Unfortunately however we woke up this morning to torrential rain. We were very undecided as to the best thing to do. Clearly he needs the training but I cannot over emphasise how wet it was this morning. We had a look at the forecast and saw it would hopefully stop around 3pm. We decided that as it's now light until about 9pm we would go out then.
Luckily this plan worked and by 4pm it was lovely and sunny and we were on the road. Ant came up with a route that incorporated several of our regular routes. That way if the heavens opened again and we had to abandon we would not be too far from home.
For some reason I struggled almost immediately. I don't know why but I found it heavy going. As ever though I slogged it out and kept up. I even picked the longer route that incorporated some brutal hills when given the choice.
Horror hills
The route we took incorporated the dreaded hill in Aynho towards the end which as you may remember is my absolute nemesis. But, despite feeling heavy legged, I managed it. I had to stop at the top of the final peak you can see above but recovered and fairly quickly caught up.
I did decide though that that was it for me. We decided to ride past our house where I would stop and Ant would go on and pile on some more miles.
I completed 19 miles and by the time Ant came home he had done 35 miles.
I was more than happy with this as I have another couple of months before my sportive whereas Ant has a week. Also me stopping early gave him the chance to speed up a little and not worry about me. I hasten to add here I usually have no trouble whatsoever keeping up with him but as stated, yesterday was a struggle!
Our mph average was a little slower than ideal but I put that down to my heavy legs and the fact it always takes a little while for us to get into sync when we ride together.
I have every confidence that Ant will enjoy his sportive next week and will be able to finish it. Knowing he has done it will also spur me on. I hope.......
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