Loppington 103m

It's cool at 8am - about 5 deg C - but there's bright sunshine, little breeze and it should be dry for the ride, and 14 deg C is forecast. Down to Plas Newton Lane to find my luck's in with three windshields lined up - luxury. Phil and Gary were expected but Neil's entered on the line. As last week's ride went so well we hope to emulate the success by taking the same approach - start slowly, let the pace build and finish strongly.
Out into the lanes in through and off formation with each doing a 2.5 miles stint on the front. It's going like clockwork with the pace soon at 16mph average. We're all feeling relaxed so the pace builds a little to our first break at Overton when we're at 17.0 mph after 32 miles. A bit of B road to Ellesmere gets us into the lanes again through Lee and on to Cockshutt where we cross the A road for the lanes to our most southerly point at Loppington, and on via Dobsons Bridge to land at Prees and the Raven cafe with 17.2 mph showing. Now, how much fuel do you need on a ride? Phil has egg on toast, I have egg, beans and chips, Neil has the mini breakfast with toast. but Gary has the cafe's Gutbuster breakfast PLUS toast; and he was first to finish. He deserves a medal.
Out of the Raven my Garmin goes funny, so that's why Gary's link is below. We're turning north, no apparent headwind and the pace builds (those breakfasts work). Ightfield and Audlem are fleeting images, as are Ravensmoor, Bunbury and Beeston. It's obvious that Phil has his mind on a quick average and we don't know if our legs can stand it. A diversion: how about a cuppa at the Ice Cream Farm? YES, unanimous. Here we can recover and get some carbs in - scone and a lot of jam, with enough tea to put a wavy line across the eyeballs. We check the average before we depart, 17.3 mph.
More pace as the scones burn through Hargrave, Tarvin and Barrow until the 100 miles comes up at Morley Bridge. Final concensus for the average is 17.4 mph. This is the fastest Smiler ride to date and the fastest 100 for all of us. We arrive back at the County Officers in good shape so something is working.
See the route by clicking the link below.

Smilers 110 miler. by kmaoudis at Garmin Connect - Details