Following my ride to Dover last week, I rode to Canterbury this weekend.

As with last time I got up at 4:30am had a bowl of porridge and a banana first.  While I was having breakfast I was watching the Olympics on BBC one which had the men’s road race.  It was interesting watching them in the first half as if they were out for a Sunday ride while 2 breakaway riders were powering ahead but would be caught by the group later.  One thing that made me chuckle was the support cars.  As I watched one of the lead cyclists from the Italian team dropped back to the support car and hung on to the door while he spoke to the coach.  He was only there for 3-5 mins max but what a great way to rest your legs!  Just let the car drag you along.  Then he powered back to the front half of the group and continued the race.  Is that allowed?  I don’t know but surely he had an advantage from that!

Anyway back to my ride.  I left the Olympic cyclists at 5:30am and headed out on the same route as last week.  Once again traffic was low but it was quite cold.  I followed the same route on the main roads up to Tenterden and then turned onto cycle route 18.

Once on the cycle routes the road quality decreased and it became much more hilly.  We followed route 18 right through Ashford.  Coming out the other side of Ashford the route split into two directions a diversion route and a normal route.  We didn’t think there would be anything to divert around!  Usually on a bike you can get through most things!  However as we cycled on through playing fields, I started to think the path got awfully narrow as it went under a railway bridge only to discover it ended at fence completely overgrown.  No getting over that.

Thankfully though we had just missed a sign and it was a simple matter to get back on track.  The road between Ashford and Canterbury took us over the North Downs.  This was great hill practise but awfully steep and seemingly never ending at points!

Then coming into Canterbury it was fun to ride though the cobbled streets of the historic town, we took pictures outside Canterbury Cathedral, and then went to Cafe Rouge for a coffee and a Bacon Baguette!

We thought there was plenty of time to get the train but went to the wrong station!  So pedalled fast back through the town centre just in time to jump on the 10:06am back to Paddock wood.

The Stats

Total Distance 48.35 miles – not as far as it was to Dover last week but the hills certainly made up for that!  I have now done 969.2 miles on my bike.  Looking forward to breaking through the 1,000 mile barrier.

Time 3 hours 11 minutes.

Average Pace 3.57 mins per mile

Average Speed 15.2 mph

Max Speed 34.6 mph Down one of the hills on the way to Canterbury

Total Ascent 3377 ft

Calories Burnt 3223 (how many are there in a bacon baguette?)

Looking at my counter the Pedal to Paris is now only 25 days to go, I want to raise £1000 for the Royal British Legion so Please Sponsor me here