93 miles ridden – 1800 feet climbed – temperature 29C.

Today was long, hot, brutal but interesting. It started with the Royal Wedding which started at 06:00 here and coincided with breakfast. I was first there, got the channel changed on the TV and most of the riders joined in the festivities – I had given out badges to everyone last night so there was an element of expectation and excitement.

The first 18 miles took us to the ferry across the Mississippi River and included crossing the state line from Tennessee into Kentucky.

The sun was low in the sky when we left and because of the heavy rain yesterday there was a mist rising off the fields. It’s a bit weird how crossing from one state into another can make a real change. The road surface often changes (either for the good or bad!) on the state line but houses seems to change too – this one was in Hickman.

We travelled on a swing ferry – so named because it is essentially a barge with a tug connected to the centre which then swings on the pivot depending on which direction it is heading. The Mississippi is huge and it took about 20 minutes to cross.

And then we entered our third state of the day, Missouri. It was 50 miles from the ferry to SAG and they were 50 of the longest cycling miles I remember. Although pretty flat, the heat was building and we seemed to always be heading either West with a head wind or North with a slight tailwind. These 50 miles were all about big open spaces – this picture is of one field!

We went through one town – Charleston – which had a very nice neighbourhood as well as a run-down ‘Main Street’.

Charleston was at 48 miles and the SAG was at 68 miles so by the time I got there I was starving. Fortunately there was a Subway there and boy did I enjoy that meal – but then it got brutal. Most of the climbing today came immediately after the SAG when it was even hotter and I had stopped for 20 minutes. My legs were screaming as we made our way through nearly 10 miles of rolling hills. Just when we thought we had reached the top another series of cascading rollers appeared.

Thankfully there was some cloud cover for the last 10 miles but the icing on today’s brutal cake was that we had been double booked by the Pear Tree Inn and had been moved to the Drury Plaza which is a step up from the norm especially when their Happy Hour includes unlimited wine, beer, and appetisers. They will lose money tonight!