jasonb

Trip to the jungle, usual off road route with a right hand turn to take my down to Flambridge where I joined the seawall heading along there to Burnham via some Alpacas. Meal deal at Tesco and then onwards eventualy swapping the seawall path for the lower maintenance track as the cross wind was strong and the parth a narrow rut with a bit of a fall either side. Minefield control tower looked great, one of only 2 remaining in the UK, it also captured some more veloviewer squares, which was the secondary objective of the ride. I followed the sea wall for sometime eventually turning left to head inland, raining I had put on the shakedry to keep the most of it off me... Had a chat with a couple of farmers, was expecting to get a telling off for being on their land but he was an avid cyclist so was telling me which farm managers to avoid in the area! Headed North to then pick up a footpath that headed back on itself South past the wind turbines, getting close to them was amazing, less so was when they were directly in line with me, that feeling when you are sat on a plane next to a rotating prop, well it was like that without a thin skin of metal to stop the imaginary blade from hitting you when it disintegrates! Picked up the gravel maintenance track for the remainder of that section which was fab with a now tailwind! Picking up the road, I turned right to head towards the last square of the day. A few hundred meters up the road, disaster, a combo of diesel and a rut in the road swept my front wheel from under me and I was suddenly using my palm to slow the grind of tarmac as I slid along the road. I laid there for a while, the usual, anything broken, can I move everything I need to. A woman stopped in her car to check on me, I eventually got up, painful left leg, elbow and hand, my glove torn, worst still, two holes in my gore jacket! I eventually got back on the bike, and carefully rode to the next square, a walk across a field and I was heading towards Southminster, my plan was to use the train to beat the headwinds and traffic of the jungle, but first I decided to stop at Wibblers brewery to calm myself with a beer and grab some ice for my right hand, holding the bar and changing gears (twist shift) was proving hard. Great service and a towel and ice helped. £10 for a single train ticket, a change at Wickford and off at Billericay - rain again but then the sun came out. I rode from here to the Brewery, original plan was a couple of beers and pizza but I was debating to just call it a night and head home to lick my wounds.... I pressed on, as luck would have it Nick Hobbs | Blackmore Cycling Apparel was just turning up with his family so we passed the time with a few beers and discussing LEL and helping complete a Narwal colouring book :) Ride home was still a bit painful, lots of bruising coming out already, I'll be a bit stiff and sore for the next few days I expect.