Day 3: Wednesday 4th April 2012 Spanish Point - Galway Approx 90K
(Today's route looks very short on paper but the wind was relentless which made it feel like one of the longest days)
Day three started with an early morning debate with Cara. We decided that it was best for her to take Fauna (the dog) home as she had been sick since the first day of cycling. We found out that the one and only bus out of Spanish point left at twenty past eight in the morning so we raced around the hotel trying to pack up everything for Cara and the dog. Cara grabbed some fruit for breakfast as I stalled the bus driver outside the hotel and then they were off.
The cycling started at approximately ten o’clock. I was reeling following our race to get Cara on the bus, quick breakfast and checking out of the hotel. We started on a hill and within a few minutes I could feel my mindset starting to drift in the wrong direction again. Thankfully those first kilometres turned out to be the hardest of the day and we went on to see some of the most beautiful scenery in Ireland over the rest of the day.
It was a long hard cycle and it was frustrating as we took lunch a bit too early so it seemed like we should have been finished hours before we did finish. Some of they cyclists decided to take a break in the afternoon and three or four of us started to up the pace and work as a tight unit. It was a long, hard spin to Galway for me as I think I was still recovering from my tiredness from the start of the week but the rest of the guys seemed to enjoy themselves.
At one point during the day (isolated from the pack and with the wind howling) I completely gave up on the Mizen to Malin Goal. I figured that this was just not enough fun, it was too hard etc. I was about to tell the guys and jump into one of the back-up cars and eat a vast quantity of chocolate. I then had a thought; ‘If I can make it to Galway then at least I can say I’ve cycled Mizen to Galway (approximately half the length of Ireland) and then I could always do the second half another time.’ I didn’t say a word to the rest of the gang but I quit mentally and it was a relief!
The hotel in Galway was really nice. The thougts of a nice long lie in in the morning there were tempting. Amazingly I had enough energy to make it down to the pool for a jacuzzi to help my legs as well as to the bar for a quick dinner. When preparing for the trip I had imagined going for swims and even brick sessions (jogs post cycling) but by the end of Day three I knew that was pure fantasy!
I went back to the basics that evening and decided to think about it one day at a time and even one scene at a time. After dinner I decided to just focus on recovery which needed to happen whether I proceeded or not. I fueled up as optimally as I could (pretzels and dioralyte for salts, fruit, lots of herbal tea and water). I also massaged out my legs and got a bath. I decided to have breakfast with the gang the following morning and not mention my quitting until the very last minute. If at the end of breakfast then I still wanted to quit I’d go back to bed for a lie in and let the team go on without me. That way I could opt out as the guys were leaving the hotel and avoid the inevitable slagging or worse still the encouraging pep talks encouraging me to continue.
After a chat with Cara on the phone I decided to have a look at the route for the following day. It was starting to look doable. A bit of hope came back that I could get through the following day. I knew that if I made it through until Day six that nothing would stop me from completing the journey but it was still too much to think about day four and five before that so I went back to my game plan and decided not to decide until after breakfast.
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