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Oliver Schick
benjam
@middleofnowhere
The Island always delivers. Well apart from that time when I took my nice new crabon beik, hit a pothole, lost control, was thrown into a ditch, landed head first against the only tree within half a mile and lost my water bottle. But even then the rest of the ride was pretty good (save the crippling neck stiffness).
But this ride was even better.
Gonna admit it felt all wrong in the run up. I felt I hadn't had enough sleep that week, I hadn't been riding enough recently, it was a bit late in the year to be riding all night... I even failed to get a proper dinner onboard and had to opt for a Sainsbury's pasta to scoff on the train. So as we pulled into Portsmouth I was starting to feel a bit overwhelmed buy the what-the-fuck-am-I-doingness of it all, but the general cheeriness of everyone was reassuring and who doesn't get excited by a trip on a ferry? I liked the King Lud this time, it was lively but not too busy and after a couple of pints, and a guy telling us we should try cross racing, I was relaxed and ready to go.
What was with the roads? Some were amazing brand new tarmac and others were a nightmare of ruts and holes, very little fell in between, are they in the middle of a island wide resurfacing project?
I loved the picnic, there is something wonderful about staring out into darkness from a cliff top, such an amazing sense of space without actually being able to see it.
Also had some top wildlife spots, as well as countless rabbits (including a suicidal one that seemed determined to die under my wheels) and a load of foxes I saw 2 real actual badgers and for a few seconds we had an owl flying down the road ahead of us.
Well done to all of us, I did warn that, although it's only 70 miles it is a tough 70 miles. Very little flat land, if you're not going up you're going down pretty much all the way round, with probably the most rolling section right before the end. Which is also when the rain came in tho that didn't bother me much at that point, in fact it was quite refreshing.
Wetherspoons breakfast is still a winner despite the disappointment of not being able to get a pint before 9. They really do have to stop lacing it with Mogadon tho...