Day 1: The wheels haven't fallen off yet!

In true British fashion, I shall start by referring to the weather. It was a good day to set off with the rain holding off until the last 5 mi and the sun making an brief appearance on the Heathrow to Reading stretch.

The wheels set in motion with an early 0720 start, with the intention of missing London rush hour traffic....as I found out, they have rush hours (plural) rather than the usual 0800 - 0900 so my good intentions went out of the window so to speak. Nevertheless, it was a relatively hassle free route down to the A4 skirting the northern perimeter of Heathrow Airport, made easier by making full use of the bus/cycle lanes. The only time I stopped other than for the many red lights was to prove I was in London:

It most definitely says LONDON 

I departed the A4 almost immediately to drop south around Datchet water and into Windsor (what a lovely place indeed!) before heading north-west, south-west and all other variations of west on the series of roads taking me to Reading. This section was my personal favourite as the roads were traffic-free, the sun was out and what perhaps non-cyclists cannot appreciate: the road surface was smooth, flat, pot-hole free - in essence EXCELLENT!

The same cannot be said, for the A4 Bath rd between Reading and Newbury, Thatcham, Marlborough oh sod it - Chippenham! There were definitely some teeth-chattering moments. Anyway, I don't want to bore you more than I have already, another big day tomorrow to reach Swansea.

Here are the stats from today (taken from my Cateye bike computer):

     Distance:          90.10 mi

     Cycling Hrs:    5hr 49m

     Avg Speed:      15.4 mph

     Max Speed:     34.8mph

The 'tracker' on the mapmyride app seems to have logged a shorter 88.54 mi - but I know which device I'd rather rely on.

To sponsor me visit: uk.virginmoneygiving.com/ccscc