Hello all,
Yes - it all went well and good to meet up with felstedrider on the return!
So, my first 600 - I'll write this up on the blog with all the details, but a quick summary here.
We left at just gone 0700 and I immediately noticed the pace was up - probably due to our welcome tailwind! The journey north to Goole was very pleasant overall but very, very hot, with my Wahoo topping out at 40C during a stop where it sat in the sun. I think the moving temp got up to around 32 - it was hot! Quite early on in the journey, I wasn't sure I was going to make it - I thought I was going to throw up. Think that might have been at the Sleaford control. Anyway, Tomsk suggest I ate something, so I went into the shop looking for nourishment and came out with a pastie, yoghurt drink and a bag of salted crisps (Tomk's idea, since I was sweating salt, it seemed).
A rest there, and a guy on a two stroke scooter enveloping us all with exhaust as he started up, and we were away - I felt much better. We headed north and eventually the heat gave way to a very pleasant cool evening, the wind changed direction (Gainsborough way?) and we had some headwind to push through until reaching Goole and visiting the control there. After that is was back south, with the wind on our back again - very convenient!
We reached the audax hotel around 0100, bedding down at about 0115 with Tomsk's alarm set for 0300. Glad I did it for the experience since I've always wondered what bigger distances with very little in the way of creature comforts would be like and it is exactly how I imagined it: grim. But it was at the same time, fun.
The next day was all good, though I had odd apetite issues, unable to finish my meal in Whittlesey, which is most unlike me as I'm always keen to eat usually.
The hills from about 500km were a bit of a challenge when I was alone after lagging behind following the stopping for bushes, but it was fine once back with the other two, who were kind enough to wait for me once they realised I'd never catch them! The only things I suffered from were sore feet and numbness, which meant I needed to modify my riding style with lots of toe wiggling and out-of-the-saddleness toward the end of the ride. I got on the front when i could and managed to judge the pace a little better this time, after not exactly nailing that on the Easter Arrow - this time, I had my mirror though, which was a big help!
It was good to see Rob toward the end who loked very fresh and comfortable. It was a good reminder that cycling can be enjoyable! I'm joking there
So, all in all, a wonderful trip, with many thanks to Tomsk and Mick for everything. I couldn't have asked for finer companions on my first 600!
Cheers,
Nick.
P.S. Almost forgot, pics here:
https://cobwebs.duckdns.org/nextcloud/s/gTdapi9b2wktaoRAnd it was great to read all of your comments when I got home, thanks to Rob for letting me know about them. If any of you have an old phone and want to set it up as an inexpensive tracker - let me know or visit
https://new.spotwalla.com/
