Certainly not, the mid-life crisis continues unabated as does the enthusiasm for long distance, unsupported cycle rides. In 2007 it was Land’s End to John O’Groats, in 2010 we cycled from our home village of Streatley-on-Thames in Berkshire to Venice and this year we plan to pick up where we left off and cycle from Venice to Sicily.
As with our previous trips, the plan is to complete the 1000 miles within the seven day parole period we have each been granted for (relatively) good behaviour.
For this trip our number is once again four; There’s myself, Sam, a management consultant who when not at an airport, dedicates what little is left of my time to ever more desperate attempts to persuade the 15 year old twins to study for their GCSEs (just so there’s something to fall back on should the whole rock star thing not work out). There’s Chris, fitness fanatic and marathon runner whose life continues to revolve around selling ever increasing amounts of software to an unsuspecting National Health Service and convincing his wife he’s not “Pointless”.
Graham, the grumpy old man of the quartet who’s garden maintenance business now seems to have responsibility for cutting every front lawn in the South of England if the commentary we receive during our bike rides is anything to go by. Then there’s the newcomer - the small but beautifully formed Harley. An expert in the dark arts of IT systems program management, Harley has the slightly annoying habit of whistling jauntily when climbing the steepest of hills; still I suppose he’s rather younger than the rest of us... Jeremy, our partner on the Venice trip won’t be with us this time – he broke his collar bone after coming off on what was probably the last patch of ice of the season. There’s also something about pressure of work, as if!Our group has been riding all winter so we probably share the basic fitness needed for this adventure but with just a couple of months to go, we need to start getting some serious miles in. Chris has put a training plan together which has us completing some 1500 miles of weekend training rides between now and the end of May. With all of us riding to work or going out on evening rides, I would imagine this figure will comfortably be doubled by the time we get to the start line in Venice.
So last Sunday the training started in earnest with a 107 miler. Our route took us from Streatley due south via Brimpton Common and Ashe Warren to Winchester. Some very pleasant miles only marred by a ferocious elderly lady in a Toyota who evidently thought the world would be a better place without us in it.
After 60 miles we stopped at Lillies in Stockbridge for an al fresco breakfast in the glorious sunshine. The tea pots were as small as I remember although the proprietor was rather less surly than last year. The waitresses still looked too young to be allowed out and still seemed to hover in constant fear of us, the proprietor or probably both. The food and service was up to the mark however, a solid 7/10 for this establishment. The return trip took us along the beautiful Bourne valley onto Kintbury, Boxford and home.
So it begins. What follows will be a record of our training and hopefully of the Venice to Sicily trip itself. All things being equal, we will fly out to Italy on Saturday 26th May.
