Severn across audax

I was looking forward to this ride this year as it had been moved forward a week on the calendar. The last few years I've been wanting to do it but as it's been on the 1st weekend of May I've not been able to get to it.

The ride was entered well before Christmas and I booked the Friday off of work so I could get some sleep before the start.
I toyed with the idea of cycling the 75km down to the Uxbridge travelodge but decided to get the train to Watford and ride from there instead.
Instead of the roads through the outskirts of London I thought I'd follow the Sustrans route along the old railway and canal.
It started off so well on a smooth tarmac track, after the first couple of corners this changed to the usual stony path, great for wide tyred MTB's but not as good on 700-28 tyres.
I stuck with it for quite a while and the ride along the canal was nice but slow. I had plenty of time and it was a nice day so I didn't worry about it.
The evening was spent watching crap tv and eating junk from Tesco.

Alarm went off at 04.15 and I was out of the door heading to Chalfont by 04.45.
There were plenty of people there when I got there, and after another breakfast we were off heading over the Chilterns and the first Control at Woodstock. This section went really well and the service at the tea rooms was fast. 75km down food eaten and away again before 09.00.

It was then over the Cotswolds towards Tewkesbury, the hills were slowing me down a bit but the sun was coming through now and the views from the hill tops was amazing. Must get myself a small camera that I can take with me, both of mine are too big for carrying on a bike.
The next section over towards the forest of dean seemed to get hard, I wasn't feeling too good as my stomach didn't seem to be working properly. The food I'd eaten at Tewkesbury seemed to be sitting on top and not digesting. Not sure if it was the hot weather, too much drink/food or a mixture of both.
I stopped at a pub "The penny farthing" at Aston Crews to top up my bottle, have a pint (oj and lemonade) to see if this helped. It didn't.
The climbs through the forest were hard work and the 45 minute rest at the Chepstow Tesco control didn't make me feel any better either.

I knew I had to keep going so it was onwards over the Severn bridge and upwards to the Somerset monument, the second walk of the day. The new frame climbs well but at a certain point the gears aren't low enough and I find myself with burning legs and having to stop to put my lungs back in.
A stop at a garage for coffee and crisps still didn't help and an extended stop was had at Membury services, I was there for 1.5hrs and watched a few groups come and go.
I tagged on with a group of 9 others and we chose to go via Newbury along the A4 to Slough.
This was a great route for a night section, wide roads, hardly any potholes and rather flat compared to the lanes and hills going the other way.
A route error took us right through the centre of Reading and past the night clubs, it wasn't bad and I think people were more to surprised to see 9 blokes in lycra light up like christmas trees to give us any trouble.
Every light through Slough seemed to be on red and slowed us down but the chain snapping on my bike slowed me down more. I had all the kit I needed to fix it in my bag so I said the others were welcome to go on without me.
Tiredness, oil and chain tension meant it took another 10-15 minutes to actually get the link to join back together.
It was then up the last couple of hills back to the start for 04.00, more food and some sleep.

I felt a bit better when waking up although I only had 3hrs sleep, more food and coffee consumed while I watched it rain outside and the last riders coming in a bit damp. Then it was time to get back on the bike and ride the 60km home. My knees didn't like the first hill but after warming up a bit I wasn't going too slow and plodded back through Aylesbury and the last hills through the villages home. A good weekends cycling totalling 475km taking this months riding past 1500km.

Apart from the dodgy stomach I really did enjoyed this ride and would definitely ride it again, I'll have to try eating less if I'm using energy drink and see if that was the cause of the problem.
I may even have a go at using just drinks and see how that works.

Below is the altitude chart and gps track of the ride.