Race Against the Sun | Overnight Bike Challenge Across the UK

I was joined by Ross for this video as we had a challenge in mind. After a quick 300 mile drive up to the North West of England we set off on our bikes for a village called Bowness-on-Solway, which was the start point for our ride. The challenge we had planned was to set off from the west coast of England as the sun set, and try and make it over to Newcastle on the east coast before it rises again, hence the title: Race Against the Sun. This was a really fun challenge, and ‘challenge’ was certainly the word for what we faced, I won’t give away whether we made it, but it is safe to say we felt the time pressure all the way to the end.

In this video we also share a giveaway that I have planned to mark reaching 5,000 subscribers. I will be making and giving away a custom frame bag, so as I say in the video if you would be interested in winning this then please leave a comment saying something like ‘”I’m in”, or “give me a frame bag!”. I will announce the winner of the giveaway in an upcoming video.

I hope you enjoyed this video, there will be a few more instalments from my European van trip which will come out over the next couple of weeks, I then have a few fun things planned over the summer before I travel out to America in late July to start my ride of the Trans America Cycle Trail. If you would like to follow along please subscribe.

Links

Ko-fi (If you want to support the channel): https://ko-fi.com/matryder

Komoot route for ride:
https://www.komoot.com/tour/1522817521?ref=aso&share_token=aDJoEfQZ5lwAJcDl7ElMP6g9GrvvEfHjWxH8ekGI82dnUMM0ZI

Custom frame bag video: https://youtu.be/kLP5xDN2t18

3 Peaks Challenge (which we mentioned in this video): https://youtu.be/3z-Je9QCFms

00:00. Introduction
03:05. Setting off at sunset
08:41. First stop
12:07. Halfway
15:01. Intermission
17:46. Back to the ride – it’s getting tight
20:49. Under the River Tyne
23:03. Did we make it?
27:44. Goodbye

