What a start......where's that Ice bath?

We all lined up outside Buckingham palace at 9am, nervous and excited about the ride ahead. Blue skies were overhead, and The Mall was closed to traffic for a triathlon later that day which made our ride out quite special indeed.

It took a little longer than expected to get out of london due to a few navigation issues and cycling with 13 riders and keeping them all together. Once we were out of town though, all riders were chatting most of the way down to Sittingbourne, apart from a few tough climbs which stretched us all a bit. 

Thank you to everyone that came down to support us from the start and those who joined us for the 2hr lunch in Sittingbourne, it really made the day extra special. 

Sittingbourne to Dover was eventful, we took a wrong turn in Faversham and managed to add 15 miles and some very hilly terrain to the afternoon ride, consequently we didn't make it to Dover until 7:30pm, rather than the scheduled 6 pm finish.  

In total we have cycled 98 miles today, managing 8 hours in the saddle. All support riders were immense today, with many personal bests made amongst the crew.  More on these individual performances from me on the blog tomorrow, I'm too tired type much more right now...

I'm now at the hotel in Dover with my father in law Peter and my nephew Alex.  We've just had dinner and an ice bath and are now off to get some sleep as we have to be up from 6am to catch the ferry to Calais tomorrow, pick up the support car and get riding! - another 65 miles need to be banged out as we head from Calais to Bethune.  

Til tomorrow , Brett