They say you find out who you are as a person when things are their hardest. And trying not to sound too dramatic, for me, yesterday was one of those days. From the minute I woke up, I was in a very dark place. Exhausted, in agony and barely able to walk, the thought of completing another 90 miles on the bike was horrifying. I am not ashamed to admit that after a minimal breakfast and for the first time in many, many years, I burst into tears in my room. I think the task that faced me was so overwhelming it became too much. Once that episode was over I headed to collect the bike. The first 25km were torture. I maintained a pace of about 10mph hoping that everything would loosen off. I was in very dark places in my head and 4 times I nearly called the support car for a lift. Light in the darkness About 20 mins from the first feed station, there was a little bit of pain relief in my knee and with it, a little light at the end of the tunnel. Once I stopped at the feed station a...
As I lay in bed writing this, not able to move any part of my body without wanting to shout "Ow", I've been able to reflect on what an achievement it was on Day 3 to make it from Bruges to Breda. Especially considering all of the injuries which I now seem to be carrying. Pain from the start The journey yesterday started from Bruges at 07:30 and immediately I was in agony. For some reason my left knee was screaming in pain and it meant getting out of the cobbled streets was excruciating. Coupled with not really being able to sit down, the first couple of Kms were very hard going. When I managed to get some pain relief into me, the morning stroll to the passenger ferry at Breskens was superb. Some beautiful scenery flew by as we bumbled along at 16mph in the sunshine and before we knew it, we were 40km in and the passenger ferry was on us. Once we got off the ferry we were held up by one of the group having a pretty nasty looking crash which required an ambulanc...