18th October 2009

Lets start with I didn't eat properly last night, I wasn't hungry after the family lunch although I did force myself to eat a couple of pieces of cheese on toast....

I got up at 7 am and dressed for the Arctic conditions...Thermal top and trousers followed by fleece lined top and trousers, I had a big bowl of porridge for brecky.

I donned a wind proof jacket and overshoes, considering how many layers I had on, I was still cold when I set off!

I met up with Richard (Richard Buckley) at 8 am at the Chippenham Cemetery and we set of towards Watchfield to meet up with Rafe (Rafe Aldridge)...It was bloody cold! But we averaged a good speed to meet up with Rafe at the agreed 10am.

We had a much needed cuppa and a warm up at Rafe's before setting of on a nice tour of Oxfordshire, Rich and myself did have an advantage..we had already warmed up, but Rafe did an admirable job of keeping up...

The morning was a blur! It was really nice for me to see areas of Oxfordshire I haven't seen in over 10 years! The plan was to find a cafe/pub/tea room in or around Dorchester on Thames/Wallingford (Roughly Rich and my half way point...and I was starved!)!

We got to Dorchester on Thames at about lunchtime and stopped at the 'Fleur de Lys' for lunch, I did my normal order a pint of cider before checking they had food on! ...I hadn't actually drank any fluids up to this point (Except the cuppa at home and at Rafe's). We all ordered up a wholesome Ham,Egg n Chips...Only to later find they had no ham :-( So Rafe n Me went for a healthy? Cheese Burger n Chips and Rich went for a traditional Sunday Roast!

We perhaps spent a little long at the pub as we cooled down, but it was nice to chat with Rafe and Rich...

(Rafe and myself at the pub)


The trusty steeds...

We set off from the pub and headed towards Wallingford. It was quite difficult to get going after the stop!

After Wallingford Rich and myself appeared to keep loosing Rafe of the back on the hills...we did try to slow down...

We regrouped at Wantage and cycled through the town sensibly :-)

At Wescot(ish) Richard and myself became concious of the marching time and the need for us to cover the 40 miles or so back home to Chippenham, we pulled over and waited for Rafe and asked if it was ok with us to press on, he was fine (Thank you Rafe...It was a bloody nice ride with you, and the lunch chat was great :-)

Rich then seemed to forget I was with him! And he started leaving me standing....Well actually he left me on the hills I re-caught him on the flats and downs...

When we got to Ashbury I hit a biggish stone on the descent, it made a massive thwack and on the hill up into Ashbury my front tyre went flat :-( We pulled over at the top of the hill and I changed the tube (There was no sign of any wheel or tyre damage, I guess it was just a pinch flat)

As I was changing the tyre David (David Else) met up with us, and we sat on his back wheel back home, thanks Dave :-) it was nice to sit on a fresh tyre at 21+ mph when I was starting to fatigue..

When we got back to Christain Malford I suddenly got VERY tired and fatigued, I asked David and Richard to continue on without me, there was NO way I could keep going at the 20mph pace, and I slowed down to a no energy crawl (Perhaps the no proper food last night and only having a cheesburger n chips for lunch didn't help!)

I phoned up wifey and let her know I was going to be home after 5pm and continued my crawl home...I also drained the last of the drink and was thirsty :-(

I made it back home at 5:15, raided the fridge for some Orange Juice, and sat in the living room for a while to regain the energy to shower and change.

The Garmin had today's little ride as 126.29 miles in 7 hours 28 minutes (Active time) with an average speed of 16.9 mph, GPS trace here...

Thank you for a great day out Richard and Rafe...

Lessons learnt by me today were....When its cold its hard work! When you go for a big ride you MUST eat properly the day before and on the day! (Yea I know I already knew these lessons but I am now completely fecked!)

Ohhhhhh I have done OVER 8000 miles this year....can I do 9000 :-)