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Listen if it's good enough for Chris Froome it's good enough for me. I feel absolutely no shame in telling you I have been following a wheel all morning. I have my own super domestique, an old friend Stuart Hepburn came down on the train last night to meet me and guide me home. I am quite stunned by this and I know that several others tried to sort themselves to do the same. Thanks to all for considering it. Stuart is an accomplished cyclist having just recently qualified in his age groups for the amateur world championships, but more importantly, he has done a similar solo trip when completing John O'Groats to Lands End a couple of years ago. He told me he had been reading the blog which brought back good memories and he fancied a day out. I warned him we will not be riding at his pace!
One of the last things he said before heading to bed was "looks like we will be riding into a headwind tomorrow mate". I thought, what does he mean "we"? Overall I have been amazed at the reaction people have had to this ride. I have felt overwhelmed by the number of positive messages that people have sent publicly and privately - who knew so many people gave a damn about a 51 year old never-was, wobbling his way around Europe on a bike he will never be able to use to its full capability? The blog has had more than 2000 hits in two weeks which is even more remarkable given that I am basically writing it for an audience of three specific people. I will get to a proper thank you post later, for now I am going to go back to concentrating on the back of Stuart's wheel for the last 50km into the Rapha Cafe in Soho.