One challenge at a time

Before I start this blog, I must thank the support crew for looking after us so well and helping to drown out the negative voices in our heads at low points. We stepped off the ferry, bleary eyed but somehow still reasonably cheerful. Despite the lack of sleep, I felt pretty good at this point and wanted to get my feet back in the pedals.  We rolled off the ferry and congregated on a roundabout to chuck stuff in the van, ready for the off. We let the fast/elite group disappear over the horizon before clipping in and heading out... Look to the left, turn onto the right side... and away we went. The 120 miles to be completed was split into 'manageable chunks' of 30 ish miles with stops planned, the first being breakfast. I hadn't paid too much attention to the route other than loading it up to my ETREX, but I did know that the first part was 'reasonably flat'. For once it seemed true, especially after the hills Day 1. We rolled through deserted villages, qui...

Sorry no blog pic... I wasted 1/2 hour of sleep time hoping the ferry wifi would be good enough.... it wasn't! We all gathered on Blackheath Common in good time for our start time of 15:00. By 12:30 we were set up for registration, by 13:00 I had checked my bike over, checked SPOT, checked my sat nav and was itching to just go! Bear in mind, usually its just me... and I have a few quiet words with myself and then the pedals start turning and all is good... none of this anticipation and time for the nerves to build up. Fortunately for me... and probably for everyone else... my aunt and cousins turned up to distract me. Eventually though, it was time. Group photo and then 2 people just went, followed in a slightly bedraggled way by the rest of us. The signs, so wonderfully put up the day before were nicely visable and matched my gps so all good. The first miles were punctuated by red lights, pedestrians and all the other annoyances of being in a city on a bike. And it was HOT...