Day 43

Dave came over today ;-)

He talked me into taking the shiny new bike out in the rain :-(

We did the Chippenham, Calne, Lyneham, Dauntsey, Chippenham route (Avoiding the incredibly fun Calne cycleway - There was no way I was going to take the new bike down a muddy path)

I started off in front and left him standing!!!! Then I found out his front wheel quick release wasn't fastened correctly so he had stopped :-(

I did very well! Dave powered up the hill's and I plodded up them, but at no point towards Lyneham was I left standing. At Snow Hill (A steep hill going into Goatacre - Just before Lyneham) Dave did leave me for dust- Well soggy rain. He kindly slowed down till I caught up.

He had been following me most of the way, after Goatacre I followed Dave and I realised what all the books mean about slipstreaming - OMG with very little effort you fly along! providing of course you are hugging the back wheel of the guy in front.

From Dauntsey back into Chippenham it was just a pleasant ride. Dave's pace was just a little to quick for me! so I just plodded along.

We did the round trip in 1Hour 20 shaving over 5 minutes of my best time ;-)

It was nice that Dave said we had a good pace and he would not have done that sort of speed if he was by himself ;-) It was equally good that he considers my Lyneham route to be a fair challenge i.e. its not flat!

Dave is a mind of very useful information, and has vast experience of endurance cycling. It was good to go out on a ride with him (It has helped my confidence, not reduced it). He has suggested and I agree with him that we (Nathan, Joy, Marian, Nathan's friend and me) all need to go out on trips together to get used to cycling in a group.

Dave has also suggested that I should use the Dawes for the bulk of my training, use the Mountain Bike for fun, not distance. Again he makes sense! The Mountain Bike has so poor gears and drag that using it is like punishing myself - Its sitting on and the gearing of the Road Bike that I need to get used to!

All in all any concern that I had of going on the road with an experienced cyclist has been completely dissolved, It was a VERY useful experience and one that WILL be repeated.

Thank you Dave ;-)