Day 9; Evening

Well at the Premier Inn with a TGIF for food/beer. But no breakfast deal so we will be leaving 0630 tomorrow morning,

As we got the bikes out this evening to clean my back tyre was flat :( It was fine when we stopped so changed the inner tube. Pumped up the flat one and when last seen it still had air in! Will wait till tomorrow..

For those who are interested today's stats

Heading for scoff shorlty

Adrian

Day 9; afternoon

Well what do I say? A short ride of just shy of 70 miles but several of us found it a hard day? Was it the blustery Head wind? Was it the late start? Was it fatigue? I suspect that it was a multude of factors.

We are now heading to Cheltenham for out hotel accommodation which was booked last week as our original accommodation was cancelled!

I feel some what Bum sore but we only have four days left. We have passed a couple of groups/riders who where heading the other direction with full paniers, LEJo'G ers ?

The route today took us on the A49 again from where we left of down to Hereford. From there we joined a route that I cycled in early September along a roller coaster of a road. We perserverd up what felt like the hardest ascent yet to the top. Then we were In Monmouth where I took the lead through the small Market town and on past the back garden of my Uncle in law. Unfortunately no social call(apologies).

Then we continued down the Wye valley and up another longish hill before reaching Chepstow and embarked on the transport.

More later ;-)

Day 9; Morning

Morning world. It is now around 0645 as I wait for breakfast this morning; and my stomach is rumbling!

Sorry for not making much of a post last night but my Internet dongle was very slow.

A fair amount of trepidation to today's ride. The weather forecast isn't great showers and yet more blustery head winds to fight. The last twenty miles yesterday was hard going. The puncture issue that Chet had didn't help especially when we were so close.

Also my saddle problem isn't helping me, I cannot get comfortable onit ESP as the day progresses.

Need a new saddle on my return, but is making me uncomfortable at best! So today's route will take us down to Hereford along the A49 and then Momouth Chepstow and the old Severn bridge crossing into England and the south east. Due to poor Internet speed I have not looked at the elevation or distance.

Wonder if Clare mentioned to her Uncle that I will be riding close to them today?

Team spirits still seem high lots of banter still as well as assistance to technical issues such as the puncture yesterday, need to replenish my spare tubes on the ride from my red bag.

Yet another lovely RAF mess and the food last night was good hope breakfast is too.

Well time to collect my stuff and head up to reception and then the dining room.

Have a great day and see you later please keep those comments coming

I will admit I prefer those mornings were we ride out of the accommodation. Firstly admin is easier just to load the bike with water bottles etc. But more importantly we have more riding time to complete the distance so less of a rush. It isn't the speed as such but seems more relaxed and so more enjoyable.whilst this is a challenge so will at times be hard work mentally and physically, it is also about enjoyment in carrying out the challenge and of course suceeding!

Day 8 - Back on the road...

Well we hit the road again after our rest day, and for various reasons it was hard going, at least for me. Not necessary physically, but mentally.

We met for breakfast at around 0630 as the restaurant opened, and had a good nosh up, cereals, fresh fruit salads (and a still frozen forest fruit dish) as well as the usual cooked breakfast. All was very good...

Unfortunately I have had major internet speed issues here tonight. Consequently had issues in uploading the Garmin data, but here it is..

I will try and finish th epost when speeds are more amicable to writing

Day 2; The First ten miles

Here is a photo of me standing like a mong at JoG before we departed. as we departed, the wind picked up and the sky emptied, forcing us to cycle into a driving head wind with a driving rain,

At that moment in time I realsied I was a fool....

Day 7 Rest Day

Evening all...

Been an interesting rest day, at the rather luxurious Holiday Inn here at Haydock park.  It is now 2105 as I sit alone in the bar with a pint of Wife beater waiting for food. I am not that hungry (I know some of you wont beleive me) but I feel I need some food before back to riding tomorrow. We have an 80 plus mile route tomorrow; the weather for wednesday and Thursday is strong head winds so we might take advantage of the conditions tomorrow...

I also need to be a GOM sohere goes.

Price Rises at the Hotel!

