Or Bristol to Warrington, via hell and back. We’ve finished today’s ride, which was already planned to be the longest of the days, after 18 hours and 156 miles. Here’s the stats.
We set off before dawn across the old Severn Bridge, and made it to Monmouth. A man on a home-made electric bike stopped to talk, and when we said how many days our End to End plan was he simply gaped for a good 10-15 seconds.
Then we managed to take the wrong road out of Monmouth and storm five miles in the wrong direction down the A40 before we realised (and got a call from Paul). Not a good addition to a 145 mile day.
We also met some rollercoaster hills before Hereford, after which we resolved to stick to large roads – they are safer even if busier as the traffic has more time to see you and more space to get by. Eventually we did find the flatter sections I’d hoped for, but started racing the clock as Warrington was still an awefully long way off. We started our final 100 miles at almost 1pm, after fixing Roger’s deflating tyre (turned out to be a loose valve core). Riding in the dark from Whitchurch was very pleasant and the road was super-smooth and almost deserted.
Steve Colligan joined us by bike from Tarporley, and we limped in to the center of a dead Warrington, getting the the motel by almost midnight. A quick recovery carb and protein shake and pork pie for dinner, and alarms are set for a later start tomorrow – 6am.
I should add that I (Sam) am writing this sitting in a chair with an ice pack in my lower back – thanks Steve for bringing it along.