Graphic tickler, artist and Levelogger Lee Basford teamed up with friend and illustrator Simon Peplow to grit their teeth in a zen-inducing cyclothon across the south west of England. Hills came and hills went (and then more hills came and went) but, much like Pheidippides, they never gave up. Granted, then had gears, village pubs, comfy tent equipment and didn’t die at the end, but still. You try it.

—Chris Noble, 11 November 2009