Today was not really a resounding success for me cycling wise. The ride started well with a quick wheel swap so I had a straight and true rear wheel and a decent breakfast (Premier Inn if you are reading this, and I know you are, use Tiverton as a model of how to run a hotel.) We managed to travel a good 500m from the hotel before Padraig got a flat tyre. All of the A-team were aware of this so once again decided to help a man in distress by f**king off up the road.
After ruining a further inner tube whilst trying to fix the first one we were on our way again, straight into the toughest climb of the tour, a brutal 10%+ average gradient. I attempted to break the gradient down by zig zagging, however even this went wrong when I rode directly into a mud bank, too out of breath to steer my bike.
The good news is what goes up must come down, we were rewarded for our climb by a steep descent on a very pot holed and gravel strewn road, adding a fun element of danger to proceedings. Again I got things a bit wrong and had another zero speed encounter with a mud bank. By the bottom of the hill cartoon style smoke was coming from the brakes of all riders.
Shortly after this our route guidance went a bit wrong and we found ourselves in an apple orchard. Such is our faith in technology we were really quite a long way into an apple orchard. Never again will I laugh when someone follows their sat nav into a river and drowns.
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| stuck in a slippy orchard |
There then followed some more fairly steep climbs and I was really not enjoying myself, feeling I had no power in my legs to push me skyward. The situation is probably not helped by my bike's gears which are very much designed for riding in the mainly flat Cambridgeshire and not for steep Devonian inclines. But mainly I was not fit enough. That said like all failing sportsmen I looked for something to blame and decided I needed some new wheels. Thus I decided to sit out the middle of the day and ride in the support van.
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| It's a Mercedes so all good |
The support van has been abely manned by Ken and Mark who are the dads of two of our group. It was a privilege to watch them at work. I was quickly given some paperwork to look at which I suspect was to make sure I didn't break anything. The focus on navigation and timing of stops put me in mind of being in a low speed rally event with Mark narrating the driving instructions with Ken at the wheel. I enjoyed it so much I stayed with them for a good chunk of the day, missing at least one evil climb but also missing a flowing flat-ish section that all 15 other riders assured me I would have loved
The other advantage of being in the van was we could stop at a bike shop and get the spoke I broke yesterday repaired. The shop did a great job taking only about the duration of one round of coffee's to fix it.
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| The team at the top of a f-ing big hill |
Lunch was at a garden centre type place called Strawberry Fields and took the form of a massive pasty (good) and some chips (disappointing.) With 30 miles to go at that point I decided I had sat out enough and got back in the saddle, assuming that with my freshly rested legs I could show the rest of the group a clean pair of heels. Obviously this was not the case as was evidenced by the first climb. It turns out a few hours rest can't overcome a 50kg weight deficit.......
The rest of the route was pretty much the reverse of day 2 of my 2015 Le Jog effort so was familiar but not overly so being in the opposite direction. There were a few climbs in the latter part of the day but nothing like the horrors of the morning. One particularly long uphill drag took us to the village of Minons, which is named after some characters from a Disney film or some other kids film, I don't recall.
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| Minions |
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More minions
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If you are a fan of road signs that feature cartoon characters, cattle grids and views of disused tin-mines then I can highly recommend a visit to Minions. It also has a fantastic road out which is mostly very fast well sighted and down hill.
The rest of the miles to the hotel were not to bad aside from a few climbs. It is reassuring when after a day of quiet country roads you here the noise of heavy traffic, a sure sign that a Premier Inn is nearby. Whilst last night's location had been refurbished tonights very much hasn't. Again no alarm clock or bedside socket. Who ever thought this was a good idea? An idiot that's who. Then again there is a KFC in the car park so it's not all bad.
Pre dinner I had a few beers with Chris who had joined us today before waving him and his family off and having a chicken and rib based dinner. Again off to bed early in time for the final day tomorrow.
Sorry, not much levity in today's blog. I am too tired for that kind of shenanigan.
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| Fixed wheel |
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| Coffee machine - I risked it anyway |
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