The week started off at work with an email about taking a lorry to Doncaster. Opened MS autoroute to work out the distance back, 210km. A plan is hatched :-)
I emailed them back and said if they pay me 1/2 a day I'll take the lorry up early on Sunday morning with the bike strapped to the back and then cycle home.
I got comments about being mad, but they knew that already and it was OKed.
Was up at 05.00 and out the door just before 6 and rode over to work. I managed to get the bike inside the cab so that sorted the problem/worry of it bouncing down the M1 if I hit a bump.
I arrived at Donny unloaded the bike and went to find the local Tesco's for food.
I was away at 10.20 heading southwards through the town centre and going the wrong way!
GPS's are great if you load the route on to it in chunks of routes of only 50 points and not try to do one route for the whole route.
Didn't hear the thing bleep at me and was further along the road than planned so had a slight detour around past the airport.
Back on route and towards Gainsborough for a coffee then following the Trent towards Newark and a McDonalds lunch knowing the next section was going to get hilly.
Leaving Newark was ok but I found myself on the wrong side of the hill at Belvoir so had to winch myself up towards the castle and around the other side. Wasn't sure if I could get back onto the planned route easily without backtracking as some roads were not on the GPs.
I then saw a sign for the next village so I followed it and was pleased to see the route I should have been on and as I was on top of the ridge it was an easy ride to the next stop at Oakham for the audax staple of garage sarnie and milkshake.
I couldn't be bothered with the lanes towards Desborough so followed the main road towards Corby which is quite rolling! At one point I was doing 80kph downhill and could see the person in the car behind me looking at her speedo and talking to the passenger. The car came past me on the next straight bit with a couple of kids giving me the thumbs up with big grins on their faces.
The roads got a bit busier as I went towards Corby, Kettering and Wellingborough and they seemed to get more hilly as the ride went on.
As darkness fell cars started to give me a wider birth and the rest of the ride through Olney and back through MK went without problem.
Total for the day was 226km (16km over distance for a diy is not too bad) which I did in 11hrs with 2.20hrs off the bike eating, resting at the top of hills and generally faffing.
I averaged 26kph which is slightly faster than the usual speeds and the 2nd best avg this year.
I spent most of Monday eating though! always get "THE HUNGER" after an audax ride.
Now to get ready for next weekends 600km to Scunthorpe, Boston and a loop round the fens. Think I'm looking forward to it! I'd only be drinking at a wedding celebration anyway if I was not out riding! Lol.
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