Silk Road endurance cyclist: "If you manage to stick it out to the end, then you’re doing pretty well"

The 1,700km Silk Road Mountain Race is so tough, only a third of its competitors make it to the end. Pete McNeil, from the Hope Valley in Derbyshire, is thought to be the first British finisher – after eleven-and-a-half days on his bike.

The gruelling challenge was made harder by variations in temperature. He told Calendar's Duncan Wood and Gaynor Barnes: “Some days you were sweating in 40º heat, some nights it was –10º.”