So it’s day 7 and it was a good days riding mostly flat with a couple of small climbs. Weather was good today a little cold to start so I had arm warmers on to begin with but after lunch they were off. 96 miles clocked up and a pretty good speed today, the fastest so far Tomorrow we start the big climbs over the Cols in the Jura mountains so it will be a good day baring bad weather
Well it’s day 6 of the London to Nice ride and it’s a cooler duller day with a little bit on rain in it. We weren’t expecting rain so I wasn’t prepared and was cold up until lunch time when I could get hold of my arm warmers. Of course once lunch was finished it got sunny and warm, typical Anyway I was going along with the faster riders today so I averaged around 15 mph for an 84 miles ride so I’m happy with that. Lets hope it’s a slightly better weather day tomorrow as it’s nearly a 100 mile ride tomorrow
Well it’s been a great days cycling today great weather, a flat course and little wind. We have 3 new people starting and now there are only 7 of us. The only issue today was one of the organisers cycling there bike into the side of the van and them ending up in hospital for an x-ray. Thankfully they were fine but their arm is heavily bandaged and strapped. If the weather holds out it should be a good 3 days to Geneva
So it’s day 4 and another bad weather day, it rained most of the way to Paris which meant we got wet and a bit cold Thankfully I had my mud guards with me so I didn’t get too wet We had a decent lunch today, chops and mash so I got a decent meal this afternoon rather than the usual meat and salad deal we’ve had the last 2 days. Thankfully the sun came out once we entered Paris so it was dry their and warm too. It’s our first day break tomorrow and then we start riding again on Monday.
Ok so it’s day 3 and I’ve managed to finally catch up with the ride posting. Todays route was a little bit hillier than yesterday but nothing to worry about. In fact with the temp back down to 35 degrees I was able to catch up on some of the mileage I lost yesterday by cycling back on myself after lunch and doing an extra 8 miles or so but I’m still short by about 19 miles but maybe I can make that up over the next few days I was cycling alone today, I would normally be riding with my room mate but I wanted to catch up the extra miles and not drag him along. So after lunch it was head down and time to do some cycling, basically I only stopped once after lunch from some water but headed straight to the hotel and got it at 14:45. So after yesterdays stupid heat day I’m feeling pretty good now and ready to continue on and see if I can continue to make up the lost miles
So a word from the wise don’t ride in 45 degree heat unless it’s for a short period only! We had to ride 104 miles today in a fucking oven! and yes it’s flat route but OMG having the wind blowing super heated air in your face is not conducive to your health. So after 75 miles I abandoned the ride as I still had 10 days of cycling ad I didn’t want to push myself over the edge. The organisers were considering cancelling the ride as the day went on but some absolutely crazy people wanted to continue on! Now had this been the last day before Nice I would have done the same but it still boggles my mind how some people actually did complete the 104 miles. Fair game to them but it took them from 08:00 to 20:30 in the evening to do it! How in gods name they tolerated that heat I’ll never know. Anyway with all the hoo-ha of the last 2 days I’m only now starting to catch up with the blog
Well it’s been a mad few days and I’m now only able to catch up with this ride. So London to Nice day 1 was mental, the ride itself was fine we got to Dover by about 17:30 but the so called 18:00 was a no go, we were missing some riders so we ended up catching the 20:30 ferry!. This meant that I didn’t get to the Hotel in Dunkirk until after midnight!. Thankfully I wasn’t sea sick o the ferry which I was expecting and managed to get some dinner but after being up since 04:00 that day meant it was a stupid long day and I had to get up at 06:00 the next day! So after about 5 hours sleep it was onto Day 2.
Well it’s my last ride before my event next week and thankfully it remained dry. It was forecast to be overcast and sunny but I saw little or no sun and it’s supposed to rain later this afternoon. Another good avg speed today just shy of 17 mph and I’m feeling fit for the Nice ride. Now all thats left to do is pack the bike and my bag and I’m ready to go
Well it’s a wet warm day for the bun run, did my usual split from the group after Knockhill and headed home via Cowdenbeath. One ride left before I head off to London next week
Well thankfully the weather today is a lot better than yesterday low winds, no rain and a little overcast with some sunny spells. There was only 6 of us on the bun run today but that was fine as I was looking for a good workout today and I definitely got one. I did the same as last week course wise splitting from the group at Cairneyhill and heading along the coast to Inverkething before heading uphill to Crossgates. I did quite well today clocking up 55 miles at an avg speed of 17.2 mph better than yesterday so I’m very happy with that but my legs did feel like Jello when I got home
Distance 51.31 mi | Time 3:05:27 | Speed 16.6 mph | Elevation 2,569 ft
Source: Garmin Connect
On a warm wet day I did the usual bun run with the club but of course 5 miles from the start it started to rain, now I had my mud guards on thankfully but no wet gear so I got wet but so did the rest of the group as it wasn’t forecast to rain just be cloudy and warm. Anyway the rain didn’t last too long about 25 mins so I had a chance to dry out before we hit the cafe stop. On the return leg I split from the group after riding over knockhill and headed to Kelty and Cowdenbeath as I was looking to do 50 miles today at a reasonably fast pace. In the end I knocked up the 50 miles at an avg speed of 16.6 mph so I’m happy with that
On a bit of a dull day I decided to miss the bun run and go with some of the other members on a more hillier ride over to dunning and back. Given that is was with some of the slower member of the club this was a fairly easy affair hence the avg speed of 13 mph. But given it had 4 hill climbs in it I still got a work out and clocked up just over 55 miles, normal service will resume next week