Running. Cycling. Purity. Beer. Kindness.

Last week saw me complete another long distance cycle at last. This was another rendition of my 'Wot No Cross' DIY audax. Am now 11 months into my RRTY. This means my RRTY challenge should be complete next month.

Wot No Cross Audax (211k)

Andy Payne and Ron joined me on my Wot No Cross audax. This was going to be Andy's first 100 mile plus ride and also his first 200k audax - was about time he rode with the 'Big Boys'. Ron had not cycled this distance on his new bike so that had to be rectified too. It was a first for me cycling this distance with both Ron and Andy together. When Aid (Andy's bro) cycled his first 100 mile plus ride - it was on this self same audax. Cool eh?

Andy, Ron and I left Studley around 6:30 a.m and cycled to Broadway without much menace. We were pleased we had missed an earlier heavy down pour of rain. Sun shines on the righteous right?

The sun didn't hold, we were drenched as we headed for Winchcome. The skies were black and looked very angry.  Once we reached the summit of Cleeve Hill, the rain eased. The super fast descent that followed was slowed a little due to road works.

Quick stop at Cheltenham and then we cycled past Mr Bones and headed for Lily Brook Hill. This hill was more of an effort than the previous one. Once at the top though, wee, a long descent pretty much all the way to Cirencester. The rain broke out a little and we dried in a cafe having a mini first breakfast.

Our major breakfast was at the Cricklade control. Had tried to avoid cycling off-road to reach control but it didn't happen. The Old Railway proved a better option than main road and thankfully the single track was dry. Hmm, the all day breakfast put everything right again anyway.

Wetting the whistle at Witney

Numerous airfields were passed as we made our way to the Witney control. The pouring sun was shining bright again by now too. All was great. People watching at Witney bemused us for sometime.

Doo, Ron and Andy at Rollright Stone Circle

Last section home proved quite undulating in nature. Was a great ride though. We even stopped at a stone circle at one point. Just before reaching our arrivee (The Lark), we passed Purity Brewery. Only right we finished with a pint or 2. Purity was closed, so the Lark was out stop of choice. Completed a round trip of 131 miles in all - well done Andy, great 'first' fella.

As if the long distance cycling wasn't great enough, the random acts of kindness over recent days were worthy of mention too. Ron rocked up to my yard one day last week to drop off a Purity cycling top and beer glass he had impulsively bought me - nice one, cheers! Oh, and Chris Hodge has kindly agreed to build up my rear wheel on my Ridley, aces, nice one. Lin fixed my dynamo issues, nice one again.

Last few weeks have seen me cycle commute on occasions and run the odd 5k too. No planned cycling for the next couple of weeks but hope to continue running a little. Maybe my next commute will be on a new machine? Who knows and who really cares?

Oh, and Geraint Thomas won the 2018 edition of the Tour de France. That was the first time a Welshman had won the tour since it's conception. Nice one G! Was surprised to see he was holding up a lion and not a sheep...