London to Paris - Training 01

A hectic weekend starting with a BBQ for Tim and Sarah on Friday evening.

Saturday morning was a trip to Bright Cycles in Raynes Park to pick up Mary's new bike - a Specialized Roubaix Comp. A shiny toy for the L2P bike ride but not for riding on the road until Mary has had a chance to ride off-road and get used to clip-in pedals.

Then it was off to Richmond for Jeff and Jackie's combined 60th birthdays and 30th wedding anniversary celebrations followed by seafood gumbo at home and an early night.

So Sunday was our first opportunity for a real long training run. Up at 8:00 on Sunday morning we set off to visit my parents. The direct road route is 37 miles but we chose the scenic route <rolls eyes>. Up the River Wandle as far as Carshalton then via Epsom, cross country to Guildford and finally Cycle Route 22 alongside the Hogs Back.

We are not sure quite how far we cycled as the little trip computer stopped working after 17 miles but we reckon easily 50 miles. We arrived knackered and a couple of hours later than anticipated for a light lunch and the train back.

We got to Farnham train station to discover engineering works meant a replacement bus service to Woking and we were told "no bikes on the bus". Arrgh. Mary's legs, especially, were done for and we were looking at locking up the bikes and coming back later with the roof rack. Fortunately the driver was a very nice man and let us put the bikes in the luggage hold.

I can tell you my thigh muscles are getting pretty solid and we still have a lot more trainng to do.