• Cyclist completes John O'Groats to Land's End challenge after hip repla

    From swldxer1958@gmail.com@21:1/5 to All on Tue Jun 20 22:33:13 2023
    A cyclist who had a hip replacement five years ago has completed a 900-mile ride from John O'Groats to Land's End.

    Stuart Johnson, from North Somerset, slept on roadsides during the solo trip - which he finished in six days, three hours and 30 minutes.

    The father-of-three overcame Achilles tendon pain and requiring physiotherapy treatment to raise £3,700 for mental health charity Mind.

    "I can honestly say I enjoyed all of it," said the 49-year-old.

    "Reaching Land's End I was mostly just happy.

    During the trip, Mr Johnson needed to visit a physio in Wigan and a podiatrist in Taunton, to help him keep going.

    Much of the training for the ride was done during his 30-mile round trip commute from his home in Churchill, North Somerset, to the University of Bristol - where Mr Johnson works as the director of its careers service.

    This helped prepare him for consecutive 130-mile days in the saddle, on a route that required him to climb 36,000ft (11,000m) - more than the height of Mt Everest.

    Mr Johnson said: "Completing the ride has surprised me and given me confidence to try more things - what exactly I do next though I'm not entirely sure.

    "It will be easier to decide when I've recovered from this one."

    His wife, Kathy Johnson, added: "The whole family is incredibly proud of Stuart for completing this mad adventure."

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-65961050

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)