Day 8 Saturday - A special award

Castres to Ax3 Domaines, 194km, 3mountain passes, 1xcat4,1xcat1, 1xHC

I feel like the support act here trying to fill in until the main act comes on. I know Nick has been blogging but it doesn't seem to have appeared, perhaps he was so tired he forgot to press publish which would be a bit of a shame.
 Actually, that is one of the difficulties Nick says, there is so much to do as well as ride, so for example they were up very early, breakfasted and on the coach so they would be ready to start cycling the next leg by 8am. They rode all day and finished at 6-30pm when they had to lubricate their bikes, do their washing, stuff down as much food as possible, have a meeting, blog and finally get some sleep.
 He summarised today as 'desperately difficult' and he sounded desparately tired, so bad in fact that I felt I had to go to church this morning to get everyone to pray for them. They need all the help they can get! Having said that Matt did really well today and was ahead of Nick, boosted no doubt by being awarded the Chapeau d'Honneur on Friday evening. There are two awards which move on a daily basis and this one is for, well, being a real soldier really, for carrying on without moaning in a gentlemanly way in the face of adversity (I feel really proud). I think the other hat is for the opposite so not so desirable. The current wearer gets to choose who to pass it on to next.
The Tour de Force are also writing a daily blog so if you would like more details of the ride, map etc just go there and you will see some horrifying gradients etc, makes me feel a bit sick just looking at them.
I'm afraid I haven't been able to put any more photos on as my new computer's libraries seem to have locked themselves up and my computer consultant is buggering about in France!

Day 8  29 June 2013 Castres to Ax3 Domaines 194 km 3 mountain passes 1x4,1x1,1xHC

A massive day today the riders were up at 05:15, had breakfast at 05:45. They then travelled by coach from Albi to Castres to start stage 8 of the Tour.

Effects of sleep deprivation

It is a real hassle getting everything ready to leave by 05:45, everyone needs to be super well organized but all riders made it onto the coach on time. Some had had visits from their partners – just like real lifers and one guy had gone off with his wife’s hire car keys! It is for reasons such as this that partners are not allowed to accompany riders.

Guess who?

We started riding on time. The cyclists covered a 120 km flat stage before the climbing started. At the nightly briefing the riders had been advised to organize themselves into groups to ride in a gang to reduce energy consumption.(as we had done on previous days) Our group was effective was expertly organized and disciplined by Neil and Lee but as we moved along others tagged onto the back (some not intending to take their turn at the front) and unfortunately this interfered with the smooth running of what had been an excellent unit.

The workload today was shocking. Nick and Matt simply did not feel like it as there is just too much to do. Getting up at 05;15, packing, breakfast, transfer, plus 10.5 hours riding, washing , dinner then blogging and bed. Nick is finding it is starting to get a bit too hard but fortunately, as we all expected, Matt is getting stronger and he can now take more of the strain. Nick helped Matt for the first week and it is likely that the favours will be called in when the riders get to the Alps in 9 days time. Our riders do more miles than the real professionals as today they had a mountaintop finish but still had to ride their bikes down the mountain to the hotel only and extra 8 km so in total the Woodall’s did 125 miles and gained 3,800 metres of altitude!

They cycled up here from down there.

This made today the biggest day so far- again! Nick hit a new maximum speed of 43 miles per hour. One rider Donald got back at 8:30 so he had been on the road for over 12 hours.

Nightly there are awards for good behaviour and for bad behaviour too. Matt won the Chapeau last night for his determined perseverance even with bad knees and so tonight he needed to select a new winner of his choice and present the chapeau to the new award holder tonight – he did this very well with good fluency and a bit of humour.

The chaps have now completed their first HC climb that makes it one down with only 6 to go!! Tomorrow will definitely be as tough as today, if not even tougher, with 5 major climbs none of the highest category but nevertheless all are tough, so we will need to get up early set off early again, and to expect a very long day again.

