The first day of training for our LEJOG journey, and what a day! Our plan was Bristol to Shepton Mallet, a cool 43 mile round trip, but that’s all it was, a plan.
We set out a 9AM, after a late one at the pub fantasizing about arriving in John o’Groats this august. A steady pace to start, then the constant uphill roads took their toll. 10 miles in and Marc discovered a fast puncture on his rear wheel. Stuck in a small village in Somerset, with no spares or inner tube. A pub on one side of the road, and a little chef on the other. As it was only 10AM, we were forced to go to the little chef. After a fried breakfast and pot of tea, we had our thinking caps on. Get the bus home!
We saw that there was a bus at half 10, so we waited. When it arrived, the driver said that we could not take our bikes on, we pleaded, he still said no. The waiter in little chef mentioned that there was a bike shop in Radstock, 3 miles away. So this was our new plan. We headed down the road, Marc jogging with his bike, and I following.
After a few minutes, I speeded on ahead, no idea where I was, or where I was going. After about 3 miles, I saw a small sign saying ‘town centre’. My pace quickened trying to find the probably non existent bike shop. After asking a couple of locals, I was directed up the road. A small skate shop was what I was presented with. Surprisingly, they didn’t sell the presta valve 700 inner tube, so a £2.50 repair kit would have to do.
I cycled back the away I came, only to find Marc sat outside a pub with a pint. He had done well to catch up. We now needed to get the tyre off, and I forgot to get levers. We borrowed some spoons from the bar, but they quickly bent. Keys, bottle openers, anything we could find trying to get the tyre off. We were now sat inside entertaining the locals.
Finally getting the tyre off with half a key, it had snapped, we went to repair the tyre. We found three in total, After fixing it, my expertise in puncture repair advised marc to inflate it hard to test it. A quick glance at the ITV featured movie, field of dreams, and I heard POP!
It was fair to say a lot of people were now laughing. I was, marc wasn’t. The landlord advised of a nearby Halfords, if only we knew this 3 hours ago. We replaced the tube, finished our pints and headed home. 4 pints each, it was going to be along ride home.
We got our heads down, and powered home. As soon as we arrived in Longwell green, it almost immediately got dark. Lucky as I had debated taking lights when we set off but chose not to.
A lessoned learned for all future trips. Take 101 spare tubes, and don’t drink on an empty stomach!
Final Stats:
Miles - 32.307
Max Speed - 35.7
Average Speed - 10.1
Time - 3:12:06
