All through lockdown the weather was great with lots of settled and sunny days. While it was very welcome and enjoyable it wasn’t possible to enjoy it properly as a cyclist with the travel restrictions that were in place.

Since going back to work on the 8th of June the weather has taken a significant turn for the worse. It has become cooler but also a lot windier and with spells of rain including a couple of unseasonable storms.

The weather, less spare time and tiredness from work has led to reduced cycling opportunities and therefore reduced mileage from May to June.

I had a plan to complete the June Metric Challenge on Sunday but a weekend of heavy rain, thunderstorms and localised flooding put paid to that. Yesterday was my first day off since meaning this year June has 31 days, I’m calling 2020 a Lockdown Leap Year!

My chosen route was an extension of my last longish ride and a route I haven’t ridden since October 2017 taking me across the border to Castlederg and home via Newtownstewart and Strabane. Total distance was to be 107km.

Everything was going well until the 60K mark, between Castlederg and Newtownstewart. I started feeling queasy and my energy levels were starting to drop. The first half of the spin was fast with a 29.9km/h average at 50K. I was starting to think I’d gone out too hard and was having my first “bonk“. I managed to crawl my way to Newtownstewart where I’d decided to have a break, eat a sandwich and have a can of Coke.

Unfortunately my sandwich choice wasn’t as plain as I’d expected with lots of mayonnaise and onions that wasn’t exactly what my queasy stomach needed. Initially when I left Newtownstewart I felt a little better and with 75K done I was confident of getting home in decent shape. However, with a bit of a headwind and a rolling hilly road my batteries were soon depleted again and I was in limp mode all the way to Strabane and 90K.

I pulled into a shop, got a cup of tea to try and settle my stomach, worked out that 10K would take me to Castlefinn and made arrangements for Catriona to come and pick me up there. With that decision made and a bit of relief from the breeze I pushed on with my head down and simply ground out the final 10K to get across the 100K line.

I’m still not feeling 100% today, a kind of hungover type feeling. I have a feeling that I’ve picked up a mild bug, probably at work, and hopefully will be back to normal again soon with a few days of rest and TLC.