well just the one actually, stage 7 of the Tour of Britain!

Back in the day, the national 'tour', the Milk Race, lasted a fortnight and a fairly joined up route meant seeing a couple of stages was relatively easy without having to travel far. Even the successors still followed a sort of joined up route although increasingly longer transfers crept in. The current one week format has been in place since 2004 and has increasingly become a series of one day races with often huge distances (by UK standards) between stages (for example stage 6 finished in Harlow, Essex, stage 7 started in Tewkesbury, Glos some 100 miles away as the crow flies!) Getting to see more than a single flash by of the race is now next to impossible unless you drive huge distances.

Stage 7 was effectively going to be my only chance to see the race this year, a loop through the Cotswolds south almost to Bristol before heading back up to Gloucester for the finish some 170km later. We'll come back to this in a moment.

The run of warm weather continued on Thursday but with little wind to keep it bearable. I decided on a trip to the coast, getting in the longest leg, via the Mendip, on the way out. I arrived at my usual lunch stop in Clevedon and they were closed, apparently due to illness, more likely due to the beach calling! Anyhow, after 60 odd kilometres i needed food still, after a bit of a spin around i ended up at a wannabe kiosk near the sea front. the best of virtually no choice. It was okay but certainly didn't warrant the price, the redeeming feature was an umbrella to sit under whilst i ate. I scraped 100km for the ride, temperatures hit 27c which is okay if you are moving.

Overnight it didn't drop below 20c, the first of a run of hot, uncomfortable sleeps.

Anyhow on Friday i knuckled down to the writing, a full day pounding the keys which resulted in the completion of the next chapter of the new Gaby book. (see Fridays quick message here on BC).

And so to Saturday. I'd done my resarch, i could either a) see the race flash past half an hour from base here in Brizz or b) see it pass a couple of times, maybe a bit slower on climbs on the Cotswolds. Of course i opted for b), a loop east then north would get in a climb at Avening, north of Tetbury then a short, well 15km, ride west to Crawley Hill. The return to Brizz would be a fairly straightforward affair with little climbing, just what you want on a hot day. I set off with my lunch into the already warm morning, looking forward to seeing some race action.

I'd like to say that i chose my route carefully but really it was a case of knowing the roads just well enough that i knew where i was headed, arriving at Tetbury Hill in Avening @ 30 minutes before the race was due having covered some 60km to reach it. I found a spot in the shade, consumed my lunch and along with maybe a couple of hundred others, waited. And waited but pretty much on schedule the race came through, a small breakaway group then a couple of minutes later an almost intact peloton.

I wasn't the only one with similar thoughts, riders of all levels and types littered the lanes across to the Cotswold edge, large numbers of fans were already parked and claiming their vantage points, i spotted a likely, well, spot in the shade and sat nyself down to wait. It was getting really quite warm even under the trees, a local householder came out with some assorted ice pops/lollies which were gratefully accepted, i scored a quite nice yoghurt lolly! More bikes kept coming, it wasn't a Yorkshire crowd but it was quite good to be part of!

The race arrived, the earlier breakaways on the verge of being caught, unbeknown to those at the roadside, the race had literally exploded in the previous five kilometres and so we were treated to a much longer spectating experience as tired and hot racers clawed their way past, the final rider passing over five minutes after the first. Of course it was chaos then as fans set off to recover their transport, i made my way down the hill and eventually down through Uley onto clearer roads, the police still holding traffic until the road above was at least reasonably clear.

I sort of hooked up with a couple of chaps for the first half of the return, trading the pacemaking as best as Foxy's low gearing could manage. TBH it was almost a relief when they took off to join some friends chasing along the road, it allowed me a more relaxed ride the rest of the way back. A total of 116km for the day, free entertainment and lunch set me back all of £1.89! I didn't get on TV myself but my bike did, sat in the sunshine at Avening.

Last night was horribly sticky again but the weather has broken, we've had rain this morning and temperatures are expected to be a bit cooler although its pretty humid. I've put up the next Gaby chapter, Marquee de Gab for your entertainment.

Next today is a walk to the shop for some milk then some lunch, i might manage a bit of writing later.

Thats it for today,
Tschuss,
Madeline Anafrid