The Diary - Part Six

Day 6 - Friday 7th July

Most people would be more than just a little annoyed to get a phone call from their boss half way through their holiday. Other than the issue of him waking me up at 7am after the late finish last night, I was actually pleased when Robert Garvin phoned to say he'd be joining us for the day's ride from Stourbridge to Chester.

Kerry left early for work and so I set about turning our kitchen into a bombsite whilst preparing breakfast for the others. It wasn't quite up to the standard of Penyclawdd Farm, but still immensely satisfying (even if I do say so myself!). As we finished, Robert and his wife Linda arrived - right on cue.

This morning my bike was demanding our mechanical attentions, as last nights front derailieur problems needed fixing. However, even with Robert's bike know-how, we couldn't seem to get the blasted thing fixed. After three-quarters of an hour adjusting screws this way and that, tightening cables here and there, and swearing every which way but loose, we gave up and I headed round the corner to Race Co Cycles (which we ought to have done from the start!). When I explained what we were doing, the top chap there fixed the problem in a jiffy and didn't even charge me.

By now it was 11am - yet another late start. We headed off towards Bridgnorth with me explaining how the next 15 or so miles was part of my training route and was pretty flat.

Places feel so much hillier when you've got a tonne of luggage on the back of your bike. In Bridgnorth we successfully climbed Cartway (a steep cobbled street which is actuall oneway - down the hill!) and decided to make up some time by pressing on towards Ironbridge.

Just outside ironbridge, the mechanical curse of LEJOG06 struck again as the bracket holding Robert's handlebar-bag in place broke. Unable to fix it, we cycled the last half-mile into Ironbridge to meet Linda and Dfor (their dog) with Robert carrying the bag under his arm. Thankfully Linda was able to save the day while the rest of us enjoyed the delicious home-made pizza that Helen's mum dropped round the night before.

**I owe an apology to Helen at this point for forgetting in my diary of yesterday that her parents visited us in Stourbridge and brought with them a feast of goodies for us to picnic on the next day - good show! and thanks again to Mr & Mrs Smith!**

Despite the journey from Ironbrdge onwards being flat, it still hurt. I think this was the point where I hit my personal "wall" (disappointly close to Lands End and not anywhere near enough to John O'Groats!). Thankfully the others didn't and that spurred me on.

We stopped later in the day at Ellesmere where some of us fed the ducks (and Dfor) - although I must admit my Bakewell tart was just too tasty to share with animals.

After a final push we arrived at the Hotel in Chester. Once again, my map measurements were awry - my notes suggested 69 miles, in reality it was 82 - but the team were getting used to this by now. Some Czech girls who were also staying at the hotel wandered through the carpark and started giggling, pointing in our direction
and then heading over. Martin began to think wearing his Irn Bru t-shirt was finally paying dividends (Irn Bru being very popular in the Czech Republic I'm told). Unfortunatley, the girls were more interested in Dfor.

We said goodbye to the Garvinator (his new nickname on account of being an unstoppable cycling machine, particularly compared to the likes of me who by now was already feeling the strain) and Linda and Dfor and went to our rooms to shower before heading out to find somewhere to eat.

Friday night in Chester is, er, not the nicest time to hit the city. However, we found a pleasant Italian restaurant away from all the hullaballoo who, oddly, weren't surprised when we ordered our 5 bowls of pasta and then added two large pizzas as a side order!

Totally sated by our gigantic meal, we braved Chester's roads to walk back to the hotel.

Day: 6, Dist: 82.5 miles, Cycling time: 6hr 16mins, Ave Speed: 13.1mph, Max Speed: 41.4mph