220km covered on Lifecycle's second day

The road to Zilina took them through some steep hills – including one of over 570m – which were quite exhausting, in spite of the intensive training they did in Malta prior to their departure.

LifeCycle is all about the things that go wrong en route. On Sunday, the cyclists and back-up team got separated and had to cover quite a few extra kilometers, which meant that it got dark before the last cyclists got to their destination. Two missed a sign and went well off track, and were eventually located and brought back by two of the back-up cars, while another cyclist missed a sign barely a few hundred metres from the accommodation and also had to be located and escorted to the school gym in Prostejov by another team.

However, even though it was 11.30 p.m. by the time everyone had eaten, showered, inflated their beds and washed out their clothes for the next day, the feelings were a mixture of utter exhaustion and exhilaration.

Monday got off to a good start, with a checkpoint at a stunning tourist resort in the forested mountains of southern Czech Republic. The only problem (as at mid-afternoon) was that the back-up van broke down although the situation was brought under control after a Mercedes mechanic in Prague talked the driver through remedial action which got it back on the road.

The participants crossed the border into the second of the seven countries in the challenge soon after the lunch checkpoint. Monday night will be spent in Zilina, the largest city in Slovakia.

The Betfair LifeCycle Challenge raises money for the Renal Unit of Mater Dei.