Tuesday 19 May 2009

Day 31 Liverpool to Amsterdam (120 miles)

So we followed the M6 down to Birmingham, headed east to Lowestoft, got the ferry across the North Sea, headed inland. Nnnnnnooooo, not that Liverpool, not that Amsterdam. There are a lot of place names one would recognise in this part of the country, yesterday we went through Geneva, which even had a gorgeous lake, there's a Naples, a Rochester even a Wallingford around here somewhere.

Another really lovely day today. Temperature was meant to be 2 degrees C when we started out at 7am, but it felt warmer than on the previous two days. Shorts or longs, shorts or longs. In the end went with shorts and was glad I did, it soon warmed up and everyone was shedding clothing at the first SAG. Clear blue skies, little wind and OK temperature all day, perfect. Looks like we're also set fair for the final two days.

It's a really beautiful part of the country as well, which for once the photo does some justice to. We followed either the Erie canal or the Mohawk river (shown) for most of the day. It's a lot of wooded hillsides which turn amazing colours during the fall (or autumn as it's correctly called.) Roads were again very good, large, smooth, clean shoulders. One or two hills but nothing too bad. Worst hill of the day was an extra one we did because we missed the final turn into the hotel. We start out with that tomorrow, it's a tough one.

In these last few days I must try not to get complacent and let my concentration slip. Nearly headed off to breakfast (about 200 yards up the road) without wearing my helmet, which is a cardinal sin. Fortunately Karen reminded me before I got on the bike. Also forgot to but the bum cream on this morning for the first time in 31 days, but there are only the most minor consequences. Went to pump up the tyres and got the hose jammed on the valve. Ripped the tube whilst trying to get it off. That's technically puncture six, but I'm not counting it.

It was the gang of four on the road again today. We're even riding in the same order now. I always seem to follow Sam. I think this is a ploy by the other two, Sam's the skinniest and therefore provides the least wind resistance. Again, I hope this doesn't come back to haunt me, but we're riding really well as a team. All doing fair turns without really keeping score, matching each other's pace well, giving clear signals for debris and other hazards. We haven't touched wheels or had any sort of near miss for many days now.

Tomorrow has one big climb going up about 2000 feet. I'm looking forward to it, think I'm a relatively good climber and enjoyed the hills earlier in the ride and in Spain last year, but there's 65 miles of flat before we get to it.

PS - loft watch has been updated.

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