Day 7 Le Col de 13 vents lived up to its name

Day 7  28 June 2013 Montpellier to Albi 205 km 4 mountains 1xcat4,2xcat3,1xcat2.

 

 

The rider’s hotel was in Montpelier which is quite a big city and so it was necessary to get to the start of stage 7. Phil Deeker used an excellent system to move all 60-70 cyclists out of the city this was called the man mark system. The leader rides in front and all follow in single file. If the progress of a rider is blocked or interrupted the person who is prevented from moving shouts wait. Then at the next junction the last rider waits to show subsequent riders the correct direction.

Moving a mass of cyclists through Montpellier

When those second riders stop they too shout wait to the new last rider who will wait at the next junction. These individuals wait and indicate the direction of travel until all other riders have passed, then they tag on in front of the back marker cyclist. In this way all junctions eventually are covered by cyclists indicating to the following group where to go until the entire group has passed.  The last person needs to be clearly identifiable as the end person so that all the marker riders know it is time to re-join the group rather than to wait for more stragglers.

Today was a long day with cool weather. The riders were caught in rain, with howling winds. In an attempt to get cover behind another rider Nick was trying to catch Rob but as he stopped at a junction Nick expected him to keep moving and he crashed into him and Matt fell on top of his father. Fortunately little damage was done but Nick picked up some road rash on his left knee, hip and elbow.

Because this region is flat it is also windy and their first limb was over the Col de 13 vents which certainly lived up to its name.



Peter and Chris at the Col



 

I was really surprised when Nick rang at 6pm. After what he had said yesterday I didn't expect them to finish riding until late so I thought I wouldn't hear from them at all because they would be shattered and indeed it was a difficult day. Nick crashed and came off the bike at one point  because he wasn't paying attention and went into the guy in front. Fortunately, he is ok except that his Tour de Force jersey got ripped which he is disappointed about. But Matt was riding really well today which has been the hardest day so far with (in addition to 4 difficult climbs) high winds and horrendous bad weather. (Am I the only one who can't see the fun in this!!!) It was much colder than expected and they weren't prepared for it so they were forced to cycle faster in order to keep warm and finish as soon as possible which is why Nick phoned sooner than expected.
210 km with 4 mountain climbs all bigger than Cheddar Gorge but Nick says he is enjoying it!!!!!! He feels that it is getting easier and Matt is getting stronger as expected because he is young, but Nick doesn't think he will get stronger now. At the end of every day Matt is relieved that he has managed to complete it but nervous for the next day because they know the next day it will be even harder in the Pyrenees and indeed tomorrow is a monster with 110miles, 1xcat4, 1xcat1 and one off scale!!!
 Oh why did I let them do this! I should have said no right at the beginning when Matt suggested doing it during his 5 week sabbatical from Nandos and if anyone has any more daft ideas after Nick gets back please keep them to yourselves!
You will notice that older ladies don't feel the same need to push their bodies to the limit as older men and the reason is, as a friend of mine pointed out, if you've had a baby you've already done that, several times in some cases!! I think you'll agree ladies, that is if there are any ladies reading this as I should imagine it is of limited interest and as my son Chris said makes pretty grim reading at the moment!
To compensate I am going to try to put in more details of Corsica and Open Gardens which incidentally raised over £4000 so it was well worth having to cope with that as well as setting off for the bike ride the same weekend. There will be more photos going on as well so do look back on occasions.
Starting to ramble a bit now so better sign off................................more tomorrow daaa,da,da,da................... daaaaaaaa!

Day 6. An appalling display....

Day 6, 27 June 2013, Aix en Provence to Montpellier, 176 km 1xcat 4 climb.

