Day 2: Hills, Heat, and a Hint of Heartbreak!

If Day 1 was a warm-up, Day 2 decided to skip all pleasantries and smack me straight in the face. Honestly, it might just be one of the toughest “wheels” I’ve ever done.The terrain was unforgiving: 50km along country lanes that were less “quaint countryside” and more “steep, uneven punishment.” I barely had five minutes of warming up before the first brutal incline... 16% gradient, straight out of the gate. From there, the theme of the day was hills, hills, and… more hills. Declines? Rare, stingy little things. One particular incline stretched nearly 20 km, climbing between 16% and 20% the whole way. My arms would like to formally file a complaint. Joel, my loyal videographer/ roadside cheerleader, managed to capture some footage of the worst of it. He deserves a medal himself, running ahead, dodging traffic, and somehow filming me looking vaguely like I wasn’t about to collapse. Then he disappeared back to the hotel for hours (Uber logistics, editing, general wizardry), while I trudged on like a broken wind-up toy. And the heat... oh, the heat. Not the muggy, sticky kind I’ve cursed in Devon, but the kind that’s deceptively fresh until you realise your skin is sizzling like bacon. By mid-afternoon, I could actually feel (and smell) my back burning. Add my right hand swelling like a balloon and my left knee feeling as though someone had taken a sledgehammer to it… let’s just say the romance of the countryside was wearing thin. There was one gutting moment: spotting a baby deer, clearly hit and killed on the roadside. It stopped me in my tracks and nearly brought me to tears. A brutal reminder that not all of nature’s stories are uplifting. But... and this is why I keep going... the people. So many smiles, thumbs-ups, and shouts of encouragement from strangers along the route. Then, back at the hotel, the most incredible messages from around the world. Messages from people whose lives have been changed through ChildFund, thriving thanks to the rugby community. Those words carried me more than any protein bar ever could.

Dinner, too, was mercifully better than the previous night’s tragedy of underwhelming choices. A quite decent menu, proper gluten-free options, and enough calories to fuel tomorrow’s madness. Small mercies. So, yes, my body is sore, my spirit a little frayed, but that’s part of the deal. Day 2 broke me down, but the amazing support crew and the purpose (and a decent plate of food) built me right back up... Onward.