Disappointingly I found out that my Guinness World Record would not appear in print in the book after all - so I decided I had better go set another one! Having a look at some options there was one possible one that took my notice - riding across Australia from Perth to Sydney. This will be a difficult one to beat as it has been hard fought several times in recent years - the current one sets an average speed of about 320 miles per day! I thought it might be a good idea to go for a test ride and see just how many miles I was capable of in a single day - I had a spare day in the UK and Dean was available to help. Time to put myself to the test!
There were a couple of factors that I didn't really give enough consideration to. One being the bike I was using - not really the best one for road distances. I had my cyclocross which I had used for the Scotland Coast to Coast the previous week. In Australia I would probably use something more like a time trail bike with disc wheels etc. - a lot more aerodynamic and quicker! But I wanted to give it a test anyway!
I started at midnight and rode for about 7 hours in the dark. During this first part of the ride my GPS bike computer just didn't seem to be working properly however eg I would be pedalling pretty hard but looking at the monitor it was only recording about 14 mph - I don't think so!! My aim was to keep at a constant 16 mph so this was all very off putting. I would look at the dial,and think I had better pedal faster and then the speed would drop! I ride enough to know the approximate speed I am going and the readings just didn't seem correct! However when the sun came up it seemed to settle down and work a lot better??
Dean slept for a few extra hours ( we didn't want him to be driving tired) and so met me after about 4 hours as I knew I had enough food and water with me for about that time! The route was basically along the south coast via Brighton traveling east initially - I didn't want anything with too many hills although there were a few sections past Brighton where it was a lot hillier than I had expected but back towards Eastbourne and it was lovely! Looking at the flags on the coast there I could see that there was a slight tailwind blowing - not much - all very pleasant!
When it started to get quite hilly again I decided to turn around and head back - it seemed as soon as I changed direction the wind really started to pick up - in fact when I got back to those same flags they were now blowing around violently - a headwind now of course! So we decided to change the route and headed inland - bad decision as this was a dreadful,road - and very hilly! I felt pretty good in myself at this stage but was annoyed at the conditions - not quite what I had planned. I was fed up and decided I didn't really want to drag this on any more for no real reason. I also realized it was probably still,too soon after my illness to push myself so much so maybe better to stop,while I was still feeling good! It would be silly to continue - according to my GPS I had covered at least 215 miles though with the earlier problems I think it was probably a little more! Not bad all things considered - I was pleased enough with my performance. Obviously in Australia I would have to cope with hills and bad weather but I still have a lot of training to do before then!! But no more for today. We will of course try again later!
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