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@itsbruce
We started with 8. 7 of us turned up at the station but we bought 8 tickets (two groups of four) in case Ed showed up at the last minute. He didn't, so when we met Nigel at the other end, that made us 8. We lost one quite early on in the ride, to a bad back caused by imperfect set-up on a rarely-ridden bike. Nigel was with us through the epic off road sections of the first forty miles but began to suffer in the hill-climbing in the next section and opted to carry on solo so that we could pick up the pace. Even though we managed to increase the pace with each hour, when it became clear that we wouldn't finish till after 10pm, Dave and I had to plan an earlier exit; we turned off the route at Potters Bar (the 120 mile mark).
Now, Olly, I would like to take issue with this:
That note was, how I can I put it, just a little understated. The off road sections were epic! We encountered gravel paths, dirt tracks, scree, open fields with free-roaming livestock - and just when I thought we couldn't top all that, we cut through a golf course and into the undergrowth on the other side, down tiny overgrown tracks surrounded by nettles and brambles, which actually got denser over time till, at the 40 mile mark, we emerged blinking on to a road (thought we were never going to see roads again), looking and feeling like Japanese soldiers who'd been lost in the jungle and had only just found out that the war was over.
That route deserves to become legendary! Awesome job by John and Olly, which made me determined to do some justice to it, having signed up for this only a few days ago on an impulse. Next time, will be there for the full 160 miles.