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Mile 38: sitting on grass verge eating hula hoops. All going OK - nearly 1/3 of the way! (& 2/3 of the way to food...) New batteries have done the trick re lighting; LED now entriely sufficient. Bikes thinning out a bit but still pretty frequent, though I've spent a few stretches unable to see anyone else. Av 13.4 mph.
Jul. 9th, 2006
Mile 38: sitting on grass verge eating hula hoops. All going OK - nearly 1/3 of the way! (& 2/3 of the way to food...) New batteries have done the trick re lighting; LED now entriely sufficient. Bikes thinning out a bit but still pretty frequent, though I've spent a few stretches unable to see anyone else. Av 13.4 mph.
Mile 50: The Juliet guide to hills:
a) change down early
b) the very bottom gear is there for a reason
c) do not under any circumstances have yr chain fall off halfway up one
d) especially if it then gets stuck really very hard between gear wheels & bracket.
Thankfully crisis was resolved with the aid of some v nice chaps who held the torch for me & helped me yank it out (took a lot of yanking). This now means that until I get a chance to look at it properly (10miles time) I don't want to use the bottom set of gears at all, so hills are a little tougher. Other than tha though, all is going OK. 10miles to food! Av 13.3mph
a) change down early
b) the very bottom gear is there for a reason
c) do not under any circumstances have yr chain fall off halfway up one
d) especially if it then gets stuck really very hard between gear wheels & bracket.
Thankfully crisis was resolved with the aid of some v nice chaps who held the torch for me & helped me yank it out (took a lot of yanking). This now means that until I get a chance to look at it properly (10miles time) I don't want to use the bottom set of gears at all, so hills are a little tougher. Other than tha though, all is going OK. 10miles to food! Av 13.3mph
Mile 50: The Juliet guide to hills:
a) change down early
b) the very bottom gear is there for a reason
c) do not under any circumstances have yr chain fall off halfway up one
d) especially if it then gets stuck really very hard between gear wheels & bracket.
Thankfully crisis was resolved with the aid of some v nice chaps who held the torch for me & helped me yank it out (took a lot of yanking). This now means that until I get a chance to look at it properly (10miles time) I don't want to use the bottom set of gears at all, so hills are a little tougher. Other than tha though, all is going OK. 10miles to food! Av 13.3mph
a) change down early
b) the very bottom gear is there for a reason
c) do not under any circumstances have yr chain fall off halfway up one
d) especially if it then gets stuck really very hard between gear wheels & bracket.
Thankfully crisis was resolved with the aid of some v nice chaps who held the torch for me & helped me yank it out (took a lot of yanking). This now means that until I get a chance to look at it properly (10miles time) I don't want to use the bottom set of gears at all, so hills are a little tougher. Other than tha though, all is going OK. 10miles to food! Av 13.3mph
Mile 62: have reached Great Waldingfield, where there is FOOD which I am currently in a large queue for.
It seems to be about to start raining again (it did quite heavily for about 10-15 miles then stopped a couple of miles ago). As the queue is all the way outside, this is Bad.
(cycling in the rain hasn't actually been that bad. A little chilly, maybe)
Knees holding up OK; back a bit achey, & my hands keep going odd where they're resting on the handlebars...
I seem to have 3 basic sets of thought process:
a) (on the flat/slight uphill) Hurrah, this is really rather fun, could keep this up indefinitely.
b) (halfway up hill) Oh god I am going to die.
c) (downhill) Um, how fast is it safe to go when I can't see well ftb darkness?
The observant reader will have noticed that as I am cycling through Essex & Suffolk, a) predominates. Hurrah.
(actually, standing in this damn queue is feeling far tougher than the cycling!)
I've done a lot of it so far solo in the sense of quite often not having people visible in front of me. Whether this is good or bad depends rather - sometimes it's felt a bit scary, but sometimes really exhilarating. Someone always shows up (from in front or behind) sooner or later though. There's a lot of us out here.
(more people are overtaking me than I am overtaking, I think. ah well. It is not a rave, after all)
Av 13.2mph (I blame the hills)
It seems to be about to start raining again (it did quite heavily for about 10-15 miles then stopped a couple of miles ago). As the queue is all the way outside, this is Bad.
(cycling in the rain hasn't actually been that bad. A little chilly, maybe)
Knees holding up OK; back a bit achey, & my hands keep going odd where they're resting on the handlebars...
I seem to have 3 basic sets of thought process:
a) (on the flat/slight uphill) Hurrah, this is really rather fun, could keep this up indefinitely.
b) (halfway up hill) Oh god I am going to die.
c) (downhill) Um, how fast is it safe to go when I can't see well ftb darkness?
The observant reader will have noticed that as I am cycling through Essex & Suffolk, a) predominates. Hurrah.
