Today found us leaving Shrewsbury and heading south fast in the sunshine towards Wales. It was great to be back in jerseys again and the red machine was picking up pace as we headed towards the Bristol Channel. 96 miles today, although there's always a few extra miles thrown in for fun.
You'll notice that one of the riders in our pelaton is always in yellow, as in the Tour de France but this 'maillot jaune' is actually called the 'Smello Jersey!' As cyclists burn thousands of calories each day, it's really important to ensure that we eat enough high energy food known as carbohydrate each day and protein for muscle rebuilding over night. This has a certain side effect which I'll leave you to work out!!!! ;) The 'Smello Jersey' is not awarded to the best cyclist but the one who you don't want to cycle behind in the pelaton. I don't think it's an award that is recognised widely across the world!
We had a fantastic climb through the Forest of Dean in Wales which had bend after bend of Alpine style road going through the forest. It was a real work out with a rewarding decent the other side. All the boys pushed hard to prove they could climb like Contador and I felt rather old as most of them went past me. I got my revenge as we descended and Andy Timothy (Monsieur Champignion) reminded me that 'Fat goes fast down hill!'
It was great to roll across the Old Severn Road Bridge and know that we were close to home ground. Just three more days to go and we'll have gone end to end.
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