7th June 2019 Friday – It rained …… A LOT Gra


Hello Everybody!
Route: Ludlow to Nantwich
For the non-mathematicians out there:
Distance:  64.4 miles (Total 393.0)
Average speed: 11.9 mph
Calories: 1,336
Cycling time: 5h23m
Average cadence: 68 rpm
Climb: 3,251ft, Descent: 3,366ft
Heart (yes I have one): max 137 aver 113
Aver Temp: 9C, Max temp 20C
Temperament:  Max temp 20C – when was that??????????

Well last day before my first rest day so what could go wrong?

Look at me
It rained. It rained again. It thought about pausing but decided to carry on raining. After a while, it stopped raining and the sun came out. Correct that last statement it is a great big fib. You know what? It was still raining. Rain fell.

It was very windy but it was a tailwind so …. hang on ….. it was a headwind, not a tailwind you idiot. It was also doing about 15-18 mph straight into our faces. I will not mention the gusts as that would just be asking for trouble. It was also raining so this made things MUCH worse.

I feel better, thanks for listening. It could have been worse but I was wearing my GORTEX TM (just in case) trousers which were great until the waterproofing stopped working. Also, my toes covers had given up the ghost after 10 mins – is it summertime in the UK now?


Ludlow Race Course
and again
Before we started off Arnold & Arnolda both said that they would cycle in the front, to help shield me from the rain and wet. I said great and they seemed very happy about their idea. The thing is, they are Imaginary people. One of the characteristics of Imaginary people is that wind goes straight through them given their significant lack of bodily bits. Anyway, I thanked them at the end of the day and the smile on their faces made me grateful to have such nice friends. It’s a shame that my non-Imaginary friends are not as nice but at least they have no trouble holding off wind, well not all of them (Dot for instance).





The route was fairly simple with not too much lumpy bits and we finished in a good time, given the rain and pigging wind – have I mentioned this already? I managed to have an early lunch in Much Wenlock, SE from Shrewsbury. The temperature was around 9C so I was very cold never mind wet. After leaving my lunch café I was faced with a fairly large lumpy bit which I attacked to try to get warm i.e. if you’re cold on a bike, pedal harder. This tactic worked until the down lumpy bit of 14% which was then closely followed by another down lumpy bit of 12%. Half down this last bit I started to shiver with the cold which transferred onto my bike handling skills (which to be fair are not that great) and I was very happy when the hill flattened out. Luckily I still had 45 miles to get and then keep warm.

I arrived in Ludlow and found my Airbnb. My host was Anne and we got on from the off. After checking me out she mentioned that her and her friend were going out to see a stand-up comedian, who had stayed with Anne a while back. She suggested I come along so I did.

The comedian is preparing for an hour-long gig in the Edinburgh Festival. From what we saw, he has about 8 mins and 22 secs worth. I did smile a lot and laughed one and a half times. Arnold & Arnolda came along and both fell asleep after 2 mins, oh dear.

Today is done
We is done
Tomorrow is rest
Rest is the best

All our available love and kisses dear readers. See you post rest day. x

Nice pictures:





Just checking what sky looks like

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