Last night I was falling asleep in Browns by about 9.30pm, although I think that was more due to an extremely long Friday than the 103 miles on Saturday. Bed was a welcome sight and this morning I woke up not quite feeling ready to do it all again. Its not good lying there with aching legs and no desire to cycle all day, but I have experienced this a few times now and know that the solution is a shower, breakfast and a good cup of tea. The worst thing was having a dodgy stomach, presumably from the copious amounts of Tangfastics and chocolate bars the day before, but after a fair bit of faffing I got back on the bike and headed off. The first thing I noticed was that my behind knew it had done 100+ miles the day before, and wasn’t too keen to do another 100, but not having much choice it soon settled down. My legs were surprisingly OK.<\/p>\n
Tasha really liked Marlborough so we decided to meet up there again today. The route plan was much the same as yesterday but in reverse, and with a few additions and changes to make it a little longer and more enjoyable. The first cock up was getting to Wytham and realising the road I was going to take was private (perhaps I could have got away with it). I had to backtrack a little and ended up taking a detour through Botley. Many pretty villages later I got to Aldborne and decided to take a safer route than the track I went for yesterday. The result was a few more hills, but it was good not to have to push the bike through a field.<\/p>\n
Found another great cafe in Marlborough and hatched a plan to meet up at Bradford on Avon. Because it was such a nice day I had figured it would be a great opportunity to add more miles to the route, so this seemed to make sense. I’ve discovered that the first 1-2 hours after lunch is the most difficult, with general sluggishness, a very dry mouth (lots of water needed) and slightly dodgy stomachs. However, eventually you punch through and its all good again. Met Tasha at a canal path we knew and had a break involving some chocolate brownies and a smoothie. Very enjoyable. I decided I would head to Frome, then perhaps to Bruton and back, to increase the length.<\/p>\n
Headed in Frome direction, and was feeling good at this stage – a few too many main A roads but at least the miles got covered quickly. Once past Frome I headed south to Bruton, which was when things got difficult. At spot on mile 100 I started getting an attack of exercise induced asthma, and remembering how bad it was last time immediately took a break in a field looking over some fantastic views. A gentle start again and lots of careful breathing seemed to eventually fix the problem, but then i hit a mini-wall and had to scoff an army of Tangfastics, a tracker and some fig rolls to keep on going (Tangfastics are a life saver). It was a tough half hour, though going through Bruton and (stupidly you might say) I had decided to aim for 120 miles which meant going on to Castle Cary then up to Shepton, rather than going to Shepton from Bruton. I soldiered on and gradually the energy from the binge took effect and by the time I was cycling through Everycreech junction I was back on form again. Shepton came along with its hills, and I checked the mileage as I rolled towards the Oakhill turning – 118 miles. That just wasn’t good enough \ud83d\ude42 so I turned right towards Stoke St Michael and went a mile or so along that road, and turned back again, finishing with a mileage of 121 miles. Average was just under 16mph.<\/p>\n
Total weekend milage was 224 miles, average just over 16mph. Pretty pleased and I reckon I could do another 100 tomorrow if I needed to. So I think it bodes well for the JOGLE when there shouldnt be any days more than 90.<\/p>\n
Oh and I finally found out its possible to get sunburn through your helmet, making a teenage ninja mutant turtle style pattern on my bald head. Impressive. That’ll be fun at work tomorrow.<\/p>\n
Here is the (epic) route:<\/p>\n