and epic wind dented the spirits and progress of Andy Stockman and photographer Natalie Starr. Still, they've made it safely across the finish line on both days. In Australia, however, it's taken a significant amount of teamwork for Mick and, brother, Chris Brown and Faz Zamani to ensure they stay on track to reach the 1000km milestone. Content machine Faz paid the price for 90 odd kilometres of dirt on Day One and could only manage 70 the next day. She swapped support roles with Chris for the remainder of Day Two, sacrificing her own goals, to ensure they got to their motel with time to eat, drink and get ready for remaining 400k.

AUSTRALIA DAY one.

Swan Hill – Numurkah 248km / 286m

"Support takes many forms and today I was so grateful to have two legends by my side." –

Mick Brown, Australia. Day Two.

australia day two.

Numurkah – Albury 237km / 766m

europe day one.

San Sebastián – Barcos-Baroxe 223km / 4475m

"I got a little emotional this evening. I was hungry and this dodgy French gaff had hardly any food. Oliver calmed me down. But I was almost in tears. 200km and over 4000m of climbing over the Pyrenees will do that to you." –

Jojo Harper, Europe. Day Two.

europe day two.

Montory – St-Lary Souland 199km / 4588m

UK DAY one.

Brighton – Dorchester 218km / 2358m

"Day Two. We're 10k in. 250m of climbing. About 215km to go and already I'm fucked!" –

Jake Armstrong, UK. Day Two.

uk – day two.

Dorchester – St Austell 223km / 4404m

america – day one.

Grand Junction to New Castle 206km / 3048m

america – day two.

New Castle to Meeker 187km / 1833m

"Lost count today of how many gatorades, cokes and waters we drank. And how many dead dogs and vultures we saw. The vultures are brutal. But then so are the climbs." –