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Day 1 Complete but not without consequences

The start out of Crystal Palace was a little lumpy but was soon over whilst I powered to get out of London as quickly as possible. I felt strong and the route was generally quite good as soon as we cleared the London traffic. I was cycling by myself for the entire morning stint just so I could set my own pace and that really worked well.

The first feed station was in a pub called The Plough in Ivy Hatch (which according to Google maps is near Seven Oaks). The station was well stocked with bars, chocolate, sweets and water top ups but I decided on a coffee from the pub.


The next 31 miles to lunch was fairly flat and villages all merged into one as I headed for the lunch stop. Luckily to this point we had not had any rain. Bonus.

Lunch was at a pub called The George in Bethersden. Really welcoming and the food was great, the chicken jalfrezi in particular.

Crash, bang....damn


About 10 miles after the lunch stop is where the day went a little wrong and may yet prove to be the undoing of this challenge for me. As we left from lunch the heavens finally opened so water proofs were broken out. However, this meant that with the heat of the day it was more like cycling in my own personal sauna. 

At one point I was cycling down a busy main road and my glasses had fogged up. I was also conscious of a growing queue of traffic behind me so I saw an opportunity to pull over to remedy both. Unfortunately, as I mounted the pavement via a drop kerb, my back wheel didn't quite make it, resulting in me flying over the handlebars. This has now left me with a pulled groin making it agony to walk and get on and off the bike.  Cycling isn't too bad and I managed to finish the final (very lumpy stage to Dover).

I just hope that I can see this challenge through to the end.







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