A ride through the countryside...

I didn't manage to get out on my bike during the week, partly because of work, but also because the weather's not been great and the Tour de France on TV has been a distraction.

However, today I went on a 55 mile ride with a mate from work. We met up at Shenfield station and cycled through the Essex countryside. We started out really well, setting a good pace on fairly level roads and with the wind behind us. We stopped off at a pub for lunch and, after taking a wrong turning, we then had to negotiate some busy roads. We dropped down into a place called Paper Mill Lock, which has a steep climb the other side, probably the biggest climb locally. I made it to the top without too much trouble, though afterwards my legs started to feel a little tired, made worse by the rest of the ride being uphill into quite a strong wind. We made it back to Shenfield OK, and it was a good day out.

This is the profile of today's ride:

When compared with the toughest stage on my tour (same scale) then today's ride looks like a walk in the park:

I know the stage is going to be a killer for me, but I'm just going to take my time and enjoy the views at the top followed by the fast descents. I'm not going to have much choice!