hello I’m here with Ross hello he’s out of his editing cupboard just for just for the day and one night we’ve driven up from if switch to carile today about 300 miles yeah about that and we have a challenge one that we cooked up quite a while ago you’ll notice that I’m back from Spain and that video series hasn’t finished but we thought we’d get this one done and put out cuz it is sort of time sensitive in a way but Russell tell you all the details yeah so we were looking it’s kind of a slightly artificially manufactur challenge so what we’re planning to do is ride from the West Coast setting off when the sun sets to the east coast of England arriving there before the sun rises so effectively the idea being that we’re racing the sun hence the uh I think what will be the title or Sunil or something something like racing the sun yeah so the sunset on this West Coast here up in near car um boness on Solway I think is where we’re riding out to to begin yep is 8:45 and sunrise over in Newcastle is at 525 tomorrow morning right so we have how long 8 hours and 40 minutes to do 92 miles 92 which is an average required speed yeah of 10.62 mph that’s not too bad it’s not too bad so we’ve G obviously the bit where I said it was artificial like artificially created this challenge is that obviously you know how long a night it’s going to be how long the sun’s down for so you can pick which time of the year yes is uh is best to try it and this is what we gauged as our kind of a doable um challenge yeah but still a challenge be a challenge yeah the longest ride any of us have ever done it def us to yeah and it will and we have an additional 13 miles which we’re riding now to get to the start yes so this will make this for both of us first we’ve done over 100 miles on road won’t it yeah yeah so it’s going to be interesting and like you said doing it overnight is a a different kind of challenge yeah um luckily the weather looks like it’s going to be okay so we’re good I mean it’s a beautiful evening right now and the temperature’s nice so we should be okay so the route is bonus on our way to around somewh the coast near Newcastle does it roughly follow the Adrian’s wall path yeah so there’s a walking path hadan wall path which this is roughly following obviously we’re taking all the road option so effectively that’s rough the path we’re taking um sort of the most direct rout and the reason we’ve come all the way up here to do it is cuz it’s uh I don’t if it’s the narrowest point in England I I think it is yeah from west to east yeah all good I think we’re I know probably five or 6 miles away yeah yeah so we’ll see you when we get there the sun is almost down we’ve got 5 minutes before we set off R is getting ready our start point is actually the end of the Hadrian’s Wall path good luck go with you it says there in Latin yeah so this is pretty cool five minutes to go tus 5 four actually T T minus four I’ve shown them the sun setting so can you um put that in in Photoshop later you can sort of see it can’t you well we said two things so I envisioned when I planned this sort of this this beautiful shot of the Sun going into the sea over this side ah yes yeah and coming out of the Sea on the other side and I think this is better than we expected the other side is almost certainly going to be cloudy yeah so we might not get that but we know what time it is yeah we do yeah so 8:45 is the start time and the reason we chose here is it’s quite we could have kind of gone anywhere along here as Coast to Coast because this is like a tidde ler so I think the coast actually we could count it as probably 10 miles down that way but we wanted something where you could see yeah see it see the sea and see it’s our own challenge isn’t it our Trail our rules yes yeah yeah maybe other people will do this too maybe sure we missed it by a minute I know come on let’s get going we better had on we right time to go we’ll catch up with you in a bit give you a progress update so we’re doing about 14 14 and 1/2 miles an hour at the moment and that’s what we’re going to aim for on the on the flat yeah 14 15 on the flat is bits so it’s all about pacing ourselves we should be okay so long as we Pace it well yeah we got some hills to come we should be fine like we said we did choose the time of the year and the the route and everything to make it a realistic challenge we’ve got lucky with the weather it’s about 900 and something met of sents not bad across the whole thing you know across 92 mil that’s obviously not really not bad at all no no it’s good so we should be fine there and uh yeah I 14 mph flat average we should be able to stop for a couple of breaks as well which of course is important yeah and then we’re obviously not going to push it too much on the Hills cuz we’re not not until not till the spread finish no exactly we don’t want to wipe our legs out yeah too early on but we got lots of snacks yeah as you will uh I’ll probably cut in here we forced ourselves to eat a huge massive massive bowl of pasta very unlikely we’ll find anywhere for any sort of refueling along the way garage somewhere overnight hopefully that’ll be something would there surely you know I think we’ve got two a bit liters of FL water drinks some sort each and coffee and a coffee that we packed up yeah and plenty of snacks so it should be enough y cuz I always find recycling compared to other well particularly compared to hiking and stuff yeah you kind of just can’t run that empty you feel it as soon as you run as soon as you lose that energy yeah reserve your legs just yeah cool well there we go we’ll see you in a bit so we’re working out pacing aren’t we yeah so we’ve got 92 miles yes is a quarter is about 22 well that 23 23 so and then so it’s 23 we need to be a quarter of an 8 of 8 hours and 40 minutes which is 2 hours and 10 minutes yeah so when we hit 23 MI 2 hours and 10 minutes need to have passed because neither of us actually started our tracking at the start of yeah hain’s wall bit back there started from car we’ve got to add 30 miles and whatever we’ve not been very