There is a fine story about the rider John Woodburn in the 1980s, when he made two attempts on the Land’s End to John o’ Groats record.
On the first attempt he used the best scientific nutrition his advisers could pull together, and subsequently ground to a halt at a place called Blair Atholl on the edge of the Cairngorms. The following year he decided that since every other day of the year he ate three meals of breakfast, lunch and dinner, on the ride he would do the same, and that he would decide what they’d be by whim as he rode. His helpers famously burst into a packed chip shop on a Saturday night demanding instant service, and had to scour Preston for chocolate cake at 6am. He broke the record.
