There was a tough steep climb for the first few miles away from transition which took us up on to the open Moorland of the final national park we'd visit; the North Yorkshire Moors. The terrain had again changed and was now wide open heather covered moorland dotted with forests.
Once up on the moor the road became an almost straight undulating ribbon of smooth tarmac. The road was descending all the way to Catterick which gave an absolutely brilliant 15-20km which was dispatched at great speed as I improvised a tuck position with elbows on the bars. I think there was about 10 minutes where I barely dropped below 30 mph without much effort at all.
A quick wiggle through Catterick had me on the road to Northallerton with just a slight detour when I missed an unmarked turn. Sticking religiously to the rules I added a few kms to the distance to avoid being on a B road for too long. In Catterick we went past a market complete with burger bars whose was a bit like torture as I cruised past sucking in yet another gel.
Just outside Catterick Liam came past rapidly followed by Anthony Emmet both looking like they were on a real mission.
The road turned South to Northallerton straight into a viciously strong headwind which made the last leg a real slog into town.
The finish was at the leisure centre and in a surprising bit of foresight I'd checked the road names I needed. This turned out to be a really good move as the two teams in front cruised past the turn that looked like a dead end and I leapfrogged them to the finish, crossing the line after another couple of hours giving a total time of just over 7 hours.
Liam was still loitering so he really hadn't got there much before me which was great. He'd lost a bit of time after an incident saw his front wheel part company, but was still firmly in the lead.
A quick chat and we headed off to B&Bs, me cycling the few miles through town to cool the legs down. I had a room all to myself tonight in a B&B just over the road from mum & dad and Liam which made the logistics easier and I soon settled for a very long shower to try and remove the huge amounts of peat and mud I'd brought back with me.
Later on me and Liam and his crew drove out along the first stage of the morning to check the route (hilly!) and had a lovely huge meal at the pub where transition would be. A quick briefing and we were ready for the final day.
Starts were an hour earlier so with a 6:30 slot it was an early night for me.
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