16th September

Great ride today, 27 miles on the road at my highest average speed yet including the flat railway path rides. I did 7 miles more than when I cycled to the coast on Friday but the terrain was easier and there was nowhere near as much headwind so it was much nicer.

I got up and stuffed down 4 oatcakes, half a bag of almonds and an apple and set off. I cycled my usual route to Ham Hill and Stoke Sub Hamdon then headed towards Martock. As i went through Stoke I followed close behind a land-rover which was great as it gave me an aerodynamic tow. I can see why groups of cyclists take it in turns to go at the front, it's so much easier with someone else punching a hole in the wind. This time I carried on to Long Sutton golf club where I stopped for a banana then came back through Illchester and Mudford. The rest of the ride was as uneventful but the slight hill through Mudford was hard on my legs as I had already exceeded my longest road ride so far. Two Towers Lane was a pain because there was some kind of horse event on and lots of cars going in both directions meaning I had to keep stopping and starting and was unable to build and momentum.

Tomorrow I have to go to Bath again so I'm going to take Mum with me after her morning swim. She can then spend a couple of hours wandering around the shops whilst I dart to Bristol and back on the railway path. I really like that ride because it's long, flat, has no traffic, and it's great for building up and maintaining a fairly constant speed.

Kimberly completed her longest run yet this morning although she forgot to start her GPS watch for the first half a mile so we'll add on a bit to compensate. She said it was her toughest yet and nearly had her in tears but well done to her for completing it. I guess the challenge is catching up to all of us this far in but we've all done really well and I feel very proud. The fundraising is going great and at the time of writing we are only £50 short of reaching our initial target of £1,000!

Thank you to everyone who is supporting us...