So Stage 2 is over and I feel shattered but fine. In one way the time seems to have gone quite quickly, but every time I walk up the stairs it feels like I have been cycling for about three months.

When I go to sit down in a chair I have to use the armrests to lower myself down my quads are so tight. During the rest day I have been doing lots of stretching to try and loosen up, but my limbs are still not that happy.

It is good that we are nearly 1,200 kilometres into the Cycle Slam and after tomorrow’s long first day of Stage 3, 151 km with some big climbs, we will be close to half-way. Today has been a bit of a housekeeping day which involved getting up early to make sure all my kit was laundered and ready for tomorrow’s early start. It was a bit of a military operation. We all have the same kit so I just wanted to get mine in early to make sure I got it back in good time. I have also been answering emails and correspondence, both personal and work-related. When you are on the road all day it is hard to keep up with that. A small group of us went for a really nice lunch.

Lee Dixon, Freddie Flintoff and a few of the core riders had a good catch up and shared some amusing stories. Lawrence Dallaglio took another group for lunch and a wine tasting. A wine tasting would have been pretty high on my list of things not to do but it was nice that Freddie chose to join us. Perhaps my influence is starting to tell. It was great to have him with us. He is a very funny guy.

At last night’s farewell dinner to the Stage 2 riders everyone spoke about Tuesday’s ride through the weather and the climbs. Freddie told us how his group had dropped so far behind everyone else that by the time they reached the second food stop there was hardly anything left. He described having been riding for eight hours, climbing through the mountains and being hot, bothered and parched having run out of drink. He said: ‘When I got to the top the first thing the caterers offered me was a Hob Nob – the third driest biscuit known to man, beaten only by Rich Tea and Digestives, and the last thing I wanted. ‘If that wasn’t bad enough they didn’t have enough water to make a brew.’ The way Freddie told it with his Preston accent was very, very funny.

Lee and I got fined, but not for breaking the tandem. Our team had told Lawrence that we hadn’t bought them a drink all week. Any more of this and I worry that people from Jersey may start to get a reputation for being a bit frugal. When we confronted them afterwards, they denied making that particular accusation, rather they had accused us for failing to stay up late for a drink after dinner any night. Although Lee and I escaped punishment for breaking the tandem, we did get the Halfords team punished for not being able to fix it. And one of the coach drivers was driving a camper van on the stage and he stopped to see if we were OK and to gloat a bit. Unfortunately he managed to stall not once, but twice, when he tried to get going again so he got fined for that as well.

I am learning the rules, or laws, of the game now. It appears the best form of defence is attack. The best system seems to be to get your shots in first. If you come up with enough accusations against other people that are worthy of a fine, once there are eight on Lawrence’s bit of paper, you know you are safe. It’s the law of the Cycle Slam jungle, survival of the sneakiest. It really was quite emotional saying goodbye to the Stage 2 riders today.

Tuesday was very much on all our minds yesterday and even today. It really galvanised the five of us who completed the ride together. It was a shared experience we will always have and never forget. It was a kind of siege mentality, like when you go down to ten men in a football match and you have to draw on reserves of grit and determination you don’t normally tap. As Chelsea did against Barcelona in the Champions League semi-final, you go the extra yard for each other. There were people who had got to the top of the big climb and been overcome with the emotion of completing the challenge, and that was before the bad weather hit. It was a new experience for me and I felt quite vulnerable. I suppose the best way to compare it is to being in a boat and being caught in bad weather when you are not prepared for it. I think if one of us had folded on the Tuesday, then we all would have gone, but even when we knew we had a long, long slog to the hotel that it is when everyone’s character came through and we pushed each other and kept the humour and stayed positive. Nobody complained we just tried to laugh it off.

There were a lot of stories shared last night. I will be very surprised if we have another day like Tuesday. I am sure that is going to be the defining day of the trip for those of us who experienced it. There are times when people hit a wall they can’t go beyond but the fact that everyone completed the ride on Tuesday, even if it took over 14 hours, was amazing. Some people may say that for Lee and I it is easy because we are not big guys and we have done some training as we both enjoy cycling. But I can assure you we are finding it very hard and challenging. Maybe we are going faster than quite a lot of the riders and we all have to ride at our own level. We may be finishing a day in six hours but we are pretty exhausted, but it is very impressive watching the guys who are pacing themselves and coming home in ten hours or more.

Despite the hardship and tiredness at the end of each day, it really is a privilege to be here. Sharing this experience and being so well supported on a day-to-day basis by the wonderful organisation, sponsors and the regular communications from friends and family makes it all worthwhile.