Day 8 - Nice weather for ducks & rainbows

After 3 relatively easy stages, today we started the hilly end of the ride going 113 miles through Somerset and Devon with 3,000 meters of climbing. To continue with the inclement weather theme, we awoke to rain and on the way to the start line, I forgot I was talking to Simon the Builder and pointed out the beautiful rainbow, his reply was unsuitable for publication.

Anyway, we again linked up with the slightly slower members of Team Cadbury - Siobhan, Nila and Jonathan plus the special guest star of the day, Tony from EDF Energy. At the start, we were warned by Race Director Andy of the steep decent into Bath which was made more difficult with the rain. On the decent we overtook a day rider who looked not too confident, then near the bottom of the decent, we heard a crash just behind us and the guy had hit a pothole, gone over the bars and trashed his knee. We did our good deed of the day and phoned the medics and stayed with him till his friends arrived.

We made it to the first stop and one of the Team Cadbury support team turned into an angel with coffee which was much needed after yet another soaking just before the stop.

After the caffeine kicked in

We then got into team time trail mode with each of us taking a mile at the front. In a regression back to my childhood when I pretended to be famous footballers during kick arounds, I wanted to be Bradley Wiggins but my cycling was more like Bradley Walsh. Still, the next few miles were split between lovely sunshine...

England's green and pleasant land

and yet more rain...

Snacking again

The last stop of the day was outside a charming thatched pub, but my hopes of more coffee were dashed as it was closed down, still, there was more Powerade from the ever cheerful pit stop helpers.

Jonathan was fixing his chain

We were making good time but when we started the last leg of the day, the slight westerly changed into a 30 mph with 40 mph gusts headwind. Our disciplined team formation helped but we probable averaged less than 10 mph for the final 35 miles as it was also ridiculously hilly.

Unfortunately, there is no photographic evidence, but after Jonathan's chain came off for the 4th time, he threw his bike into a hedge in a fit of pique, then sheepishly retrieved it to complete the last 10 miles.

Anyway, we finally made it to our last overnight stop, Okehampton College, averaging 13 mph but importantly, just before yet another downpour.

Tomorrow, another hilly, long stage, but with the end in sight.