We’ve just had contact from Paul from the support crew of the 3100 Miles Team – those quite frankly nuts cyclists who are riding across America to raise money for charity. They’re going well. Last time we heard they were travelling through Arizona, dodging bears, heroically coming to the aid of a lone Japanese cyclist and sweating it out in 44 degree heat.

Over to you Paul, we hope you don’t mind us chipping in with useless facts…

“We woke early to start at 0630hrs, however the roads had iced solid. It was too unsafe to make a start so we waited until the sun cleared the mountain roads and enjoyed an early morning cup of Yorkshire Tea.

“We headed towards Cortez in the icy air, then once the sun was climbing it started to hot up fast. We made an 8900ft summit followed by a decent to 6000ft and pushed onto the ski resort of Wolf Creek.”

Not sure if Paul and the team knew this before they planned their trip, but Wolf Creek Pass is a mean road. In fact, in a famous song by country singer C.W. McCall, it's described as "37 miles o' hell”. They probably know that by now.

“In the afternoon sun we passed up hundreds of Gophers running around on the side of the road, and kept an eager eye out for bears. On approach to Wolf Creek there was an elk in a stream, and now only a dozen miles from the foot of our biggest climb of the ride, which takes us over 11,000ft."

Time for a couple of sit down with a proper brew facts: adult elk can grow their antlers at the staggering rate of up to an inch a day. Gophers aren’t far behind with teeth that grow 14 inches in a year. Anyway, back to Paul.

“We pushed through the darkness with our exposure lights. We decided to call it a night and got into our RV at just under 9000ft, ready to complete the remaining 3 miles and 2200 ft of climbing in the morning."

“When morning arrived, we all sprung into action and awoke to an amazing view. After a quick breakfast and a cup of Yorkshire Tea, we decide to Adour the amazing view and feed the local chip monks with some now Colorado raisins."

“After a quick team photo the guys hit the mountain for one final push to the summit.”

We lost communication with Paul at this point. Did the team make it? We’ll let you know next time we hear from Paul and the Team. Fingers crossed.