At 06:00.Mr Wates senior joined Nick and Matt’s table for breakfast and was unfortunately subjected to the appalling display provided by Nick trying to get enough food into himself as rapidly as possible before the start. Nick had fruit, a salami sandwich a cheese baguette, an egg sandwich, a bowl of cereals, a pancake with jam, and a large cup of coffee. Mr W was very understanding when Nick tried to explain his frenetic consumption whilst simultaneously stuffing bananas into his cycling jersey. It is possible he has seen demoniacal eating behaviour  many times before on previous events.

A 40 minute bus transfer was required from Marseilles to Aix en Provence where the stage 6 route started. The “athletes “ mounted the coach and were carried to the start where they met their bikes and then set off.

On paper the day looked as if it might be quite quiet only 178km (110miles) with only one climb a category 4. The riders were planning to use this as a gentle recovery day after the previous day’s climbs.

 

Unfortunately it did not go to plan the Mistral was blowing and the riders were subjected to very strong winds. As they made their way across the Var bridge they were almost fell a yard in one direction as they moved behind a pylon and the y were then buffeted in the opposite direction as they moved out from cover.

Mainly flat today only one biggish hill the col de Vayade, this was easilly dealt with.

Col de Vayade

Extreme co-operation was needed and the riders formed into groups taking turns in front to battle the wind. Unfortunately both of Matt’s legs are a problem now and they have started to swell. But luckily the TdF has an expert physiotherapist “Jen” and she has some very advanced techniques to manage the problem.

Swelling reducing dressings - look cool

This required an extra bandage session after the first feeding station which meant all the other riders had long gone so Nick and Matt had to really turn on the pressure to catch up with a group so that they could take a rest behind! This almost undid much of the good work she had done at the feed that afternoon more new riders arrived in Montpellier to cycle the trip to the end of the Pyrenees. Despite the hard day

TdF Support team in action in hotel car park

Matt finished in surprisingly good spirits, so they lubricated their bikes, did the washing then got ready for dinner and an early night. They will have a lie in tomorrow as breakfast is at 06:30 but it will be the hardest day so far as they will really ramp up their efforts to ride through the Pyrenees,

 

Day 5, 26 June, Cagnes-sur-mer to Marseille

139 miles 2,689 metres of ascent at an average moving speed of 14.9 mph.

 

This was a Long day, with 5 climbs. Today’s route took us through Lorgues and the Lorgues’ cycle club joined us for the ride. They came to Nice by truck and rode all the way to Marseille with with the Tour de Force riders.

Approximately halfway to Marseille the cyclists entered their pretty village where the host club had prepared an excellent cyclist friendly lunch outside the Police station and Town Hall.

The Mayor spoke a few words of welcome on arrival. Later that night a considerable number of Lorgues riders stayed on for dinner and then they presented the William Wates Memorial Trust with a cheque for 300 euros.

Andrew Wates  – the most senior member of the Wates family rode part of the route too and this was a formidable feat as he is no spring chicken (written by someone who is also no spring chicken but nevertheless quite a bit younger).

 

The route provided fantastic views with quaint Provence villages. Nick and Matt found a wayside water fountain which Nick found very useful for useful for helmet cleaning and cooling.

 

Both of Matt's knees are hurting now and his legs are swelling. Ice, physiotherapy, ibuprofen, and paracetamol is in use.

I was worried all day thinking about the boys and Matt's knee and especially so when I didn't get my early evening phone call from them. I half expected a call saying that he couldn't carry on so it was a relief really when the phone rang at 9-30.

They hadn't finished their day's riding until 7pm and consequently had to go straight into dinner followed by a 2 hour briefing session. It had been a 'bad' day in Nick's words, 250km over 4 smallish mountains/massive hills. They were shattered, hadn't had time to do their washing and to cap it all they have to be up at 5-30am tomorrow for the next day's ride which is 100miles has only one mountain/massive hill so it should be a shorter day.

But.........I was so pleased to hear that Matt's knee is slightly better if any thing - it must be all my healing thoughts I'm sending starting to work! 

