67 miserable miles

I managed 67 miles today and I can honestly say it was my worst ride so far! It was ridiculously windy the whole way there and back (how is that even possible) which made every single mile so much harder. The hills seemed to be bigger, and longer and I didn't have any motivation at all!

I would obviously rather ride with people, but training on my own hasn't really bothered me that much before. Today was different though. I started to feel it from about mile 20 and just didn't feel like I could go on. I started to think about how hard training alone was and how it was so difficult to motivate myself. I almost turned back at 23, 27 and 29 but decided to carry on, hoping that I would get a second wind.  I started to at around 30 miles, struggling up a hill, thinking about how good the training will doin preparing me for the actual ride.

Then at mile 33, I had just been speeding down a hill and stopped for traffic at the bottom (luckily) when my pedal fell off! The whole arm came away and fell into the road...giving me quite a fright! I don't think you need to refer to any previous posts to understand how far outside of my technically ability a broken pedal falls. I phoned Ads who (luckily) lives about 5 minutes away from where I had stopped but there was no answer so I left a desperate message and then phoned my brother. He would have happily got me but luckily for me, Ads was home and came to collect me.

Her boyfriend, Pete, was able to fix the pedal for me. They have been building a project bike and so happened to have the right spares and tools to help me out. I sat and had a cup of a tea and a good whinge and tried to re-motivate myself (not that I was particularly motivated to begin with). However, I decided to call it a day, as the gods just seemed to be against me having a good cycling day. I then spent a further half an hour deciding if I was going to ride home or get the train. I really wanted to get the train as I didn't feel like I had the energy to make it home, with the first 33 miles being such an almighty struggle. However, I know that I would have been so mad at myself for days if I hadn't even tried so I got back on my bike.

The way home was even harder than the way out as I was tired, had no motivation and was half expecting to lose my pedal again on the way back. I made it home but it seemed to take forever and I was really disappointed that I hadn't been able to make my mileage (AGAIN!). However, now that I'm home and I've had a long soak and a cup of tea, I've realised that some days are going to be really hard and just because today was, it doesn't mean I won't be able to make Paris, or that I'm not fit enough...it was just an off day and next weekend I am going to smash the 100!