97 miles ridden – 2064 feet climbed.

It sounds incredulous that I can say that if felt noticeably cooler today when it was ‘only’ 32C/89F. I keep repeating it in my mind because I have never been able to tolerate heat the way I have been able to the last few days. It is still humid and I am drinking huge quantities of water but I am coping OK which still pleasantly surprises me.

We set off this morning at about 6:45 having had a proper breakfast – eggs, bacon, porridge, pancakes – which set me up very well for the day. Given yesterday’s high temperature, the overnight drop, and humidity it was foggy for the first hour or so but the sun soon burned through. The wetness our clothes picked up from the air was replaced by sweat but we are all used to it now. 

The landscape today was very different. Lots of trees for shade and many of the roads we cycled on were residential – only one house per 5 acres though! Imagine that in the UK.

With the trees for shade and a very gentle headwind the first 41 miles to the first SAG stop was very nice indeed. The SAG stop was in the town of Montello which although small was very busy and for some reason had lots of Scottish flags – we didn’t get to find out why – but like so many towns it had its own falls

It was in Montello that we noticed the sky was clouding over and there were dark clouds in the distance. A couple of very helpful and well-meaning locals mentioned that we were going to get very wet which frankly didn’t bother us too much as we couldn’t exactly get any wetter than we were at that stage just cooler and potentially less salty. However the challenge was on – we had another 55 miles to go, could we beat the storm?

12 miles further on in the town of Princeton we stopped briefly at the American Legion’s annual Bratwurst BBQ where another helpful local mentioned that we were going to get very wet as a ‘severe’ thunderstorm was coming. So we didn’t have a Bratwurst but kept on the the second SAG stop in Ripon where there was a Subway for food and air conditioned shelter. I must admit to having maligned Subway in the past (apologies Bruce and Elliot) but when you have cycled 69 miles and feel a touch peckish a 6″ Subway Club on wheat really does hit the spot even if I found the air conditioning too cold -was that me? Maybe it was a dream? No it was me I was too cold and had to go outside. 26 miles left to beat the storm.

Joy came soon in the shape of a tailwind, the first one this week and it zipped us along most of the last 20miles or so and we got to the hotel about 35 minutes before the rain. The best thing about today was that Murray who has been ill with tonsillitis for a week now managed to ride the 27 miles between the two SAGs with us which was great.

Managed to get into the laundry this evening too so I even get to cycle tomorrow in clean gear – luxury.