1000 miles, over 40 degrees and I feel fine !!

Day 11 - Wednesday 15/09/2010 - Ciudad Real to Dos Torres - 93 Miles

At the start of the day, everyone left early, as we knew this was going to be another long and hot day and did not want to get too spread out as that would make it almost impossible for the van to support everyone, especially as they could not get into the shops until 10am.

I was out last with Guy, Tim S, Tim F, Joe, Rob, Neil, Andy H, Andrew G, Andy B, Barnaby and Jamie, we left at around 8:30 with the early birds leaving no more than 20 minutes before us. As has been the case for the past few days, the roads were undulating, steady climbs and descents.

The peleton on the road again

For some reason I was in a tetchy mood, the group was going too fast or too slow, it was splitting up or whatever, so although I was riding okay, I was not really enjoying myself that much, a first for this trip. I knew I was in a mood, but there was not much I was able to do to get out of it so I dropped to the back of the group and basically kept myself to myself so I did not cause issues for anyone else. I've no idea why this was, maybe I'd spent too much time recently in smaller groups, maybe the cold had something to do with it, but I just had to hope it would pass in time.

I might have been in a bad mood, but Barnaby was a man possessed, in the early days he was hanging around the back of the group. Since he took the kitchen sink out of his bag, removed his mudguards and pumped up his tyres, he's been getting faster and faster. Today he was leading the group and taking us up to speeds of 24mph and more, even worse than that, he's been spotted using the big front cog (we thought he only used it as a chain guard) so now there should be no holding him back.

We got to the first stop at around 10:25 and were not surprised to find the van was not there, so we carried on along a very poor quality road, it was proper asphalt, but it looked like it had been laid on marbles, we were bouncing all over the place and getting shaken to pieces, not much fun at all, but at least this seemed to shake me out of my mood.

We came to a small village that had a corner shop with two bikes parked outside, it was Mike and Steve on their 200km ride who were topping up on supplies. There was also a small park with some benches and a fountain, that quickly turned into a foot bath!!

Having downed some cold drinks purchased from the shop, we were just about ready to leave when the van turned up, stopping to check we were okay before they drove on to the lunch stop. We continued on the bumpy road, although it had got somewhat smoother, all the time the temperature was rising and some started to find the conditions tougher, we got to a winding decent with sweeping turns and at the end was a steady climb, I was at the front and shot down, carrying my speed up the climb and before I knew it I had left everyone behind, I'd not done this intentionally, I was just going at a speed that felt comfortable to me. I carried on as I felt really good, not pushing too hard, just trying to keep a steady pace. After a few minutes I was joined by Neil and we worked together to keep a steady pace. A mile or so out of the lunch stop, we were caught by Andy G, who I half expected to blast past, but he stayed with us until we got to the van.

Hannah - top chef !!

Lunch today was a barbeque, it seems some of the group had been asking for one and today was the day, although with temperatures of over 40 degrees you hardly needed coals to cook the burgers!! We again met up with Mike and Steven, who had now done 100km (60 miles) of their ride and were taking advantage of the last piece of support we could offer before the final 130km (78 miles) of the day - they only needed to do a total of 200km, but the nearest hotel was 30km away.

The rest of the group came in over the next half hour or so, Andy H was in a bad way, his body is just not meant for this sort of thing, he's 6 foot 7 inches tall and all muscle but that means he has to take in lots of energy and in these temperatures he was overheating. We sat him in the shade and gave him lots of fluids to help cool him down as we knew he was going to carry on, being 21 and a semi professional sportsman, giving up on physical challenges in not in his psyche, but he was realising the need to keep a little back.

Caroline enjoying BBQ trout, Andy is not so keen

As it turned out, the BBQ food was great and really hit the spot. After lunch I set off with Tim F, as some of the others were having coffees and we did not want to hang around too long knowing we had 30 miles to go and the heat of the day was still ahead.

A couple of miles out of town we came across Andy B, Andrew G and Roger as Andy B had a puncture. Andrew G was suffering from the team cold, so we suggested he and Roger carried on while Tim and I kept Andy B company, not least because I had the best pump (:O).

It was really hot and there was no shade, so we worked as quick as we could to get the puncture repaired and then pushed on, we were making good time riding one behind the other when Tim got too close and hit Andy's rear wheel with his front wheel, causing him to veer right and career into the ditch!! Fortunately Tim was able to stay on his bike, otherwise it could have been quite serious, there was some damage to the seat post, but nothing that prevented us from carrying on but then Andy B got another puncture about 20 miles from home !!!

While fixing this puncture, we were passed by Neil and Rob and a few minutes later by Joe, Guy, Barnaby and Andy H - who was still nowhere near 100% - and a few minutes later the van turned up so we were able to fill up on water before carrying on.

A little later, Andy B had left us behind, but we came upon a village with a bar so decided to get some cold drinks before the final push to the hotel. Before we got into the bar, a truck driver called us over to get us to push his mates truck into the road, as the clutch was burnt out. Fortunately Neil and Rob had already stopped at the bar, so with Neil helping out, the truck was soon on it's way. The barman was very friendly, pushing ice into our water bottles and then letting us put them in the chiller cabinet while we drank our Cokes and Fantas.

1000 miles - yay !!

On the road again, we started to count down the 1000 miles those of us who had been tracking our mileage each had a slightly different distance, but we agreed to use Tim S as the benchmark and at the appointed moment, we found a lay-by where we took some photos and did the 1000 mile dance !!

Tim F and I had lost an hour by helping Andy B with his punctures, but what a payoff we got for doing that - a great team experience

It was then a few more miles to the hotel, and what a hotel, it looks like a grand town hall and has very high quality rooms - how Derek managed to find this we don't know, nor do we really care but it's great and I'll be having a jacuzzi bath tonight !!