Lovely day, lovely route but I had an absolute nightmare of a ride, absolutely no "go" in the legs at any point. It started to go bad on the first climb and got progressively worse with each subsequent one. Eventually, with 24km to go, I bailed out as the route goes close to my home and I didn't fancy the ride home after finishing. I knew things weren't right when, after slogging out of Cole Henly, a "blip" of a climb usually, I was feeling very cold rather than hot. I was in a hot bath at home within the hour trying to raise the core temperature. Too much too soon after a 2 month lay-off maybe, too soon after recovering from a cold perhaps.
Did I really complete PBP? Hard to believe because I finished this 100km in a worse physical state than PBP.
Don't let my suffer-fest give you the wrong impression, it's a superb route with lots of great views and lots, I mean LOTS, of good company.
Some Faces at the start
Sitting out at the Hatchett Inn at 200m. You'd normally be skating up there at this time of year
Descending from Linkenholt on final approach to Faccombe
After granny-ringing my way up to Faccombe I've never been so glad to see Faccombe Church. I stopped briefly, AndyH asked if I was praying (I was praying for no more climbing but nobody was listening)
In with the new
Out with the old
St Marybourne, a welcome sight on my ride home.