smart about this have we no I mean that’s not like us so at 5 to 11 10:55 we need to have done 23 miles yes or 36 according to our cyle so don’t forget yeah okay the main thing as long as we remember we need to have got to the coast by 525 in the morning was 525 yeah yeah that’s the main thing maybe we should just make that our first checkpoint yeah maybe that makes life a lot easier doesn’t it yeah we’ll do that yeah we’re back in car ly back where the van is parked more or less which means we’re 13 mi in okay we’re at Brampton yes 37 miles in which is just over a quarter of the way yeah and the time is 25 to 11 so we’re 2 minutes ahead 20 minutes ahead which is not it doesn’t feel if you do 20 minutes every quarter we’ll be yeah yeah yeah 80 minutes exactly be well in time but it doesn’t feel like a huge amount especially given we’ve got a big climb yeah it’s not huge time but there’s about 200 m in the one in the next bit I think climbing or maybe next one but I don’t imagine we’re going have a long break now we can’t really we have to keep pushing on so a quick one but it’s all going well so far yeah yeah feeling good so far good good yeah so it’s nice on the quiet roads I think they’ll get you know obviously they’ll get even quieter this it’s kind of that thing at the moment where there’s OD car just screaming past occasionally which is unpleasant it’s going to get quieter as the night goes on so yeah yeah I think we’re good we’re in good shape going well yeah it is isn’t the owl how call this he first proper climb that was a good one I don’t think they’re expecting us all right we’re at 40 miles yeah time for a little break we’ve had a series of sharp nasty climbs so we just having a break because we got a bigger one coming up now um the biggest one of the whole route yeah and then at the top of that though it’s about halfway so we got 5 miles and we know then we’ve done most of the big climbs and then it’s a downward Trend towards the end so depending on what time we get up there if we’re on schedule which should be before 5ast 1 M then we’re in really good shape AR we yeah cuz with all that climbing done that’s not bad is yeah we should be good then although we’ll be tired I think we’re still going to be yeah definitely in good shape for getting to the end on time but we’re going to have a snack now and then no time to waste get moving tackle the climbs and then proper break proper break at the top of the climb when when we deserve it yeah definitely all right halfway up Summit yeah this is it we find somewhere to stop so yeah big climb done big climb done the the difficult quarter was the second quarter that had all the big climbs in and it’s done and it took us 2 hours 15 minutes which means for that for that quadrant we were 5 minutes over over schedule which is definitely I mean you can see maybe up the elevation profile or something but we are it’s it’s pretty much downhill all the way out to the coast now so basically we’ve kicked the climbs out done they’re done and we’re what 10 minutes under schedule for the whole thing yeah so we’re going to have a break I think a good 10 10 15 10 15 minutes we got coffee haven’t we yeah hopefully still be warm yeah so we’re going to do that it’s lovely yeah weather it’s just not too cold it’s like about 8 9° yeah absolutely perfect again lucky with the weather so yeah now food coffee and we’ll get moving yeah pretty much so we shall see you probably well we’ll do an update some pretty much three qus yeah and then a little something in between yeah that works sounds good yeah do you know how many miles we’ve done um well we’re 11 more from where we were so 57 57 if it had an enforced break cuz your yeah cuz my stupid light which was expensive and almost new failed so luckily I can use it by plugging it into a power bank and um yeah I know you won’t see that will you yeah so luckily I’ve got to work around so we still have light but it’s getting cold isn’t it it’s a bit cold and I’m getting condensation in my beard not condensation like I’m just getting my legs are fine so far I mean I can feel ridden a lot yeah just getting tired now just you know get to the point like I don’t want to ride a bike anymore yeah I know I’m getting that but we’re I know in a few it about 5 miles we be under 30 under 30 feels very like manageable doesn’t it we done we’ve done the hard yeah and it really has been a lot easier this last 11 hasn’t it we’ve done that in about 40 minutes or so so really it’s a good Pace I think we got a climb coming up a little one and then more of this bouncing up and down so which is fine so I think we’re in good shape let’s move yeah sorry for this intermission we um had some things to say in this video but obviously we’re cutting it fine as you can probably tell if you’re watching it won’t give away which way it went but yeah yeah we won’t let you know whether we made it or not but um yeah we just didn’t have time so we thought we’d do this afterwards um literally we wanted to thank everyone for getting us to 5,000 subscribers which we hit a little while ago and it six now actually but yeah and I think you’ve said a thank you in one of the europeos but yeah it’s nice to say again and I haven’t said it so thank you everyone thank you all but um to do that we did a giveaway at 500 subscribers this is 5,000 so we’re going to do another one um you’ll notice there’s no um words in a thumbnail or anything you know cuz sometimes these these things are used to draw viewers in and whatever else we didn’t want to do that your loyal Watchers and subscribers if you’re still watching this so the giveaway is going to be a custom frame bag we we thought about it and we thought something you know instead of just something with a a monetary value sort of thing something more personal and and the frame bag itself we thought is a kind it’s got a link with the channeling that it was a you made a frame bag didn’t you on the your fourth or fifth video and amazingly that’s just it’s like the fourth best performance video we’ve ever had it just keeps going I do I love it it’s so