The thousand yard stare of someone who got up at dawn and rode 178miles and was disappointed not to make it to 200miles 😬
Ohh well, that leaves that milestone for another day 😂
Route was an extended variation of the Poor Student Audax from January, riding to the start from Reading then the original plan was to turn south off the route after Swindon and head to Basingstoke to make up a few extra miles before heading North home again. Actual route was:
Reading - Pangbourne - Oxford - Chipping Norton - Malmesbury - Reading
Ran out of legs ~140km in, not sure why, I was eating and drinking but it wasn't working. By 180km it felt like there was nothing, whichever gear I picked my legs just felt numb and would neither push or spin but by that point I was turning the corner and the only way was home.
The next 100km hurt, my gloves had started to cut in between my fingers, and going gloveless on the OEM bar tape and bars (Sorry Sonder, it's low density rubbish on skinny diameter bars) lead to painfully numb hands. Double wrapping the bends and moving the cables before the next long ride.
I'd set off hopeing to do 300k (or even an extra loop to 200miles) but only made it to 285km/178miles in the end. The legs were dead and I'd run out of places to hold the bars that wasn't painful.
