After finishing my blog on Tuesday night I went for dinner expecting to escape any kind of fine, but ended up getting stitched up – again. There definitely seems to be a conspiracy.
We were cycling with the new group and got split up a little when we were told one of our cyclists had suffered a puncture. I suggested we should go back but Lee Dixon said the other chap would be just fine, or words to that effect.
Anyway, it was only an inner tube that needed replacing and the support crew soon had him back on the road again.
So I thought nothing of it until after dinner it was all turned on its head and I was accused of refusing to go back and help a member of the group I was captaining. I tried putting my case for the defence, but Judge Dallaglio was having none of it and I ended up having to take my punishment – a measure of Ouzo.
Dixon escaped again.
The Court adjourned in time for the Barcelona versus Chelsea game, but unfortunately I was unable to Tweet as I couldn’t get a signal in the hotel.
And what an amazing game it was. Both Lee and I were saying how if we had been commentating in the TV studio we would have got so many predictions wrong.
So much happened that you couldn’t have expected with Barcelona opening the scoring, the sending off, Barcelona’s second then Ramires scoring a brilliant goal. The drama of it all was amazing.
The fact Messi missed a penalty and hit the post it was quite a bizarre evening and even the Chelsea fans watching at the hotel were delighted but couldn’t work out how it happened. It was just an amazing defensive display by ten men and a makeshift central defence with Gary Cahill also having limped off injured early in the game.
It was a wonderful performance over the two legs and Chelsea deserve their place in the final.
The Day 3 ride was 88 kilometres from Prevesa along the west coast to Igoumenitsa where we said goodbye to Greece and boarded an overnight ferry for the Italian port of Brindisi.
The crossing took seven hours but I probably only managed three hours’ sleep. It was a good journey but quite noisy and with a bit of movement. Not the ideal preparation for a big ride today.
We docked at 7 o’clock and had breakfast provided by our catering company before we got going.
I only did half of it on my own bike. Stuart Block is a school teacher who has taken a sabbatical to complete a long cycle from Cape town in South Africa to London on a tandem and he has been joined by various people along the way.
He is doing a couple of stages of the Cycle Slam and asked me at lunch if I would do 20 km with him and then get back on my own bike.
It sounded like fun and was different to riding alone. In some ways it was easier, but in others it was harder.
It is a much heavier frame and was much heavier for the climbs, particularly as it had big tractor tyres rather than road tyres. It was hard going. But it did have music so it was nice to have some tunes along the way.
It was also hot in southern Italy and the accumulation of the 520 kilometres has left me looking forward to a day off more than I have for many years.
My legs are sore and it just feels that I am running out of energy and I am ready for a bit of down time.
It has all been pretty non-stop so far. At the end of a day’s ride you have the evening meal and then you have to prepare for the next day and make sure everything is organised and ready to be moved on to the next destination.
It will be nice to actually unpack something and spend two nights in the same bed.
So we will be saying goodbye to the Stage 1 riders tonight and welcoming those for Stage 2 starting on Saturday.
Although we are busy with the cycling we haven’t forgotten that we are still some way short of our target of raising £2.012 million.
The figure has just broken through the £1.2 million barrier. If you want to find out more about how the money will be spent visit www.dallaglioflintoff2012.com and if you are able to make a donation please visit my money giving page .
