Only one more to go!

The overnight frost didn’t happen due to the cloud cover which was a pleasant surprise when I eventually dragged my ass out of bed shortly after 8:30am. I was still tired and my legs felt heavy but at least I was in bed at a decent time and had a good night’s sleep. The first since Xmas Day!

Today’s route took me back to Raphoe once again but coming at it from the opposite direction this time. When putting together my plan I had it in as a road I haven’t ridden in a couple of years. As a Club we’ve been avoiding the climb out of Stranorlar to the Kilross junction as it’s the main road to Letterkenny, quite narrow with no hard shoulder and can be very busy with lots of impatient drivers. However, with the very hard frost on Saturday morning we ended up riding it as a safer gritted road for our Club Twixmas Spin. Still, it was nice to get a chance at it on my own again today and the traffic wasn’t too bad this morning with most people probably still off work.

It’s a fairly stiff climb out of Stranorlar with a second climb into Raphoe from Convoy. While the first climb is one I just wanted to get over, due to traffic concerns, the second climb is very enjoyable and it was only when my power output hit 180W that my tired quads starting moaning.

The drop out of Raphoe towards Ballindrait is one of the most enjoyable around here. It’s a rolling road that starts with a big descent with a couple of punchy climbs in the middle.

After a tea break in Lifford I crossed over into Strabane and returned home via the Urney Road and Castlefinn. I’d planned for 57km today but added 3km extra in Ballybofey and 1km at the very end to get me over the 450km mark.

Something weird was going on with my chest strap today. It has been giving some low readings the last few days so I figured the battery was getting low. Swapped it out this morning and while all was well at the start it went bananas after about 20km.

I’ve removed the battery in an effort to reset it and I’ll see what the story is on tomorrow’s ride.

I’m a little bit concerned about tomorrow’s forecast. It’s giving to freeze hard from early this evening and well into the morning tomorrow. I have a good cushion of extra kilometres built up so only need 48km tomorrow to finish the challenge. However, I’d like to do the planned 60km route tomorrow and I’d really like to start and finish from home as I’ve done that with all the rides so far. I just need our road to stay dry and ice free for one final day 🤞

• Rides Completed: 6
• Total Distance: 452km
• Distance Remaining: 48km