(actually, standing in this damn queue is feeling far tougher than the cycling!)
I've done a lot of it so far solo in the sense of quite often not having people visible in front of me. Whether this is good or bad depends rather - sometimes it's felt a bit scary, but sometimes really exhilarating. Someone always shows up (from in front or behind) sooner or later though. There's a lot of us out here.
(more people are overtaking me than I am overtaking, I think. ah well. It is not a rave, after all)
Av 13.2mph (I blame the hills)
Mile 62: have reached Great Waldingfield, where there is FOOD which I am currently in a large queue for.
It seems to be about to start raining again (it did quite heavily for about 10-15 miles then stopped a couple of miles ago). As the queue is all the way outside, this is Bad.
(cycling in the rain hasn't actually been that bad. A little chilly, maybe)
Knees holding up OK; back a bit achey, & my hands keep going odd where they're resting on the handlebars...
I seem to have 3 basic sets of thought process:
a) (on the flat/slight uphill) Hurrah, this is really rather fun, could keep this up indefinitely.
b) (halfway up hill) Oh god I am going to die.
c) (downhill) Um, how fast is it safe to go when I can't see well ftb darkness?
The observant reader will have noticed that as I am cycling through Essex & Suffolk, a) predominates. Hurrah.
(actually, standing in this damn queue is feeling far tougher than the cycling!)
I've done a lot of it so far solo in the sense of quite often not having people visible in front of me. Whether this is good or bad depends rather - sometimes it's felt a bit scary, but sometimes really exhilarating. Someone always shows up (from in front or behind) sooner or later though. There's a lot of us out here.
(more people are overtaking me than I am overtaking, I think. ah well. It is not a rave, after all)
Av 13.2mph (I blame the hills)
It seems to be about to start raining again (it did quite heavily for about 10-15 miles then stopped a couple of miles ago). As the queue is all the way outside, this is Bad.
(cycling in the rain hasn't actually been that bad. A little chilly, maybe)
Knees holding up OK; back a bit achey, & my hands keep going odd where they're resting on the handlebars...
I seem to have 3 basic sets of thought process:
a) (on the flat/slight uphill) Hurrah, this is really rather fun, could keep this up indefinitely.
b) (halfway up hill) Oh god I am going to die.
c) (downhill) Um, how fast is it safe to go when I can't see well ftb darkness?
The observant reader will have noticed that as I am cycling through Essex & Suffolk, a) predominates. Hurrah.
(actually, standing in this damn queue is feeling far tougher than the cycling!)
I've done a lot of it so far solo in the sense of quite often not having people visible in front of me. Whether this is good or bad depends rather - sometimes it's felt a bit scary, but sometimes really exhilarating. Someone always shows up (from in front or behind) sooner or later though. There's a lot of us out here.
(more people are overtaking me than I am overtaking, I think. ah well. It is not a rave, after all)
Av 13.2mph (I blame the hills)
Mile 75: It's nearly dawn (or poss already dawn? Can't see the sun, anyway!). At 0420 I first noticed I cd see my odometer again, & since then I've been watching the world return to colour. It's not what you'd call a lovely morning - grey, mostly - but right now it really does seem gorgeous.
Miles 65-71 or so were pretty vile - pissing rain, dark, hills. Rain now mostly stopped & hopefully will remain that way, & right now I'm feeling pretty cheerful. Nearly 2/3 of the way!
(also have just had a banana & it was lovely)
Miles 65-71 or so were pretty vile - pissing rain, dark, hills. Rain now mostly stopped & hopefully will remain that way, & right now I'm feeling pretty cheerful. Nearly 2/3 of the way!
(also have just had a banana & it was lovely)
Mile 75: It's nearly dawn (or poss already dawn? Can't see the sun, anyway!). At 0420 I first noticed I cd see my odometer again, & since then I've been watching the world return to colour. It's not what you'd call a lovely morning - grey, mostly - but right now it really does seem gorgeous.
Miles 65-71 or so were pretty vile - pissing rain, dark, hills. Rain now mostly stopped & hopefully will remain that way, & right now I'm feeling pretty cheerful. Nearly 2/3 of the way!
(also have just had a banana & it was lovely)
Miles 65-71 or so were pretty vile - pissing rain, dark, hills. Rain now mostly stopped & hopefully will remain that way, & right now I'm feeling pretty cheerful. Nearly 2/3 of the way!
(also have just had a banana & it was lovely)
Mile 116: Made it! arr 0840, so just outside 12hrs (would have been within were it not for wrong turn leading to 3mi detour), & within my self-imposed 9am deadline. Currently queuing for breakfast.