Day 4 The 4th day already

25 June 2013 Nice to Nice 25km time-trial no mountain climbs

We arrived in Nice at about 06:30 from the ferry and the city seems to line the bay forming a lumpy contrast to the turquoise sea. The riders disembarked and regrouped to form a 90 man/woman procession through Nice along Le Promenade des Anglais, through Boulevarde de Georges Pompidou and towards the outskirts on Route de Grenoble. Next Phil Deeker inserted a modification to the Tour route which doubles back on itself, but since the return leg along the Promenade required the use of a cycle path on the far side of the road the riders took a different return route over the mountainous backdrop of Nice (groan this was supposed to be an easy day). 

Phil Deeker's briefing


In effect they followed the outward trip along the waterfront and returned over the hills. The distance covered was the same but more climbing was needed than on the professional's route.

Nice is a lovely city, as the boat docked the city was basking in sunshine. The riders made their way along the waterfront promenade where natives were everywhere, walking, jogging or cycling in the sun. The time trial had finished by 11:00, which left time to eat drink and be merry and to get the washing and blogging done. Matt went off for another session of physio. Apparently last year there were about 10 lifers with knee problems in the first few days. The constant pain when cycling really is starting to get him down and he is becoming quite miserable but at this stage there is very little anyone can do to  improve his knee now other than ice, physio and pain killers.

Matt's swollen knee

It looks like he will need to go onto the 3 hourly medication  regime of alternating paracetamol and ibuprofen with some voltarol gel too. It is very hard for him now as he knows that the riding will ramp up in difficulty and exertion. He has made adjustments to his cleats and the patella is less tender than it was, so it may be that things are improving. Nick had a terrible pain in his right knee during the LEJoG  ride so he really knows just what Matt is going through.
 

Day 3 The best day ever on a bike! (For some!)

Day 3  24 June 2013 Ajaccio to Calvi 145 km 6 mountain climbs 1x2 1x3 and 4x4 cat.

The strategy was to slow down and to some extent this has worked for Nick but Matt’s knee is still worse. He has seen the physio and has fiddled with his cleats. It is strange before he left it was his right knee causing problems, now this is OK but he has pain on the left. Today’s ride was shorter but with about 2.5km of vertical ascent it was just what a rider needs for a bad knee!

Many of the riders said today was their best day ever on a bike. The weather was a little cooler but it was mainly sunny.  Look out for day 3 on the real Tour de France, if the weather is good it will make a sunning spectacle. The multicolored peloton flashing along the deep orange cliffs atop turquoise water will really show off the magic of Corsica.

One of the other riders crashed and wrote off his bike whilst descending a col and 6 other riders all from the same group all picked up punctures from tacks on the road. I am not entirely convinced that they like cyclists here, some drivers toot their horns and shout encouragement and others are less helpful.

Nick had a very scary moment coming down the Col de Marsolino today. Fortunately he was on a straight bit of road when at 40+kph, there was a noise like a can of Coke opening -  he knew it was a puncture but he did not know which wheel so he waited to see how the bike would respond then applied rear brake to bring it under control.  He found a large hole in his inner tube of his front wheel but could find nothing in the tyre. He has resolved to come downhill much more slowly in future.

Day 2 - The worst day so far!

Day 2,  23 June 2013, Bastia to Ajaccio, 154 km 4 mountain climbs 3x3 cat and 1x2 cat

Information, information, information.

Tough but beautiful. Four categorized climbs and now the riders are starting to appreciate the enormity of the task. Both Nick and Matt have decided to go slower, Matt to conserve his knee and Nick to conserve his energy otherwise these is no way either of them will cope with the last four days of the Tour in over 2 weeks time.

Roadside view

The aim is to ride themselves fitter and to keep energy expenditure to a minimum. Today’s route was spectacular with the weather hot and sunny. One rider was very late back, a psychiatrist called Adrian. He said he had been in a bad place all day but still did all the miles.

