Flies and Stones

Hello universe, this is Chris again (in case you'd not realised Morris & I are taking in turns to write these posts ........ and yes there has been a little discussion around editorial control, but as the FCA Blog-police haven't been onto us yet, seems we're getting away with it so far).

Another short day if you consider 40 miles to be short, which it is when you think how far we have to go. Had breakfast in the Little Chef next to our Travelodge just outside Okehampton and having sent the girls out for a jar of peanut butter, I was firing on all cylinders after a couple of slices of that on toast with the usual tomato ketchup smeared on top (the others didn't seem to like that idea though …… just the sort of prejudice I've grown used to over the years).

A fine day with south-westerly tail-wind most of the time. We belted a few more miles down the A30 for the last time before turning off at Sticklepath on the old road through Whiddon Down and Tedbury St Mary. It was good to ride side by side in the sunshine on a quiet and undulating road, patchwork fields, thatched cottages and all that stuff. But the flies were out in force and being up front Morris managed to swallow a few, supplementing his energy bar quota for the day.

One slightly worrying incident: on a long but steady climb I was casting the occasional glance at the face of my HRM (that’s Heart Rate Monitor by the way, not ‘Her Royal Majesty’, though doing that is also no doubt beneficial) and noticed my pulse seemed rather high. The road levelled out, but a after a few minutes the heart rate increased a little to 157. I called to Morris that we needed to slow down a bit. A minute later and it went up to 158, I was getting concerned. Must be the anxiety about the heart rate making the heart go faster I thought (or was this the end?). At 159 I realized that the HRM had somehow changed modes and was displaying the time (1.59pm). Daren’t think what would have happened if I’d reached 2.00pm before realising what was going on.

We reached Exeter, the largest built-up area we’d encountered on our journey so far. A chance to practice our urban cycling skills, dodging through traffic whist navigating our way across the city. Birmingham will be more demanding no doubt. Whilst we’re on the subject ….. there’s a rumour going round that the Rolling Stones will be playing a gig at the Birmingham Wheels Park as part of the FCA event on Saturday 22nd. I can hardly wait!

Anyway, we made it through to Cullompton and as usual both soaked in a cold bath (separate baths!) whilst slurping recovery drink and text-messaging. This is the life! Tomorrow we say goodbye to Sophie & Katie (our 2 lovely assistants) and hello to Rob who will take over as support driver up to the Midlands. We also say hello to the FCA Cullompton Office and what ever they have in store for us.

Tip of the Day 1
Keep your mouth closed when cycling through clouds of flies (if you don’t want to look stupid)

Tip of the Day 2
Cold Baths aren’t for sharing

Some Statistics:
Departed Okehampton 10.45am
Arrived Collumpton 2.15pm
Distance 40 miles
Average speed 14.6 mph
Maximum speed 40 mph
Flies swallowed = 2 (by Mr Gooding)
Punctures/mechanical problems: none
Artistic photos taken: loads (see sample below)

I hear Mr Gooding is considering his options as a model (for a laxative manufacturer)