Two weeks today – Sunday 19th June – is the first day of cycling on my trip and today I went out for my final club ride prior to the trip.

Fabulous ride with ARCC (Amersham Road Cycling Club – www.amershamrcc.com ) from Great Missenden out to Sonning Common. Doubts about the weather forecast for a glorious day were plentiful to start with especially when up on the Chiltern Hills near Stokenchurch we were literally in the clouds, but by noon we had the promised sunshine.

Great for me to ride with company and feel the benefit of all the training I have done especially with the climbing involved. We covered just short of 58 miles with 3200feet of climbing at an average speed of 14.4mph which is spot on for what I need. Thanks to all on the ride for their company and interest in my madness!

I will be going out every day this week in the run up to my flight on Tuesday 14th so I’m very pleased to see the weather is looking promising!