70 miler

What a day! We'd planned a 60 mile route to Burnham-on-Crouch (and back), but sticking to the quieter back roads, it actually turned out to be 70.6 miles. By far the longest cycle any of us had ever done, and on such a hot, muggy day. We were absolutely covered in sweat and squashed thunder-flies by the time we got home. It was a really challenging route, with quite a few hefty hills, and we were all swearing and shouting our way up them towards the end. I feel so proud of us all for getting through it (it did feel a bit of a slog at times!), and it definitely encourages me for the 100 miler in two weekends time. Well, encourages me and also makes me feel incredibly nervous; can I really do another 30 miles on top of this distance?!

After a quick shower when we got back, we went and stocked up on pizza and spent the evening round Claire's eating and watching a great show about Team Sky training up some amateur cyclists to do the first stage in the Tour. It was really interesting, and we picked up some good tips!