All those early morning training rides were put to good use on Sunday as we carved through the lanes of Essex on the London to Southend bike ride.It had all got off to a rather unpromising start. I woke up to a puncture, forcing me to get a later train. This turned out to be a bit of a blessing when Mark's train pulled out of Stratford, the station at which he was supposed to alight, with him and hundreds of other riders still on it. Our 7.30am start time ended up becoming 9.00am.
I had to feel sorry for Sam. His journey to the start had gone smoothly, only for him to be held up for more than an hour by us.
When we did get going we set a blistering pace, stopping only once to offload the tea we'd taken on board while waiting for Mark.
Somewhere along the route, I think about 25 miles in, we lost the other Graham. He must have popped off the back without us noticing. No word on his fate as of yet.
When we pulled in at the finish in Priory Park Southend, Sam's speedo was reading 3hr 11minutes, and mine 3hr 13mins, so I guess we can call it 3hr 12m.
Not bad for a bunch of amateurs.
PS: That's Sam and myself in the last two pictures, Mark had gone off to find his family.
Pictures courtesy of Lizzie, who came along with my folks to meet us at the finish.
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