The sun came out as I turned down the Dunwich road - cycling across the heath in sunshine, lovely. Before that it was largely vile - just after last update it started raining again, & then pissed it down for maybe an hour. And stayed cold & nasty after that until 20min ago.
Also, which sod told me Suffolk was flat? Trust me, it is not. It has Hills. Mind you, by the last 15mi, anything on more of an incline than absolute flatness felt like a vast & hideous hill. Not assisted by the absence of not only all my lower gears, but the lowest of the middle set. And the second lowest I had to hold in place.
Knees still intact but achey; legs are going to *hurt* tomorrow; back needs stretching out.
So: would I do it again? Yes. It wasn't as hard as I'd feared (though the last 30mi was toughish & the last 15 really very tough - though was still quite happy when on the flat). and I'm feeling v pleased with myself right now. I'd like to do it in decent weather - it was pretty foul. I'd like to do it with fully functioning gears! It wd be interesting to do it with someone else - though I actually really enjoyed being on my own (& you do get to chat to people along the way, & repeatedly encounter the same folk as you leapfrog each other).
And I didn't get a puncture, hurrah!
Av: tbc, left odometer on bike.
The sun came out as I turned down the Dunwich road - cycling across the heath in sunshine, lovely. Before that it was largely vile - just after last update it started raining again, & then pissed it down for maybe an hour. And stayed cold & nasty after that until 20min ago.
Also, which sod told me Suffolk was flat? Trust me, it is not. It has Hills. Mind you, by the last 15mi, anything on more of an incline than absolute flatness felt like a vast & hideous hill. Not assisted by the absence of not only all my lower gears, but the lowest of the middle set. And the second lowest I had to hold in place.
Knees still intact but achey; legs are going to *hurt* tomorrow; back needs stretching out.
So: would I do it again? Yes. It wasn't as hard as I'd feared (though the last 30mi was toughish & the last 15 really very tough - though was still quite happy when on the flat). and I'm feeling v pleased with myself right now. I'd like to do it in decent weather - it was pretty foul. I'd like to do it with fully functioning gears! It wd be interesting to do it with someone else - though I actually really enjoyed being on my own (& you do get to chat to people along the way, & repeatedly encounter the same folk as you leapfrog each other).
And I didn't get a puncture, hurrah!
Av: tbc, left odometer on bike.
Mile 116: Made it! arr 0840, so just outside 12hrs (would have been within were it not for wrong turn leading to 3mi detour), & within my self-imposed 9am deadline. Currently queuing for breakfast.
The sun came out as I turned down the Dunwich road - cycling across the heath in sunshine, lovely. Before that it was largely vile - just after last update it started raining again, & then pissed it down for maybe an hour. And stayed cold & nasty after that until 20min ago.
Also, which sod told me Suffolk was flat? Trust me, it is not. It has Hills. Mind you, by the last 15mi, anything on more of an incline than absolute flatness felt like a vast & hideous hill. Not assisted by the absence of not only all my lower gears, but the lowest of the middle set. And the second lowest I had to hold in place.
Knees still intact but achey; legs are going to *hurt* tomorrow; back needs stretching out.
So: would I do it again? Yes. It wasn't as hard as I'd feared (though the last 30mi was toughish & the last 15 really very tough - though was still quite happy when on the flat). and I'm feeling v pleased with myself right now. I'd like to do it in decent weather - it was pretty foul. I'd like to do it with fully functioning gears! It wd be interesting to do it with someone else - though I actually really enjoyed being on my own (& you do get to chat to people along the way, & repeatedly encounter the same folk as you leapfrog each other).
And I didn't get a puncture, hurrah!
Av: tbc, left odometer on bike.
The sun came out as I turned down the Dunwich road - cycling across the heath in sunshine, lovely. Before that it was largely vile - just after last update it started raining again, & then pissed it down for maybe an hour. And stayed cold & nasty after that until 20min ago.
Also, which sod told me Suffolk was flat? Trust me, it is not. It has Hills. Mind you, by the last 15mi, anything on more of an incline than absolute flatness felt like a vast & hideous hill. Not assisted by the absence of not only all my lower gears, but the lowest of the middle set. And the second lowest I had to hold in place.
Knees still intact but achey; legs are going to *hurt* tomorrow; back needs stretching out.
So: would I do it again? Yes. It wasn't as hard as I'd feared (though the last 30mi was toughish & the last 15 really very tough - though was still quite happy when on the flat). and I'm feeling v pleased with myself right now. I'd like to do it in decent weather - it was pretty foul. I'd like to do it with fully functioning gears! It wd be interesting to do it with someone else - though I actually really enjoyed being on my own (& you do get to chat to people along the way, & repeatedly encounter the same folk as you leapfrog each other).
And I didn't get a puncture, hurrah!
Av: tbc, left odometer on bike.