I can’t be talking bikes in a bike column without at some stage mentioning the most famous of Britain’s cycle rides – Land’s End (in Cornwall) to John O’Groats (at the top of Scotland).

At 874 miles, it’s a bit like cycling from London to Edinburgh and then back again.

As I write, one of my friends should just be completing the route. They’re not the first and boy they won’t be the last, as I think approximately 5,000 people do the route each year.

With the ‘end to end’ as it’s sometimes known, you can cycle in either direction but I think starting at Land’s End is more popular as the weather is better and you probably lure yourself into thinking you’ll enjoy this cycle ride – until of course you get gale force winds in Scotland and wish you’d stayed at home and just gone to the gym instead.

Depending on your age, you may remember Sir Ian Botham, the cricketer walking this route in 1985; he took about a month to complete the walk.

The average cyclist can take a couple of weeks to comfortably cycle the nearly 900 miles. But believe it or not, the fastest cyclist completed the route in less than two days – yes 874 miles in 41 hours – so no sleeping.

Indeed, he must have tied his food to the handlebars or maybe set up a carrot and stick over his bike helmet (or for more incentive, a bag of chips) and he surely must have been crossing his legs by the finish line (I mean, when could he have found time for a toilet stop?).

This record was set by Andy Wilkinson who rode a recumbent tricycle; now to those not in the know, this is one of those lying back bikes that look quite low down but really are quite comfortable. The record set on a traditional bicycle was set in 2001 by Gethin Butler and took just over 44 hours.

I know of various friends having cycled ‘end to end’, some by tandem, some in reclining bikes.

I’ve also heard on the grapevine about blind cyclists riding in tandem, unicyclists and wheelchair users doing the route. So it must be pretty busy on those roads – although luckily there are several routes.

A couple of friends who did the journey once told me how they loathed Devon as it was so difficult for cycling – I should add, this was partly due to them not being fit enough when they first started the cycle ride.

And another friend of mine cursed the Lake District – yes, that beautiful idyllic spot – because of its hills.

One of my mates, Oxford-born Nick Rawle, last year managed to cycle from Land’s End all around the west coast to John O’Groats, a 3,200-mile journey, in order to raise money for a bowel cancer charity. This, I should add, seems a long way from the first time I saw Nick, cycling his butcher’s bike to deliver booze for Oddbins on the High street where he used to work.

Well, all this is well and good, but how does it relate to you Oxford cyclists? Answer: like this really – this coming weekend, just stretch yourselves a bit further. There’s beautiful countryside out there and, believe it or not, most of it begins 15 minutes’s ride away from your doorstep.