Hats off to a few

It should be hat's off to everyone who finished the End to End Mountain Bike Challenge yesterday. Whether you cycled 50 miles (Manx Radio), 44 miles (BBC) or a little bit less (my guess), you all deserve praise for finishing such a tough event.

If anyone takes any notice of my video they might notice that the music in the soundtrack is all about going uphill and climbing mountains. That was because I chose the music when I did my preparation before heading out on Saturday night.

By my standards I had a pretty late night after attending a 50th birthday party and I went to bed at 12.30 planning to get up at 6.30, run a full marathon in under 3 hours, have breakfast and get changed before heading to St Johns to film the uphill ride from there. I would much rather have been on the climb from Ballacobb but time management wouldn't allow it.

But I didn't plan my time so well. The alarm went off, I jumped out of bed thinking that was the shortest 6 hours of my life. It was only when I got to the bathroom and saw "5.25" on my watch that I realised I had managed to change the time on my alarm.

Still trying to see out of eyes, much as I was tempted to have some more sleep, I seized the opportunity to make an early start and by 9 o'clock my training was complete. I was able to have a quick peep at the TV to see the start of the women's race in the Great North Run and head for Brandywell. I knew from last year what time to expect the cyclists so I was able to complete a set of photos of nearly all the riders an hour or so earlier than planned. Mainly riding downhill but with music about going up.

I needed the time to get everything done, particularly video editing. I am afraid that I had to be quite severe with the editing this year and not include everyone. There was a greater chance of inclusion if you were in a group.

I have to admit I have only just looked right way through the photos for the first time and I almost went to sleep. This was partially due to further sleep deprivation last night but also, with the greatest will in the world, one photo starts to look like another by the time I got past 1,000.

But I also found I had not quite got the top of one or two heads in the photos as I juggled between the video in my left hand and the stills in the right. Sorry about that but hat's off to those few.