different to anything else so yeah yeah yeah so if you’ve seen that I mean if you haven’t there’ll be a link yeah we may as well so you can see what you’ll be getting yeah up up here but um just a couple of caveats with this it’s going to be made exactly to my standard so I’ll make it as well as I would make it for myself it’s not going to be perfect um but it is going to be something that our Lia with whoever wins to you know make sure we get it the right size you can pick colors and you know I I think it’ll be a fun thing to do and I’m looking forward to it so if you are interested in entering that competition hold on I’m going to walk into a bush just put something in the comments that indicates you know that you want to be in something like I’m in or Matt is great or frag give me a frame bag a frame bag cuz then we can just search them out and easily yeah that implies that they’re they’ve got no manners well they didn’t need them they wouldn’t we know you would yes you don’t need them yeah no you don’t so yes hopefully that’s I well we both thought it’s something you know it’s cuz 5,000 subscribers is a massive deal and we really are grateful instead of just saying it I thought something personal you know proper heartfelt sort of something to give away so anyway back to the video yeah let’s see if we make it yeah do we do you know I don’t know I can’t remember no I can’t remember Sleep depr God it was exactly very cool Bridge was now we’re going right right we’re mile 83.8 So in theory we’ve got 70 so that would give us another 20 miles yeah 21 21 so 21 miles to go hopefully what time is it you know God quter 3 quarter 3 we’ve got 2 hours 10 minutes to do 21 it should be doable but but we can’t hang about we got to get moving yeah and this is starting to feel like yeah this PA there’s we’re we’re kind of on a cycle path yeah which is it would be nice but there’s part of me that just wants to be on the road where you just kind of know that it’s definitely going to take straight there cuz caths are unpredictable they can be so the surface can be so bad and then you can just you can’t do the speed so we should still be able to unless we get held up in Newcastle right who knows how slow it is to get through that but we got to get moving yes so we’ll go going okay it’s going okay this uh cycle path has been really nice actually kind of followed the river time yeah um I think where we are and it seems to go a long way in so you can’t complain I just I just didn’t anytime you in the UK cyclopaths or in England psychopaths are regularly kind of just poth hold foot paths aren’t they yeah and I just I was nervous we were going to encounter a bit where we just couldn’t do any speed along it and seems to be okay though it does it’s going okay okay here yeah this is this is genuinely very close I think we’re going to make it but only just it all depends how good the roads are through Newcastle and it’s early enough it should be clear [Music] oh my God what there’s infinite uses infinite Maad uses this is the this is the just yeah adding a lift into the equation all you can do is get stuck in it when you’ve [Music] gone okay what is this war me cheers so that was a tunnel under the time very very interesting it’s the clock strike in five so I think we’re good we got 20 minutes and it’s only just down the road done given we created it this bench will be the official end point that’s right yeah yes the bench of success in years to come there’ll be a plaque on that yeah saying Matt Ryder made it here yeah yes the famous Matt Ridder yeah and some guy and some BL yeah yeah where’s the sunrise not here yet what time is it it is 5:06 wow we’ve done it with 19 let’s get some proof 507 give a chance 507 that was worth the last bit Oh Yeah from Newcastle my God those cycle parts they were both good and awful like I mean they were good like you know compared to s from new so I imagine if it was busy yeah they must cuz it literally just takes you it skips everything doesn’t it yeah but they were in places bumpy and windy and the worst one was when they’d be good and then just be a random massive pot hole Yeah I could just caught you I know and I couldn’t warn you quick enough there was one it almost did me yeah let’s chill out for bit and wait for the sunrise which I we might actually see something probably not show that way some ruins over yeah they are aren they right that was yeah 105 miles I think wow total including the bit from yeah is your say mine says 104 mil 1,311 M of ascent and our maximum speed was 30.8 and average was 12.3 ignore the clock that’s in France isn’t it yeah look a little bit like yeah like we’re cheating my Wahoo is set to French time brilliant I’m so pleased I want to see Sun I need a drink I need something to eat 525 the sun is officially it’s I don’t if Sunrise means started to rise or is it completely risen I think the sunrise is when the sun is completely above the Horizon yeah well we don’t we won’t know no but it’s over there somewhere isn’t it but yeah unfortunately it’s a bit Misty but you know we said earlier we’re not going to complain we had no rain no none oh it’s perfect yeah so we got away with that yeah we would trade missing the sunrise for no rain overnight w we yeah so yeah so the we we would wait around a bit to maybe see if anything clears up but kind of pointless and cuz it’s not it’s not going to yeah and we’re we’ still got to get back across to car yes so we got to get now we’re going to try and get the Metro so we’ve got a we’ve booked a train from we’ve actually booked two trains a train UK trains I I kind of assumed this was going to be the most expensive part you know just just ridiculous a train for what £32 each to get across from Newcastle to car which I was just amazed by so we put two like I not just two tickets two different times but two different times because it’s one of them Advanced ones we have to pick your time so I wonder why how can they have such wildly differing fair prices but we got to get the Metro got try and get the metro station yeah CU it’s actually 13 mil