05/07/2023 – PCR2023 – Day 4

I awoke a couple of times in the night as it was chillier than the summer race had advertised and our alarms woke us up far earlier than we deserved. We stirred as the sky was starting to lighten.

With around 540km (335 miles) to go and setting off at 6am I had 2 options which I spent the entire morning calculating and recalculating.

Option 1: Aim for the ferry on the morning of Day 5 which set sail at 8:30am. This meant that I had at best 25 and a half hours to make it. This was an elapsed average of 21.2kmph.

Option 2: Aim for the ferry in the evening of Day 5 which set sail at 11pm. This meant that I had at best 40 hours to make it. This was an elapsed average of 13.5kmph.

My plan was to ambitiously aim for Option 1. Inside I knew I wouldn’t make it but just on the off chance that I had the day of my life, who knows. It would have been my biggest ride in one go ever but hey, worth a shot.

I would need to set off at a firm pace anyway today in order to ensure that Option 2 was still an option come Day 5 as anything can happen in terms of setbacks.

The ride started off chilly but with a nice gentle descent into Morlaix 24km from where we camped. It was a chance to pick up some supplies, get some food quickly in and sort out some kit.

The route went along the coast and followed it to the north and the east where I bumped into Toby, one of the race organisers. I stopped for a chat and rode past a puddle a few times for an artistic shot and was on my way.

5 hours in I had made it 95km, a little bit behind my intended pace but it was still on the cards if I had a nice tailwind so stopped for a stock up of food, drinks and for lunch at Ozgur Kebab in Lannion.

I was stopped for a little longer than planned but managed to get some race admin and hygiene things sorted. Again, I know the areas that I need to improve on if I want to place higher in future years.

The route carried on round the coast which lent itself to some stunning views before heading inland a bit towards Saint-Brieuc. Time was ticking by and I was keeping a nice average speed so still had a glimmer of hope that I could make the morning ferry.

One of the main reasons to aim for the morning ferry was that it was shorter, would have the ability to sleep on the ferry instead of in a field somewhere and would give me a good jump up the leaderboard (not that I was really keeping an eye on it).

I was starting to have a problem with my rear mech, it was struggling to keep tension and causing the chain to slap on the chain stay if I was in a gear that would cause the rear mech to move back too much ie small ring at the front and a smallish cog at the back.

When I stopped for nature breaks or to fill up my water bottles I’d have a go at trying to fix it without taking it apart and it wasn’t doing anything.

The day was getting late and alongside a stunning backdrop of forests and a flat calm coastline I bumped into Laurence Kilpatrick (not the other Loz) and we got to chatting. We’d cycled with each other earlier in the race but had ridden in different patterns so hadn’t crossed paths at all.

We got to chatting and we both had similar plans of reaching the morning ferry but like myself, he seemed a bit dubious as to whether it would happen or not. We agreed that the best thing to do would be to ride on as far as we could into the night, see where we get to and that should put us in good stead to make the evening ferry (which was still not an easy task).

I stopped to put on some warm and reflective kit to settle into the night shift and Laurence set off into the night. I popped in my headphones and chased after him.

The sun was setting and I wasn’t gaining any ground on him and I was starting to get sleepy. The route passed through the seaside town of Saint-Cast-le-Guildo where there were a number of restaurants, hotels and bars that I could stop at on this bustling Wednesday evening.

The route headed back inland through some country lanes when I started to get really drowsy. I was a few hundred meters shy of 300km but I didn’t see the point of rounding it off as I saw an open gate to a field, swung to the other side of the road, hiked my bike into the field and got down for a couple of hours sleep.

I bedded down at midnight with my alarm set for 3:30am with 240km to do before 10pm. This likely meant a required average elapsed speed of 13kmph, very achievable as long as nothing went wrong.