West Country in the sun

Sunday 11th May, Ciaran and I headed down to Bath to ride with Henry. We set off by car at 6a.m. and were on the bikes by about 8:15. We did pretty much the same ride that Henry and I had done a few weeks ago when it was wet and VERY windy. Today though, it was sunny and warm, and hardly any wind.

I am still not fast up hills, but I do just keep going, and we made much better progress than last time. Although we did not have to contend with wind and rain, the temperature was something we have not really had to deal with yet this year. It was noticeable when going uphills in the sun, and with what little wind there was effectively disappearing. So hydration was very important. I had a mixture of dilute carb drink with a Zym tablet in it and that seemed to work in my 750ml bottles.

In addition, food - energy bars on the go are just not enough all by themselves and we stopped for sandwiches and a cold drink on the way into Bristol. It will be important to make sure that on the main event we stop for a proper break and something to eat. That will be 40 minutes or so (at a minimum) I reckon.

Henry suffered on the hill to the airport, as he was getting too hot and was hungry. This is another of the lessons we learn in training, which of course is why we do it.

We did a good 85 miles in average temperatures of 24C. My computer said that I used 2800 calories. I felt that it was not a bad ride, considering we had to get up so early and then travel by car. Had we left the house on bikes at 06:00 I think it would have been a different session. Anyway, thanks to Ciaran for joining us, and well done Henry.