The squad from Teesdale CRC (Cycling and Racing Club) finished ninth overall and second in their group in the Revolve24 race around Brands Hatch’s race circuit in Kent last month.
Six time gold medallist Jason Kenny kept the Barnard Castle crew on their toes during the endurance race.
Mark Brown was the oldest member of the Teesdale group, who all came up with the idea of competing over a pint.
The 52-year-old said: “It was a decision made in a Barnard Castle public house.
“All of us haven’t been cycling long – between about two and four years. We did the coast to coast and joined the club together.
“It’s not many years ago that the thought of us going to Middleton and back would have been daunting indeed.”
Rob Brown, Paul Stables, Graham Watson, John Lumsdon and Martin Bell all joined Mr Brown for the day long event clocking up 489 miles in relay formation.
Brands Hatch is one of the most undulating motor sport venues in the UK with 200 feet of climb per lap.
Each of the team took turns doing four laps during the day and six each at night to enable them to snatch some sleep.
Mr Brown said: “The thought of lying in a nice warm bed with the alarm going off and having to go out in the misty cold wasn’t great.
“As soon as we finished you had food and got changed into clean clothes.
“Then you’d climb into bed and hopefully get an hour and a bit of sleep.”
“It was nothing like anything I'd done before.”
However, practice cycles up to Tan Hill in pitch darkness proved their worth.
Mr Brown said: “We were used to riding in formation up to Tan Hill and the track was in total darkness. At times you could only see red lights in front of you.
“We were used to it – getting someone out of a warm bed and getting their heart rate from 70bpm to 170bpm in one minute is impossible.
“But we had extremely consistent lap times at night compared to other teams.”
Olympic great Jason Kenny also proved a worthy adversary on the course.
Mr Brown added: “He was on the motor home next to ours with his father-in-law, Adrian Trott, and they were doing it semi seriously.
“Jason broke the King of the Mountains (fastest climb) on the biggest hill on the course. He climbed 135 metres at 11 per cent – steeper than The Bank, in Barney – in 9.88 seconds.
“But I had the fastest time of the weekend coming down the hill.”
The team will be heading back to take on the course next year alongside another group of six from the club.
“We did just short of 500 miles and “Everested” – climbed the height of Everest – quite early on,” added Mr Brown.
“Maybe we can break 1,000 miles with two team and maybe raise some money for charity.”
To find out more about the cycling club, go to: www.teesdalecrc.co.uk
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