Day 7

Josh nearly there

At the front of the pack, with the smell of salty sea air and battered Mars bars wafting into his nostrils from the finish line, Josh put in his biggest day of the race so far, clocking up 23h 20mins moving time, riding through the night to set up a grandstand finish. At the time of writing (8am) he has around 250km left, making a finish today possible but tough. Will he ride through to the finish now or will he take advantage of a comfortable gap to Jason in 2nd and have another sleep?

Jason has been maintaining radio silence and no one seems to have seen him so it's difficult to report with much accuracy. He started yesterday between Glasgow and Edinburgh, and put in a solid 250km day. His tracker has been reliably unreliable throughout so it's anyone's guess if he slept last night or indeed where he is!

Gail and Paul

Gail spent yesterday traversing the Pennines and Kielder Forest Park to enter Scotland just after lunch time, chasing Paul who was a comfortable distance ahead all day. Gail managed to claw back some of that defecit this morning with an early start to catch her rival napping, so hopefully she can build on that today to make the battle for 3rd an enthralling watch.

Great Dun Fell

https://www.instagram.com/p/CDm2LgdFavw/

Anisa and James battled it out for another day of close racing as they picked their way through the Yorkshire Dales and into the Pennines. They arrived at Great Dun Fell last night and decided to take different approaches: Anisa found a spot to eat and sleep before taking on the climb in the morning, wheras James got the climb out of the way last night. Having dispatched the road climb, James set up camp on the 'dark side of the fell' almost exactly where Gail had been 24hrs earlier - was it a tactical plan, or did he simply lose hope and collapse next to his bike until the morning?

Out of Wales

Sharon and Chris have been making great progress, having put gastric and mechanical issues behind them for now. The pair managed to escape the steep slopes of Wales yesterday morning, enjoying a flat section into Manchester, before climbing recommenced. Their main issue now seems to be the sheer volume of dotwatchers coming out to cheer them on!

https://www.instagram.com/p/CDmeGSWpTiN/

https://www.instagram.com/p/CDmFjFvh-lT/

Toddler Doping

https://www.instagram.com/p/CDmgpQQFKI_/

Cutest dotwatcher award has to go to Stuart Randle's daughter Lily, who decided Anisa needed flowers and a cuddle and was distraught to be told the cuddle wasn't allowed. While this seems harsh, the 'psychological doping' effect of a cuddle from a toddler is equivalent to a healthy dose of EPO - a totally unfair advantage.

Selfie Sufficiency

It wouldn't be a race update without an entertaining and informative snap from Adam - here he shows us where water can be sourced in the wild through the medium of the selfie. Adam's unshakably positive demeanour makes it easy to forget the serious effort and determination that's on display here. @steph3nsmith captured these stunning shots of Adam tackling Great Dun Fell. Adam crossed into Scotland yesterday, meaning he's in the final country!