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.