Last night a pint of stella was £4.00. Expensive but yeswe are in a hotel, Cheese board as a desert was £5.40

Tonight the  same cheese board was £6.10!! WTF!!  The same beer was £4.50 WTF  Apparently they apply business rates during Monday to Thursday....  Not only that the cheese board arrived with two small pieces of cheese and ten biscuists! no where enough cheese to cover the biscuirts :(

So us non business types who ahve to pay out of our own pocket rather than corporate expesnises are made to suffer.WTF Fecking hell and all that malarky!!

Rant over!!

So what did I do today?

We had a few beers in the bar last night and ate before hitting the sheets. By ten I was in bed eyes closed as my room mate Chet was on his lap top.

Woke up early and went down for breakfast at ~830 for a good nosh up! Had fruit salad to begin with before having a good English Breakfast. Sausages tasted of meat, the bacon was meat rather than fat, the black pudding seemed almost real, and the tomatoes lightly grilled.  Tea and coffee was consumed..

At ten we were on our way to the launderette (Well some of us) to do some admin before walking the local shops, I was able to replace my flip flops tht gave way at Glencoe, and PAt was able to get his rather improtant brakepads replaced!

And then it was backto the hotel to finish the washing and an after noon of shear laziness,,

We watched some TV briefly surfed the net before I suggested to Paul tea/coffee!  We RV'ed in the bar area and had a good chat about all sorts, before agreeing a swim. So after 1600 we met in the pool and swam a few lengths and chatted more, Finally it was 1715 and time for my all body massage for £40 cash. And no "Extras" were offered!!

But Wendy was awesome. Various parts of my anatomy was covered in warm oil and then massaged into my skin, before having hot dap towels/flannels placed over the area. And then runbbed down to remove excess oil...

God it was soooo relaxing, Music was weird almost hypnotic but relaxing, and eased the tensions from the muscles. It also gave me time to ponder,,,

But the massage was truely an experience, that I will repeat!! Guess I will have to arrang eone for Clare tooooooo

So here we are on day 7 a rest day. How have I found the  ride so far?  Overall not as hard as I imagined. But thanks goes to those friends on cyclechat.net for their support; especially on m y 'training rides' tha tI undertook with them, Dr Squirrels' ride in the black mountains (Will be in Hereford Wednesday/Thursday) and Abs and her Olympic Ride organised with other keen London riders.  Combination of my own training, these rides and the votes of confidece that have helped made this week go well.

I am not saying it is plain sailing, it isn't. For me the hardest part of the day (Other than getting up) is after lunch, and knowing we still have 30-40 miles to cover.  These are the longest legs as the legs are cold from the break, Doesnt matter if it is a short break or a longbreak it is hard. But a long break with hot soup (especailly when raining like on Sunday) is a godsend, the soup warming youup from the iside, and the roll offering some carbs.

But soon these periods end, and the ride comes back into play.  We are making good times overaall, and the last couple of days have broken the best  average speed per hour, which is good news. This is probably a combaination of becoming conditioned, and the desire to end the ride! Specificlaly when the weather conditions are adverse.

But i still find myself breaking down hill or on the flat as not to break the 'order or march' This can be annoying. frustrating but  we have six different riders at different levels of experience/training/ability and those on cyclenet know very well we always go at the speed of the slowest person. But it is still hard pyscologiclaly at times

As to the next six day, this will be interesting,. The route from here down to Monmouth and the severn Bridge is essentially the A49 as was a lot of yesterday's ride. A busy road and not much in the way of scenary though I am hoped to be proven wrong. Tomorrow we aim to cover 85 miles maybe more, if conditions are in our favour. But we are booked in the mess at RAF Cosford around 1730 so again we will have that factor to contend with in our ride...

But I am also confident that we can all complete the ride. The next 2-3 days have no major hills to shock us, the route is gentle (ish) rolling country side. As long as we can pick up a sensible tempo of around 13.5 - 15mph happy days....

Well I will now attempt to tidy up theblog slightly

Until tomorow....

Adrian

Day 6 Evening

Hi all


We are now in a Holiday Inn hotel at Haydock park (races fame) and just had a lovely bath.

Today's ride was quick averaging around 14.6 mph, combination of good level ish roads and rain....

Here is the link to today's ride from the garmin

I will update more information tonight or tomorrow