The first real day of cycling and as we headed out I felt positive about my day. Only 75 miles and nothing too serious to contend with. However, stupidly I have not been eating enough and I need to focus on larger calorific intakes. As it turned out the 1600m of vertical climb I had somehow overlooked, and that coupled with a windless and baking hot day, made it a really uncomfortable experience. A couple of pastries and a pizza did not really replace the near 3000 calorie output. It was made worse by our last stop – a medieval town called Domfront. As Den and I dismounted our bikes my head span as I experienced a mini-bonk. The lack of food meant my body had burnt up any energy reserves I thought I had put away.
After a moments composure, we climbed with cobbled streets up to the main town in the hope we would find food. Despite many cafes having boards displaying their menus, none of them would serve us until 6 o’clock. We therefore had to make the final 20 miles on just a glass of lemonade.
All this began to mess with my head and thoughts of the family at home did play on my mind. I knew this would not be easy, but I must stop making it harder for myself by not eating enough. Den and I have eaten well tonight and a good night’s sleep hopefully will do the trick.