Got up a little later than planned, sorted myself out with plenty of drink, sliced malt loaf, sandwiches, dextrose, tool kit etc..etc..etc.
Wifey took a picture of me setting of...
I managed to get on the road at about 9:30 and the temperature was already climbing.
I had slightly over adjusted the front de-railer on Wednesday making it a tadge difficult to get into top gear, so when I stopped just after Shaftesbury I tweaked the stop back 1/4 of a turn and everything was perfect ;-)
I did however feel a little disappointed as every hill seemed really difficult to get up, and I was having to drop down to granny gears, But driving back home again I realised that these hills are damn steep!
The country side was amazing at bike speed!
I did have one slight incident on one of the steepest hills where I was rapidly changing down gears and the chain got a little confused, I had to stop, The chain had sorted itself out and I could NOT get going again with the SPD pedals ;-( So I had to walk the last 20 meters or so up the hill before it was a shallow enough gradient for me to get going again, I think I might take both sets of pedals for JOGLE just in case I have hill incidents there!
It was actually quite fun cycling past all the stationary cars on the A35 :-) Although caravans are just as annoying when you are cycling as they are when you are driving/on motorbike, they hug to close to the side of the road and most of the idiot drivers are not aware of how wide their snail shell is when they overtake.
The lack of energy that I experienced a couple of weeks ago was held at bay by the gradual consumption of malt loaf, desxtrose and the almost constant sipping of fluid. ( I took 2 * 750 ml of torq water, 2* 500 ml of Gatorade and I bought 2 * 500ml Orange Lucozade along the way)
On arriving at Abbotsbury I felt comfortable that I could have continued, although some knee ache and hand ache was in evidence.
I had a huge grin on my face when I cycled into the car park at Chesil Beach, the car park attendant asked me where I had come from, I said 'Chippenham, Wiltshire' he said how far is that I said 84.76 miles.......he was gob smacked and said I deserved a medal ;-)
Somewhere along the way I broke another spoke!!!!
Looking at the replacement spoke's v the original fit I think the originals are mechanically defective the heads appear to be thinner and are popping off.
I will ask bike shop geezer to replace ALL of the spokes on the cassette side (These are under twice as much tension as the non-cassette side due to dishing)
It was a fantastic day's ride, I quite happily had a 3 course meal in a fantastic pub with no guilt at all!
The camp-site was excellent and had a fantastic early morning walk along the Fleet Lagoon
The wildlife,flora and fauna was amazing ;-)
Went fishing at Chesil Beach
Had another pub lunch then ambled on home for a BBQ ;-)
It was a perfect holiday weekend.........It will be repeated!
The stats for Day 102 are....
84.76 Miles in 5 hours 32 Mins.
Average Speed 15.3 Mph
Top speed (Down a very steep hill!!!!) 43 Mph
Although on Saturday I was tired, when I woke up on Sunday I felt that I could cycle home - we had already made plans and the broken spoke meant that would be a bad idea.
Plan is now to do a 100 mile ride to Seaton or one of the planned JOGLE rides on August Bank Holiday with a camp away and drive home....
3 comments:
Well done mate. Really jealous that you managed to get out. Thats a day riding their, done and dusted. Did you ache, how did you feel the next day?
Knees ached - funny enough not the joint's, I think its the tendons.
Hands ached, there was nowhere to put them where my palms were not in contact with the handlebars, I think the brake lever hoods will be a godsend for you.
The aches and pains however were very short lived, I went for a couple of 2-3 mile walks in the evening! All in all this weekends trial was very successful and I am looking forward to the August bank hols ride ;-)
Very well done, you are progressing well. I am looking forward to your first big back to back.
Good decision to replace them dodgy spokes; you all need to evolve good, suitable and well adjusted bikes to do this.
Riding in such extreme temperatures will pay dividends when it cools down; you'll be flying.
I am reviewing your route, looking at the profiles. I am concerned about your intentions to ride Glen Coe and the Honister Pass; you will need to consider that specific gears might need to be fitted on some bikes. I rode one of those passes and I would reccommend a 39/27 to do them on 700C wheels.
I hope that you are doing those stretches and you need to get some massages after these longer or regular rides. Tendon tightness is alleviated by good massage and stretching. You probably suffered with hard hills; a lower gear and relaxed style will be a better approach, rather than ATTACK, ATTACK.
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