I just got back from my first 30 miler. I made pretty good time and I'm confident that I can hit 20 miles - have a break for lunch and then smash out another 20 miles in the evening if push comes to shove. That being said, the ride I just did was with some kit - by no means all of it - so if we're in a position where more than 40 miles in a day is needed I think I may begin to struggle.
Selecting the right gears to get up hills and maintain a decent pace is proving to be somewhat of an art form. To lower a gear and your ragging yourself unnecessarily looking like the Tasmanian Devil to every motorist / other cyclist / pedestrian who can see you. A higher gear and your preparing yourself for a ball ache of a hill. I went cycling last week with a friend of mine who is far more experienced at cycling than myself - his advice boiled down to this: "Tom, you can't be this pathetic. You need to try and keep peddling at a consistent speed that you are comfortable with working the gears around your pace" Whilst I'm hanging out my arse looking down through stinging sweaty eyes at the speedometer - 4.2mph... That being said I have experienced a few moments of selecting the right gears at the right time - but they are few and far between.
Another alarming thought was the fact that my camelbak only contains 2 litres of water, and I pretty much drank it dry. The other problem with the camelbak is the first mouthful of water is cool due to the piping being exposed, but the next few are horrible and warm because your body heat / heat of summer have near enough boiled it. Yuk!
A final concern is the wind, which I am hoping is somewhat solved by the added weight of the rest of the kit. But at present it blows me all over the fucking place. Especially when you're cycling into it, up a hill. A decent alpine gust will push me backwards...
Cheers once again to all those that have sponsored us!
Tom
xx
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