We are in Ludlow now - wherever that is! 108 miles today. It was freezing to start with then it rained heavily and I was back to the shivering wreck I was on day 3 again. Into the pitstop after 40 miles and two tea's and a warmer jacket later I was much better...then the sun came out and baked us all for a couple of hours so all the extra clothes came back off at Pit stop 3! The climbs on the latter third of the day were nice. Smooth surface and undulating but the last 10 miles were A road hell into a block head wind. By that time Wolf and I were doing a two man time trial to the end. Boy is he a strong rider on the flat!
As I didn't post for yesterday I'll mention it now. To say that the climb up Shap was wet would be an understatement. At the summit of Shap we could barely see the rider in front. Then we dried out and going through Preston city centre it started pouring with rain - like a monsoon! So the last 30 miles was urban, in the torrential rain, in the middle of school kids leaving school, traffic lights and all the other dangers of riding on the road. At about 5 miles to go a car went skidding past me about 2 feet from me and crashed into the stationary car in front. No one was harmed but it was a bit alarming as it was so close to me!
Day 7 is tomorrow, forecast is rain (again!) so I hope its wrong. We are going over the Severn Bridge which will be interesting.
By the way the Cumbrian and Cheshire countryside is amazing and we have passed through loads of pretty villages on roads you would normally never see.
My legs are strong but I'm realising the weak link is the saddle sores. Hopefully this will not get worse tomorrow. 3 more days to go!
Check out Flickr for some pics - one with James Cracknell at Pit Stop 2 today.
Hi James, I was wondering if you would be interested in sharing your experiences from the 2011 Ride Across Britain with the users of Tribesports.com? We'd love you to do some guest writing on site to help our users prepare for the tests that the 2013 Challenge will bring
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