Woke up to overcast skies, no rain, but some forecast, so the decision was to put on the "blades", which are lightweight mudgards, to prevent special parts of your body getting too wet (:O).
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| Neil's improvisation for Lizzie's bike - duck tape fixes all !! |
Anyway, van packed, mudguards fitted and we were off, making our way out of town as a complete group, the rain held off and it was quite mild, although there was a steady southern breeze in our faces, which has really been the case since we started.
Once out of town, we split into smaller groups, I'd been at the back, but along with a few others, we worked our way through and eventually got to the front group, where we then started a train - riders one behind the other, the front rider doing the work while the rest take advantage of the slipstream, with each taking their turn at the front. This went on for quite a few miles until we reached the morning rest stop where we took advantage of some of the biscuits donated by Waitrose Winchester, the Fig Rolls being a particular favourite.
After the break we set off again in a reasonable group, but by now it had started to rain lightly, the group split up as some decided it was time to put on rain tops, others thought it was not hard enough, especially as it was quite warm, which meant we split up, but then the rain really did come down, so those of us at the front had to stop to put on jackets (and in my case also shoe covers), which meant the rest of the front group caught us up. We then continued, with the rain, plus the wind in our faces, until we got to the lunch stop, rather wet but in good spirits.
The van was again loaded with baguettes, various filings and pastries, which kept us happy and warmed us up, but a number of us felt it was best to get going again before we cooled down to much, so I set off with Tim Stevens, Guy Poppy and Phil Wakelin, all of us still wearing rain tops, but after about 15 minutes the sun came out and we were hit by the sudden humidity, so it was a quick stop to ack away the tops and we were off again, cruising through the country side, along riverbanks, but then the route told us to turn down a gravel path, which looked a certain puncture haven, so we improvised and worked our way around back on to the route.
Not long after we were joined by Andy Brown, this caused Tim, Guy and I a problem, as Phil had been holding back as he did not have a SatNav, but now Andy was there we had two pros and three lags, things did not go any better when I missread the Garmin and pointed Tim down the wrong road, leaving the 2 of us well behind the others, we decided rather than pushing to catch up, we would go at our own pace, but only a mile or so later we reached the final rest stop, much to the relief of Guy, who was feeling rather alone (:O).
At the stop, an English touring cyclist turned up, he had been riding around France during the summer and was on his way back home, we had a quick chat while topping up our water bottles and grabing a couple of biscuits, before setting off on the final leg.
As the three lags feared, the pros started to push on, not too fast but enough to keep us working, at one time they left us during a short climb but once back on the flat the distance between us did not increase, which left us in a quandary as to whether to try and catch up or let them be, I went to the front and we managed to slowly reel them in, catching them up a few hundred yards before they were stopped by a red light, so I really needn't have bothered, but it was still a good feeling, even if they were probably waiting for us.
We got to the hotel just after 5pm, locking up the bikes and checking in, with the van arriving a few minutes later, allowing us to have much needed showers.
Both Scott and I had knots around our shoulder blades, so we went to see Joe the physio, one after the other, we lay on our backs on the floor, Joe leant over and a few seconds later there were loud cracks as various bones were reallocated to relieve the pressure - amazing !!!
Tomorrow it's the last day for the Wino's, they might go for a last hurrah, so us SoreBums need to make sure we don't burn too much energy trying to keep up !!
Late news - just back from supper and it's pouring down, lets hope it clears up for tomorrow
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