Final Preparations

With just two weeks to go Mark and I are both feeling a mixture of apprehensive and excited by the prospect of the thousand mile journey that lays ahead. I know from visiting the online forum that the other participants are feeling the same way. It is a concern that others have trained harder and longer and that nobody wants their fitness to come in to question at this stage, as it is too late to start cramming in the training sessions now..

Over the weekend of the 22nd/23rd April we have completed back to back rides of 50 and 105 miles respectively. Having got through this, our longest, planned pre-event rides it is fair to say that we both feel a great sense of relief. Also I think we can now be certain that we have built up our fitness to a level that should be adequate for the impending challenge.

The 105 mile ride took us to Lavenham in Suffolk, a rich wool merchants town with a cathedral like church. It has a good selections of lunch stops and would have been perfect if I had taken any money with me! Unfortunately Kim and the children were due to meet me there with my wallet and camera but they never made it as poor Emily was carsick about half way. Luckily the Innkeeper took pity on us and David Jardine of The Renaissance Coffee House and B & B allowed us to sample his wares and forward the money at a later date. This kind and greatly appreciated gesture probably saved our lives as we were both decidedly flaky on arrival. Thanks David!!

The return journey was not as bad as we might have thought and the sausage and bacon huffer put some strength in our legs. We managed to maintain 15.7 miles per hour average for over 100 miles which is respectable.

The next fortnight will entail less cycling and more eating, which sounds great. A 30 and 50 are planned for the May Day Bank Holiday and then get our bikes serviced and polished before the big roll out on May the 9th.