Today was a real mental test of will for me. I had an issue with an incredibly inflamed saddle sore and the thought of another 4+ hours on the bike was not appealing. I just wanted the day to be over right from the start.
We checked out of the motel (our one night of living the high life) and went down to the campground for breakfast. A nice change from last year, we are not eating pancakes every morning, today we had a couple of breakfast burritos and a muffin.
The ride started off a little rough, my legs and undercarriage were revolting but after about 30mins everything started to settle down a little. There were a couple big climbs coming out of town and I seemed to handle them okay so I was able to get into a rythmn and turn the pedals over at a comfortable 100 - 107rpms. Just before the lunch stop I hooked up with the two strongest cyclists in the group and they hooked on to me blasting down a hill at 50km/hr. At the bottom of the hill I needed to hook on to them because I was totally spent so I sat in their draft to the lunch stop a few kms later.
It was a lot of fun riding with them but I want this tour to be mainly solo riding so I can simulate Ironman riding. I'm not going to get any help in Ironman so I don't want any help out here. That was a tough decision to make because the last 40kms of the day were really, really painful. It was mainly uphill and into a stiff wind. All I could do was count down the signs on the side of the road posted every 5kms. I started to bonk in the last 5kms but I knew it was only another 10mins so I told myself just to hang on, I'd managed to hammer out 4hrs of riding feeling rough, I could last another 10mins. I finally made it to the campground in Quesnel and I immediately ate a sandwich and had a coke to try and refuel. A tough day but these are the days that really matter, when your feeling down, out and completely spent but you find something within yourself to just keep going! That's the key, just keep GOING!
Training for the day
Bike- 125kms: 4hrs 15mins
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