The Tour of Britain

Last Thursday the Tour of Britain cycling race was in Devon and part of the stage was only about 15 miles north of Torquay, having got into cycling in a big way over the last few months I had to go and have a look. Luckily (or unlucky) the nearest point to Torquay was a category 1 climb from Bovey Tracey up to Haytor, 6km of some pretty tough climbing, it was a really good cycle and at the top there were some really big crowds.

One of the more enthusiastic members of the crowd

As we all waited for the cyclists to come through the atmosphere slowly built as more police motorbikes than I've seen in my life went through clearing the road followed by some of the team cars then in the distance we could see the helicopter meaning the cyclists weren't far away. The cyclists were really shifting considering the gradient of the climb with some looking as though they were finding it harder than others. I managed to see all the big contenders including Mark Cavendish and the gold jersey.

The Gold Jersey (Leading rider in the tour of Britain)

After all the cyclists had gone through along with the broom wagon there was mass exodus by all the cyclists that had come up to watch. I took a scenic route back through Dartmoor back to Torquay.

Up close and personnal with the Tour of Britain cyclists

My training is progressing just about as well as I could have hoped for and on Saturday morning I met with my good friend Adharanand Finn. This was the first time I have met Finn on English soil as we met out in Iten. Finn moved out there about the same time as I when I first went out and we met at a cross country race in Eldoret. Finns reason for being out in Iten was that he was/is writing a book called "Running with the Kenyans" (which you can pre-order on Amazon) I can't wait for the book to come out as in some ways it mirrors the experiences I had whilst living out in Kenya so to relive it through someone Else's eyes will be brilliant.

Finn out in Iten proudly displaying his "Iten Town Harriers" racing vest