View of Ajacchio from halfway down the last climb
 

Sarah and I flew back from lovely warm Corsica today (Sunday) and it felt quite sad leaving the boys behind and worrying too. I try not to think about the ride too much, Matt has had so much trouble with his knee and then a really heavy cold just when his knee was sorted out so he hasn't been able to train as much as he had hoped. Nick has done masses of training so he's really 'flying' at the moment but his age is against him and it's not like we've got lots of hills in Norfolk to train on.
Nick phoned tonight after I'd got home and he sounded very tired. The route was much hillier today, like doing  Cheddar Gorge in England four times! Matt was more upbeat despite the fact that his other knee is playing up now! TdF have got a physiotherapist with them so he had seen him and was hoping for the best and I am too.


I must just mention our week staying in the apartment in Porto Vecchio which I couldn't before because we were all away from home. We actually arrived in Corsica a week before the start of the ride which Nick felt was a good move because the temperature in Corsica was 30 degrees and it meant that both the boys had a bit of time to acclimatise before having to cycle up mountains!

 

They didn't do any training in that week but just relaxed in the warmth, swam in the beautiful pool where the swallows were doing high velocity dives to steal a drink, and ate food which we mainly prepared ourselves in the lovely modern 2nd floor apartment with its large balcony. It was very hot so the air conditioning was useful in order to get a good night's sleep.Every night an army of little frogs appeared round the base of the big globes set in the manicured irrigated lawns, out to catch a feast of insects attracted to the lights. The week went too quickly and in no time at all we were saying goodbye on that last evening. 

Service will be resumed if at all possible!

Finding the time to do the blogging has been a bit difficult anyway but as the ride goes on it will be even more hit and miss. On arrival at each new location there are 80 riders all trying to get internet access and update blogs which overwhelms just about any hotel wifi. Also the riders are exhausted in the evening so there may be a minimalistic approach to writing both in the spelling and punctuation departments!

Information will sent from the riders to Michelle by phone or loaded onto the blog directly so keep your fingers crossed.

There is a link to follow the Tour de Force riders’ peloton.

http://www.tourdeforce.org.uk/live-tracking/

It will go live when they set off but unfortunately if our riders get left behind this may not be totally representative of their progress!

Day 1 "Few plans survive contact with the enemy"

Day 1, 22 June 2013, Porto-Vecchio to Bastia, 212 km with 1x 4^th cat mountain climb.

First food stop

A long flat day covered at great pace - average over 18mph! The first part of the trip down to the South coast was the most attractive and then the riders passed up the west coast to Bastia. The busy road made this quite challenging. Accommodation in Bastia was a bit limited but the meal was great. Nick and Matt had it in mind to take it really easily but didn't as there was degree of natural exuberance and all the riders seemed to be tanking along. Things will likely settle down over the next couple of days.

Bastia Hotel

 

We didn't see the boys when they set off this morning as they stayed at a hotel down near the marina with all the other riders, they were up for breakfast at 6-30 though and set off before 7-30. They seemed excited last night when we went for a final drink with them after their 'does and don'ts' meeting where they were told useful things like how best to wash their clothes 'en route' and more importantly, how to get them dry. They were also given advice on riding in groups and in twos so as not to irritate drivers.

When they phoned tonight after their first day riding which finished at around 4pm Matt sounded very tired but Nick was fairly upbeat and pleased with how things had gone. Lets hope it stays that way!

What's in store?

Day 1 22 June 2012 Porto-Vechio to Bastia 212 km with1x 4^th cat mountain climb

Day 2  23 June 2013 Bastia to Ajaccio 154 km 4 mountain climbs 3x3 cat and 1x2 cat

Day 3  24 June 2013 Ajaccio to Calvi 145 km 6 mountain climbs 1x2 1x3 and 4x4 cat

Day 4  25 June 2013 Nice to Nice 25km time-trial no mountain climbs

Day 5  26 June 2013 Cagnes-sur-Mer to Marseille219 km 4 mountains, 1xcat3, 3xcat4.

