Last day on the road Yeovil to Bristol – bourg d’oisans to bristol day 14

The last riding day today and I calculated I needed to do 74km to achieve the Specialized Strava Classics challenge. As it happened I came in on the nose at 75km thus completing the challenge.

Mentally it was tougher today, suddenly after pushing big miles for the last 2 weeks, including the cobbles of the Paris Roubaix, I felt tired. The weather did not help – heavy showers and a big cross wind.

First stop was Glastonbury, the last time I was here was as a 16 year old watching rock bands at the Music festival. A quick bite to eat – beef and tomato sandwiches courtesy of the mother in law (thanks Denise they went down a treat).

I continued on towards Bristol for the Bespoked Bristol bike show. The hills to the south of Bristol became very  steep forcing me out of my saddle and nearly beating me. After the 3rd steep climb the rain really came down and I cautiously descended the other side. With 5 km to go I got my second puncture of the trip. It was a slow one so instead of changing it I stopped and pumped it up after every km.

On arriving I popped over to see Phil at Mosquito Bikes who had just set up their exhibition space for Bespoked Bristol.

Ride completed from Bourg d’Oisans to Bristol somewhere over 1500km ridden in 2 weeks. The highlight was definitely completing the Paris Roubaix challenge. The worst day was probably the Newhaven to Bournemouth day that started so brightly but turned into torrential rain and a nightmare trip through Southampton and the New Forest.