Preparatory rides

It's not long now! Excitement is building. In preparation for the trip and the big day (also literally, Day 1 is a bit of a beast!), I took to arranging a series of preparatory rides. The idea being to get us together as a group, both physically and mentally - to test our preparation regimes. How well would they have prepared us for the trip?

I've been getting on my fancy new turbo trainer regularly, Tom has been getting on his and Allan has been going out for rides before it was light in the morning. Tommy has been...um....occasionally coming round to mine for some short goes on the trainer.

The first ride was at Tom's - it was delayed, short of the full compliment (no Allan), damp, missing cycling shoes, and started after we'd wrestled Tommy's inner-tube from the grip of his sado-masochistic wheels. It was also very short-lived - 10km tops.

The second ride, was a 60km ride from my house. Again, we were missing the full compliment; this time Tom was unable to make it and it was windy. We set off and the omens weren't good as we reached Stanton Fitzwarren to watch Tommy struggling up a "hill" - I was worried for the pace of the Trip! We dragged him up the short, sharp hill in Sevenhampton, then up Coleshill and another nasty climb at Badbury Hill.

By the time we'd gotten to the layby at Badbury Clump, I could sense Tom's fatigue. We had originally set off with the idea that depending on how we felt, we could cut the ride short or extend it. I sensed that we'd be cutting it short.

A short while later, this was confirmed as we rode into Faringdon, the first split was upon us and after a short debate we decided on the shortest route home. On reflection it was probably for the best - we'd been cycling with the wind and the rest of our ride was more or less into the wind. We still had a fair number of climbs to go, up and down the Wiltshire Downs. Tom wasn't up for climbing Dragon Hill with us, so we agreed to split and we'd try to catch him up. Dragon Hill is a nasty 1.2km climb to the top of White Horse Hill in Uffington - famous for it's Bronze age chalk carving. It's always a test of the legs and it was no different on this day. We made it to the top and bombed back down, to chase Tom down with a headwind the entire way. I lead out and Allan stuck valiantly to my wheel the entire way - it was tough, but we caught up with Tom just before Ashbury.

I realised that there was every chance of Tom not making it back to mine - the route was going more or less right passed his house - what lunatic would cycle an additional 10km when they could nip home instead. Well, not Tom that's for sure. at the 45km mark, we split and he shuffled off home. I couldn't help but think we'd broken him.