Well, today has been more a day of minor disasters and rain. We started later than we anticipated as we had problems with Graham J’s bike to sort out, and all piled in the car to go from Tina’s house (where we stayed last night near Bridgwater) back to Tiverton where we finished last night.
We started whilst the weather was fairly nice and by tackling the remaining hills of Devon. Graham J was finding the going tough and put it down to weariness from the hills the previous day. However after around 10 miles a check of the Bike revealed a loose rear brake resulting in the brakes rubbing constantly and the wheel being very stiff to turn. Once fixed the bike was flying.
We stopped at Wellington to top up the calories with bacon butties and then managed to keep going to Bridgewater where we had to stop again to take on more fluids. After Bridgewater we had 4 miles of level road which felt great and we cracked on at a good pace. This easier riding continued for another 20 or so miles until we hit the Mendip hills which gave us 5 miles of climbing again and by now we were suffering heavy bursts of rain leaving us soaked and cold.
We stopped in Lower Langford for lunch where we met the support drivers, who were armed with Cornish pasties, plenty of sweet foods and our drink refills, we took cover in a local pub to warm up a bit from the rain before heading back out onto the roads and lots more of the hills until we reached Bristol Airport. During this time Graham J had a problem with his chain crank, with a nut snagging his chain. Another quick repair and we were on our way again. From Bristol Airport there was a lovely downhill ride to Bristol city centre. Here we stocked up on Rennies to overcome the effect of the pasties and pain killers for Shane who was suffering bad knee pain.
Going through Bristol at rush hour was not a great experience but we were soon onto reasonably level ground heading towards Stroud where we have stopped overnight.
Tonight dined in style at the Little Chef and were all very stiff in the legs after we had been sitting for a while. Then we visited Tesco to get more supplies to treat Shane’s knee, carried out some more repairs to the bikes.
In summary, a day of 92 miles and a few events but less spectacular countryside. Tomorrow we head to Newcastle-Under-Lyme which at 103 miles will be the day we travel most distance during the whole ride.
Good luck with tomorrow, you're doing brilliantly.
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