A CYCLIST died when her bike crashed on a Land’s End to John O’Groats ride, an inquest was told.

Kim Caplin, 40, of Heather Close, Martlesham Heath, was about halfway through the holiday organised for 16 riders by adventure company, Saddleskedaddle, when the accident happened on September 10 last year.

She was with another rider, Paul Barrowcliffe, of Maidstone, who told the inquest in Kendal, Cumbria, yesterday, they got caught in atrocious weather.

Lashing rain made it hard to see as they careered down a one-in-four hill as they approached Dent from Bolton.

“We wanted to get off that road as fast as we could as it was so steep,” said Mr Barrowcliffe.

“As we were going down the hill, Ms Caplin realised she had lost control and she went out of sight.”

Pc Mark Dempster said the hill had a left-hand bend, with an adverse camber.

He found a small furrow on the verge, where Ms Caplin had been thrown from her bike.

She crashed head first into a stone fence-post and died at the scene.

A pathologist said she died of head injuries.

Coroner for South Cumbria, Ian Smith, recorded a verdict of accidental death.

Speaking shortly after the tragedy, Ms Caplin’s family issued a statement which said they had received “comfort and solace from the fact that she died in a beautiful area, doing what she loved”.

At the time, a Cumbria Constabulary spokesman said: “Kim Caplin was one of 16 cyclists who were travelling from Ingleton towards Dent as part of a bike ride from Land’s End to John O’Groats.

“Tragically, Ms Caplin suffered fatal injuries after colliding with a wall at around 6.50pm on Saturday, September 10, in Deepdale, near Dent.”