Day 6  27 June 2013 Aix en Prevence to Montpellier 176 km one cat 4 mountain

Day 7  28 June 2013 Montpellier to Albi 205 km 4 mountains 1xcat4,2xcat3,1xcat2.

Day 8  29 June 2013 Castres to Ax3 Domaines 194 km 3 mountain passes 1x4,1x1,1xHC

Day 9  30 June 2013 St-Girons to B’de Bigorre 165 km 5 mountains 1xcat2, 4xcat1

Day 10  1st July 2013 Rest day

Day 11  2 July 2013 St Gildas des Bois to St Malo 193 km 1 mountain pass

Day 12  3 July 2013 Avranches to Mont St Michel 33km time trial no mountain passes

Day 13  4 July 2013 Fougeres to Tours 218 km no mountain passes

Day 14  5 July 2013 Tours to St Amand-Montrod173 km 1 mountain climb category 4

Day 15  6 July 2013 St Pourcain sur Sioule to Lyon 191 km 7 climbs 5xcat4 and 2xcat3

Day 16  7 July 2013 Givors to Mt Ventoux 242km with 3 x 4^th cat 1x 3 and 1HC climb.

Day 17  8 July 2013 Rest day

Day 18  9 July 2013 Vaison la Romaine to Gap 168 km 3 climbs 1x cat3, 2xcat2

Day 19  10 July 2013 Embrun to Chorges 32 km time trial. 2 climbs, both cat 2.

Day 20  11 July 2013 Gap to Alpe d’Huez 168 kilometers 6 mountains, 1xcat3, 3xcat2,  2xHC

Day 21 12 July Bourg d’Oisans to Le Grande Bornand 204 km 5 climbs 1xcat2, 2xcat1, 2xHC

Day 22  13 July Annecy to Semnoz 125 km 6 mountains 3x cat3, 1xcat2,1xcat1, 1xHC

Day 23 14 July Versailles to Paris!

THEY’RE OFF!

 

 

Day 1 22 June 2012 Porto-Vecchio to Bastia 212 km with 1x 4th cat mountain climb

Much of the route they will be riding is mountainous and to understand the blog it might be more interesting to know the categories of climbs.

Categories of mountain climb.

Cycling climbs are graded from 1 to 4 according to their difficulty. Four is the easiest and by comparison the toughest is awarded a grade one. Cheddar Gorge in the UK is a category 3 climb with an altitude gain of 250 metres, if it were longer or steeper it would be a higher category. Norfolk has no categorized climbs. However that is all too simple as there are some climbs which are so long or steep that they are given the HC grade or “beyond categorization”. This sounds dramatic but they are real monster hills and always involve climbing at least on kilometre in altitude, some almost two. More than 500m of altitude gain is approximately a category 1. You can work the rest out yourself but these cats are a little loose and categorization is not an exact science.

One down! Only 41 left.

The Tour has not started yet but a lifer is down. Martin has withdrawn for some reason. This is sad news because he was very, very, keen, pretty athletic and seemed to have done loads of training. It’s a real shame for him to get this far and to then withdraw, let’s hope he is alright and not too depressed about it.

Our camp has had its own fitness crisis but Matt now seems to be in good spirits and pain free though that may be because the chaps haven’t done much riding for the last couple of weeks. All will become apparent in 48hrs time. 

Knees seem to be a problem with the lifers. Of the remaining band of 41, four have at least one dodgy knee or have had problems recently. TDFer, Chris messaged everyone yesterday, just two days before the start to say he had developed severe pain and was going through the usual; rest, ice, non-steroidal painkiller ritual. This will not be the last we hear about knee pain. If this trip is anything like the LEJoG  the most memorable features will be the scenery, the food, and the pain.

Essential nutrition for Tour riders.

