Thursday, June 10, 2010

Cycling weekend, before we go


Heading off tomorrow, Mark Halliday, Rich Harran, Ian Vanstone and I are cycling to Wales to tackle some hills, returning on Sunday.  The elevation profile above is for the second day.

This will be my first set of back-to-back long rides whereas the others have done Lands End to John O'Groats before.

Day 1 leaves work at midday and heads off to somewhere north of Bath.  It has the most short sharp ups and downs and covers 82 miles.  Forecast seems to be rain in morning and clearing later.  We should arrive at 7:00 where we can clean up and have a pub lunch.

Day 2 is hilliest and 105 miles long. Basically getting to the bottom of the valleys in 35 miles, then heading gradually up them, climbing up and out of the end, along, then back up into the top of the next one (miles 72 to 77 climb 400m)  before heading south and down it (miles 78 to 90 look sweet!).   Heading off at 8ish, or earlier if possible, we should  arrive at Ian's aunts by 5 to socialise before watching England v USA at 19:30.

Day 3 is longest and goes near Bath, which is pretty hilly.  It has a great run back along the river valley, the last 40 miles being on the whole downhill.  We plan to leave at 9:00, getting back for 6:30 or so.

I'm a bit nervous but massively looking forward to it.

2 comments:

Mark said...

Pub Lunch at 7pm, really? I'm looking forward to steak pie, chips and a Guinness / Cider depending on the evening temperature.

Ian Vanstone said...

Remember, in this group you are like the Star Trek character that no one knows... And we're going on an away mission!