back into Newcastle yeah and we don’t really want to ride the 13 we might have to if cuz the Metro is a bit iffy as to whether they’re going to on with the bikes but we’re going to try apparently you can you’re an off peak that only lists off peakers 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. but surely it’s not going to get much more off peak than at4 to 6:00 in the morning so yeah I think we’ll chance it and then we might make a fix 20 train across car 300 M drive 300 but at least we’ll be getting off to a good early start for that we can and that’s true and we’ve uh we’re doing the drive home successful yeah like we did with the Three Peaks it does help doesn’t it yeah definitely so yeah we better get going if we want to get this Metro we’re back at the van we’re back that couldn’t have gten better I mean anyway particularly I’m thinking just then the journey since we last spoke because we made the we made the uh the Metro didn’t we the one that we needed to make we got on with our bikes and we weren’t sure if we’d be allowed to um I think technically we weren’t allowed to but we did it anyway did anyway cuz that’s what we do it wasn’t that busy it was fine yeah and then we managed to make the first train that we B for 620 which actually was delayed so like 635 so we’re actually back at the van at what time we back in I Haven got my watch on it’s like 8:32 yeah it’s not bad is it that’s not bad 8:32 yeah and I’ll be on our way soon hopefully we need to get some food don’t we get some food maybe get a coffee coffee definitely yeah and then just power through the drive as much as we can and if we have to stop we have to stop yeah we’ll see see how we see how we get on but but no that was really good it was hard a challenge that was a real challenge it was hard I mean like we said at the very start you know I think we’ gauged it so it’ be a real challenge but doable and that’s what it was exactly and closer to a real Challenge and I thought it might be I think we I think we thought especially after that first quarter split I don’t understand I thought we were going to end up with a little bit more time in hand and in the end 20 minutes is a decent amount but we couldn’t any mechanical issue would have not made it failed you know whereas I thought we might have had that in as a buffer you know well after the first quarter I think we did have a buff and the second quarter with all the CLI with all the CLI the the the last half was just even though it was mostly you know our general Trend was downhill almost the entire wave from halfway wasn’t it um but it was just uh I don’t know I think it was a mixture of the surfaces it was quite bumpy and little like the cycle trails you couldn’t just you know if that was a big open road we’ have been a to get up to you know sort of 17 18 mil hour but we were cruising along 123 a lot concentration didn’t it and my light failing didn’t help that was a right pain that was a couple of extra stops wasn’t it yeah so that wasn’t good but I’m glad we made it yeah I think compared to the other so yeah I think compared to the other long bike ride so we did the London ride didn’t we in you know we link that was a on the Channel video 82 mil that one felt I know a weird right that that was probably I mean it wasn’t quite as hard but I think cuz we really took our time with that cuz we didn’t want to we were there was no time pressure and we were trying to conserve our energy so almost like we we were in the saddle for longer much longer weren’t we because we just took this was more intense definitely more intense and then the Three Peaks that’s kind of the other Big Challenge I think this was that wasn’t as hard as that was it what it’s the Three Peaks no it no just the overall experience of it was I I think but this you know for consistently just not being able to stop you know I mean we had a little break here and there but like you know the three the one nice thing about Three Peaks was you did a peak and then you got to sit in I know that you could we couldn’t really sleep you were driving know Fe we were in the car we were off our feet you know it was like a little recuperation this one the longer it went on the the harder we had to try yes and that is through you know fatigue tired but also just because you know it just felt that way that pressure building with the time wasn’t it and and with all of these things like we say you know we said Three Peaks it’s just doing it is a cool thing you even if we didn’t make the time and this one the same if we didn’t make it before the sunrise if we’d seen the sun come up you know 10 minutes after we got there yeah I would have been happy with that but you do start to think I really do want to make it you know the more you go so and we did we pushed towards the end didn’t we and it’s a good job we did because close 18 minutes is not a big margin I’m glad we did it and um yeah it was fun we’ll post the link to the ride down below and the thing is if you wanted to have a go yeah you could could you but you’ve got to pick sort of this time of year you know few days either side or whatever you want to do as a challenge yeah if people want to do it it’s a cool it’s a cool it’s a nice route I mean it’ be a really nice route as a day ride actually yeah it because it was nice roads and nice everything you know I mean there was little bits where I think you going for Newcastle although Newcastle really does have good cycle infrastructure I wonder that would be like in the day but we’ve got the best of it all I mean as far as I’m I’ve never really been into Newcastle and my opinion of it now based on this morning it’s amazing but you know when it’s full of people maybe not but uh I would um I would say I enjoyed it and you know maybe we’ll do it again next year you never know maybe yeah or maybe we’ll find a different one yeah we’ll see yeah yeah we’ll see so that’s it we’re going to head off we’re going to get some food get coffee go home thank you for watching sleep yeah thanks for watching and we’ll see you in the next one goodbye goodbye