I have never not wanted to do something as much as I didn't want to ride the leg this morning. Before the ride, I just sat in the front of the 'Venga Bus' support van and closed the door so I was just sat on my own. I eventually brought myself round to the point where I was ready to get stuck into the ride and got myself sorted with all my kit.

The hills out of Bath are almost as good as the hills going into the city and we warmed up pretty quickly on our slog out! We had set a marker out to get to Marlborough which was going to be about 33 miles. The rolling hills were mentally and physically tough and I was really starting to wonder if I was going to get to the Madejski Stadium where London Irish play their home games.

We past the White Horse in Cherhill which was a nice of the country to be going on a ride through. Arriving in Marlborough at just about 1 pm we parked up right next to the school which was one of the best looking schools I have seen I think. We looked completely out of place, 3 blokes, stinking, sweaty and stuffing our faces with all the crap we could eat! We didn't look great to say the least! It started to rain during lunch and for the second time this trip we had to get our very attractive bright yellow waterproof jackets on.

The second part of the leg was far flatter than the first part and we were really flying along. We did the next 10 miles after lunch at an average speed of about 20 miles an hour which was great but meant that I thought I was going to die! The fact that Steve managed to get another set of directions wrong fired us up even more and we were getting closer to Reading all the time at what seemed like an ever increasing speed. 

We got to the stadium and via some very flat country roads which allowed us to keep up the pace of the ride. Arriving at the stadium we were greeted by Barrie, who had returned from his trip to see Boyzone - very dodgy as he is going again soon - and the rest of the team and also Sky TV. They filmed a piece which will be shown on this week's Rugby Club if any of you reading this are interested. The staff at the stadium were really helpful and they allowed us to have our massages done in the changing rooms which were the most painful rubs I have ever gone through.

John Sleightholme has joined us for the last leg and will be riding with us tomorrow which will be great -  as long as he doesn't set off at the pace he did the other day on our leg through the Midlands.

If any of you are reading this and are around to come along to Twickenham for about 5.30 - 6.00 pm it would be great to see you down there so I can fall off the bike and see some friendly faces. Thanks again for all your support  through the ride and the messages many of you have left, they have been great. Let's hope the final day goes as quickly as today.......