Evening all, I am currently sat in a Walkabout, just watched the Frogs beat Belgium and set us up for the Final against England on Sunday. So the story of today…
Based on finishing yesterday earlier than planned and ending up in Ardlui, I thought it was best to get up super early and make sure I was on the road for 6:30 prompt! Alarm set for 5:30 and after a couple of snoozes I was up, ready to go. I’m finding eating the porridge in the morning a bit of a chore, basically seeing it as fuel and fuel only. Before I set off, I found Dad at Florence with his binoculars in hand looking out over the lake. There was a boat and some black movement from the water beside it. It was a couple of swimmers, reminded me that in 3 weeks I will be navigating the Alpe D’Huez 21 turns in the triathlon! Gulp!
For those of you that were reading my blog back when I rode to Spain will remember that I went through a period where my hand felt very numb and wouldn’t close properly, well it isn’t that bad this time, but I can feel it is the start of triggering that same sensation again.
So I made the Surrey News yesterday, an article with an interview from my Uncle on how proud he is of what I am doing. I would have chosen to cycle between all the football grounds he scored at but didn’t fancy a trip to the Bush and back! You can read the article here – Surrey Live Article
The day started out on that lovely road again, the A82. This time it was cycling the length of Loch Lomond, such a pretty sight, just a shame the weather was overcast and a little miserable. The morning was fairly flat, with a 50 mile gradual increase between miles 50-100.
It’s amazing just how much this thing is a physical and mental challenge. My legs at the moment feel like lead, my knee’s were hurting throughout the first 40 miles. Add to that the 9 hour concentration period today, it’s all starting to build up. Yet the mental side tells me I am nearly half way through and I can do this!
You may have seen me add to the stats this time my cadence, that’s how many revolutions per minute I am getting through when pedaling. So as you can see, my average cadence is 90 rpm across 9 hours today. For those of you that do spin classes, you will know what it takes to keep at 90, try doing that over the prolonged period of time I am.
Glasgow…er…what a lovely place…
Within the first 5 miles of cycling through the city I saw 3 police cars (with sirens on), heard 2 car alarms and smelt 2 burger vans. This was all before 9:30 in the morning! I thought I had lost a bike light as I went over some bumps, I also thought my tyre had blown, only to realise that I had lost a water bottle. I turned around to go get it and a van decided to drive straight over it! Great! It was a weird experience cycling through Glasgow, no cyclist said hello or did the courtesy nod. Miserable people!
The B7078 into Abington was some of the worse road conditions I have had in the last 3 days, I felt like the Ultimate Warrior holding onto the handle bars at one point, I was going all over the place!
*Bug count update, so I am now stopping the bug count due to hitting a whole swarm of the things post Abington services. I feel like they got into my helmet and have bitten my head, it is really really itchy!
As well as going into uncharted territory with the distance today, I also broke my 40km PB (recorded on my Garmin at least), 1:22, which in the grand scheme of things is pretty good going. So the Garmin gives me an update every 5 miles of how long it took. On average throughout the last 3 days it is taking between 18 – 22 minutes, hence my average mph for the day at 15. Well today I smashed 2 sections back to back between miles 90 – 100, under 30 minutes. Within the same period I knocked off 37 miles in 2 hours.
When I hit England at 5 o’clock the sun decided to come out in full blast, I had clearly over estimated the power of the sun through the clouds up till that point, as you can see from my shocking t-shirt tan I am supporting. Facepalm moment right there!
So my Garmin seems to be dropping my recovery time after each day, either I am getting fitter or the Garmin just realised that I wont listen to it! Day 1 suggested 4 days, yesterday was down to 72 hours, today was 47 hours, lets see if I can beat that tomorrow!
Here are the stats from today’s ride.
140.34 miles
9:06:27 riding time
30.7 mph top speed
15.4 mph average speed
90 rpm cadence
5203 ft of climbing
5198 calories burnt
6.5 litres of water
Bug count = 5*
Time to go get an early night, with a shorter day tomorrow at 116 miles, I am going to treat myself to a little lay in. Plan is to get on the road for 7 and then have my first break and some food in Kendal.
Night all…
I Just Felt Like Cycling 