Taking on the Tour

The tour of Wessex I think was too much of a challenge for me. The first day started wet but within minutes it was hot and dry and summery which didn't help me being dressed like Scott of the Antarctic. Plodding slowly down the hills and charging up them I started to experience a few technical difficulties.

I managed to put a double knot in my chain and spent 40 Min's on road side with a mechanic trying to figure it out. By the tie I had it sorted I was at the back of a thinning field and still had many miles to go.

The cheddar gorge was a nice change to all the up with a rapid decent into the path of gormless tourists and suicidal goats. Onto the levels for a few miles before once again going up. It is a lot of climbing and a great training session if you can remember to stay focused that long. I just managed too with the final cat 4 climb to the finish on day 1.

Day 2 was wet and windy. The peletons travelled quickly together towards corfe and soon I found myself just enjoying everything and not focusing.

Both days had passed without real drama and on the morn of the third I decided that the 60 mph winds and torrents of rain were not for me. I wasn't gong to be getting any good times with the mechanical on day 1 and the technical on 2 (I forgot to attach the transponder) however day one was 6 hrs riding in 7ish and day 2 was 6:30 in 7:15.

There is always next year to get all three days in, but I won't commit just yet.