Overview/Highlights:
- A reasonably easy route today, completely spoiled by the incredible pain that the team had to battle through... for the first 30 minutes Taylor got dropped by the peleton due to a shooting pain in both knees, unable to peddle many would have given up, but Jason Bourne would not, and therefore neither did Taylor... as his pain reduced from a 9 to 7 as things warmed up, Sharpy's increased (first the knee then from nowhere the achilles joined in too), and for a couple of hours before lunch it also looked like he wouldn't be able to continue, but being made of sterner stuff he also powered on, and we made it to the end in Penrith, just about..
- we crossed over the M6 about 8 times while keeping to the country roads, possibly the first case anyone has ever had 'traffic jam envy'
- towards the end of the day we arrived in Kendal, home of the mint cake, to be told we were a mere 25 miles from the line, however being told by a local to 'enjoy the climb' we were prepared for a brutal 14 mile (425m) ascent to Shap - that didn't help, witness the pain in Sharp's well-taken video below (first photo)... thank fook it wasn't raining!
- It should be said that the last hour was a lot of fun descending from Shap into Penrith - still painful but a good end to the day (along with a great hotel and meal)
- Pleased to report a proper twin room with a massive 50cm gap between the beds - the best so far!
- finally mastering an on the move food handover on day 5, without dropping the goods (a Dime bar in this case) we look like wiggins+one of his domestiques
What we’ve learned:
- A headwind is like running into a brick wall even on the flat.
- Things I can do one handed while cycling:
- remove, open and eat a chocolate bar and dispose of the wrapper responsibly
- unlock my phone, change track and replace while avoiding cars and sheep
- take out, light, and smoke a cigarette (obviously don't do this, was just to prove it)
- give sharpy a thumbs up, or other appropriate gesture when needed
New feature: the Pain Graphs:
- we've been talking about pain a lot, hence:
Daily difficulty rating:
MS: 9/10 – as near as good severe pain all day
JT: 9/10 – like being stabbed in the knee with a knife every other second for 9 hours
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| Feeling bad, looking good |
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| How today felt, from start to finish... |
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| Countryside was epic once again, was hard to focus on that though |
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| Tomorrow night's lamb shank |
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| Sharpy looking cool in Shap |
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| Says a lot that this was the best sign we saw all day |
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| Standard evening fun... |
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