The Training Diary

We awoke to rain, which soon turned into a full blown thunderstorm once we were about 5 miles outside Bridgenorth. At one point, the storm got so bad that we stopped and took cover under an old-style brick-built bus shelter (one of the new style shelters would have been useless, give the conditions). Fortunately, the storm soon abated and we pressed on, only pausing for a break to fix a puncture in Jon’s rear tyre (though how anything managed to pierce those things was a mystery to us all). We took our next break after about 40 miles in Upton-on-Severn where my old friend Steve met us on his bike and joined us for the next relatively flat and wind-assisted miles into Gloucester. We lunched at a Costa Cafe where Steve and I chatted about how the current ride was going and how it compared with the two tours around France that we had previously done together. After saying our goodbyes, we continued on our way, though Tom’s knee and Corinne’s back were playing up. After a further 20 miles and with much improved weather, we paused for a break in Wotton-under-Edge (coke and jelly cubes for me) where Corinne suggested a slight detour towards the end of our ride to meet up with an old friend. Despite my concerns about the time this would add to our journey, we all agreed and sped on towards the city of Bath. On leaving Bath, it soon became apparent that the planned detour was going to be more difficult (lots of climbing) and time consuming than Corinne had thought. Still, we pressed on and Corinne’s friend was extremely nice and hospitable, providing us with toasted scones and herbal tea (coffee for me). By the time we left, everyone soon began to realise how little daylight we had left and how far (about 20 miles) we still had to travel. Moreover, our journey was on unlit roads and with only had 4 lights between us, and me dressed all in black, we were soon struggling to see one another, let alone the road surface. Thankfully, we made the final descent in one piece (despite Jon’s continued attempts to cycle down the middle of the road to avoid pot holes), and were all relieved to finally arrive at our destination (Belfield House Hotel) at 9:00 pm. The rain of the morning had covered us all in grime and since only the local chippy was open we headed to the nearby Co-op for dinner. I had a chicken salad sandwich, an apple (Pink Lady), a banana milkshake, a pot noodle, two cereal bars, a Muller corner yogurt, two cookies, and two bottles of coke (Sports nutrition in action!). After eating and showering, I finally got to bed at around 11:45 pm.