It will be sensible for those doing all stages - the lifers, to take it slowly at the start. Other riders doing only one or a few stages can really go for it but Matt certainly, will be taking it very cautiously on the first day. Fortunately, there is only one category 4 climb on the 212km (135 miles) ride from Porto Vecchio to Bastia. The weather in Corsica is really hot, so dehydration is going to be another problem but at least team Woodall will be well protected by 2 massive tubes of factor 50.

First the gates opened, then the Heavens!



Hailstones collected in the flower beds

Well, the Gardens of Eaton opened at 10:00 on Saturday 15th of June. At 10:05 we had our first thunderclap and the hailstorm started at 10:10. Things could have started better and it looked as if everybody would stay at home but just as the prevailing mood was darkening the skies lightened and the visitors came out in numbers. HQ was suddenly full of horticulturalists sporting guide sheets and asking searching questions of the under gardener. He deferred to higher powers and set about making cups of tea. The whole thing went off very well and lots of money was raised for the windows in Christ church Eaton.
 

The riders will now be appropriately attired

Pace setter and style guru Bruce decided that the Tour de Force shirts were not sufficiently patriotic and that since it is a British venture Union flags should be worn. He very kindly sent the riders a pack of three Buffs (seen below). The selection of Buffs will redress this imbalance and ensure adequate British recognition. The riders will now be appropriately attired for the ride. Look out for them in the pictures taken en route (if we ever get any).

A real game changer

The trip to see Matt Jackson has been a real game changer. He closely scrutinised Matt's legs at

Point of pain and tenderness

some considerable length and attributed his pain to excessive pressure on the medial meniscus. The remedy was to insert some cleat wedges which produced an almost immediate improvement.

Cleat wedges

After this appointment at 3pm on Saturday Matt was in an exuberant mood so he sped off to Streetlife shop and celebrated by purchasing most of the contents in order to prepare for the bike ride. A new helmet, a multi-tool, electrolyte tables, brake blocks inner tubes, a chain, spare spokes, he got the lot. Today there has seen a massive improvement in Matt's knee. He went off at 07:30 for the club run with Nick and on their return they were both in very high spirits.


Club run stats

Matt was now comfortable and able to put some real power through his dodgy knee. It looks as if he will be ready to ride in France after all - phew - relief all round!

Breakfast in Southwold

 It's Saturday and today's cunning plan was to do some training. The Norwich, Southwold, Bury, Norwich loop is becoming one of Nick's favourites and Matt enjoyed most of it last time so the plan was to do it again. Unfortunately Matt's knee is still a problem so he will be doing some light turbo work and then he has an appointment with Matt Jackson to see if he can help with his knee problem. Nick managed to cajole Bruce into keeping him company today and as they are both early risers they made an excellent start at 07:00. With the wind behind then they were soon sitting in the pier cafe at Southwold having "the full English". The breakfast was nice but there was not much change from £20 - it will need to be the Starwars cafe in Bungay next time.

 

The full English in Southwold

The Southwold/Bury leg was uneventful and a little dull really, they avoided major roads and the countryside was quite flat so there was little to report, not even a puncture this time around. Initially the wind was kind but they knew it would be in their faces for the last 30 miles. By the time they got to Bury the pubs were open and Bruce was feeling a little dry so he decided to try some of the local real ales and take the train home.

             

Nick plodded on to complete his target of 130 miles. His training plan is entirely different to Matt's and because he has managed to remain injury free .....so far, he is just trying to get used to doing massive stints in the saddle. His aim has been to clock up 200+ miles at the weekend for as many weeks as possible before the ride. He feels the trip to Tonbridge Wells and the 3-day Tour of Wessex really improved his fitness. Meanwhile Matt is becoming progressively more anxious, as he can see the effort Nick is putting in but he dare not push himself to do the same number of miles. This is a real worry for both but on the ride they will be able to work as a team and help each other. It looks as if Nick will be in his best shape at the beginning and Matt should get stronger as the ride progresses.