Le Tour de Yorkshire

Tour de France day started early. We were heading to Addington near Ilkley to see the convoy and the peloton early in the day and then later to Killingham 4km from the finish. The rain was falling lightly when we left Garforth at just after 7am. "Slow down" I shouted at Rosemary who I perceived to be going too fast. It soon dawned on me that I was cycling like a bag of washing, I think because my hayfever seemed as bad as it's ever been. My eyes were stinging, the head was thumping and I was totally congested.

I tried to push through it, but just got slower and more frustrated. Poor Rosemary as I was down in the dumps and in a foul mood. Every hill was a struggle, even at snail pace. Time was marching on too, so we couldn't toodle. Fortunately, with R's amazing navigation skills, we managed to cut out around 5km due to her finding a great shortcut. We arrived in Addington with just enough time for me to get a milkshake, a scone both in addition to our packed lunch.

There was a great atmosphere in the village, young and old out to celebrate the Tour coming to Yorkshire. The convoy seemed to be shorter than the one I saw in Canterbury and we didn't manage to grab any freebies. A few hours, the anticipation grew as helicopters buzzed over head, motor bikes and the lead cars raced by. Woooosh........3 riders in a small breakaway went past, followed by the peloton a few minutes later.
We then met Rosemary's friends, Chris and Hugh who were staying in the village and we rode over to Harrogate together. Although the pace was slow, I really struggled and although I was enjoying seeing the thousands of cyclists my mind was in a bad place. There had also been a miscommunication and I had inadvertently agreed to watch the race on a big screen in Harrogate. I went in a strop, exacerbated by me having bonked.

Rosemary was a gem, agreeing to go back to Killingham which would add 10km to our trip. The cycle over, up two big hills was a killer! I was close to tears and was exhausted. A further scone helped my mood. Waiting on the race to come, I accidentally stood in front of a kid who was videoing something on his phone. He shot me a total evil, so when he wasn't looking, I stuck my tongue out at him. Unfortunately his father was looking and gave me a very hard time. Rosemary then suggested that she thought the kid may have something wrong with him so I felt very guilty.

It was exciting to see the peloton race through, with Cav's team going great guns on the front. They were all gone in a flash. We went back to our bikes, sadly hearing Cav had crashed near the finish. We jumped on our bikes, heading back towards Harrogate. Pandemonium broke loose! There were now hundreds of cyclists on the route but a few back markers in the race came through and nearly everyone decided to race them. I found myself travelling at speed in the a Tour de France......gendarmerie and British police went speeding through with sirens blaring. I couldn't see Rosemary behind and it took ages to find a safe place to stop.

When reunited, we started heading back home and in the 1st big hill, surrounded by loads of other riders, my legs came alive. They worked again. "It's a miracle" I thought. Although tired, the rest of the ride back to Garforth was a pleasure and the day was saved. Only 155km ridden!