Telemetry 7: 237km down range, altitude 6314m....

20,700 feet - a bit of a landmark and some genuine altitude. I've fitted expensive new tougher and stickier tyres to cope with the wet and grit - so the sun came out and I got a puncture anyway. The rain did not disappoint though and gave a good showing in the latter part of today's trek.

Looking out over Exmoor I could see this cloudburst sweeping in.



As it was coming in very fast I decided to play chicken with it - as I packed the camera away after this second shot and departed I was accompanied by the splat, splat of some big fat raindrops. These two pictures are taken a few seconds apart - so you can see how fast it was approaching.



I decided to stick to my route and attempt a fourth crossing of the hills rather than head down and south. The road kicked back round more than I anticipated back under this cloud - and I definitely lost the game of chicken.

But I did see some sunshine! Here's the proof.



And I like this one because it shows the rain going away from me.

Telemetry 5 and 6: 200.6km down range, altitude 5210m.

Begining to feel a little altitude sickness - now slightly higher than Pic Marguerite in the Rowenzora's. There's a bit of gratuitously random info!!

The weather has been holding things up a bit. Or not in the case of the contents of the spectacular thunder clouds we've had around for the last week. Today the road cycling was a bit tricky as there is now mud and cuttings over many of the lanes which doesn't encourage successful stopping on the downhills. Not that the brakes work too well anyway given the grinding paste that develops on the rims in the wet. The upshot is that I might include some of my ascendeur runs as, ironically, the MTB is not great for stacking up altitude - it becomes too much of an all day expedition.

On Saturday I did a short 16km ride from Portloe in Cornwall. Here's a view of the village from the cottage.



Sunday was a wash out and I went for a run along the coast with Mango, a dog.

Today looked like it might be a bit better so I set off - and got soaked in the first 2km!

Telemetry 4: 152.4 km down range, altitude 3834 metres.

After a break of a few days enjoying the rain and surf in Pembrokeshire I am back on the bike today - which I found suprisingly hard going. Added another 48km and 1000m anyway.

Very wet on the last downhill and really could not see where I was going. Good news though as I was able to top up with Tabasco Sauce at the halfway mark.

Now through the 12,000 foot mark - only 58,000 left to do.

Telemetry 3: 104.2 km down range, altitude 2826m

At 9,269 feet chasing the 10,000 foot mark hard - and very wet.

Telemetry not behaving very well and not storing stable track - can't understand what I am doing differently.

Telemetry 2: Altitude 1901m, 69.5km down range.....

Kingston St Mary over the Quantocks to Kilve and back via Will's Neck today. Met Office forecast light showers so I didn't bother with a waterproof as I had 7kg on my back as it was.



This is what it was like at Will's Neck on the outward leg. So the Met Office didn't quite get that quite right.

Picked this little chap up coming back up from the coast up through Lady Combe - he doesn't seem to mind the damp, although he speeded up a bit when he warmed up in my hand. This is the second one of these beautiful bronze slow worms that I have seen recently.



Weather did improve as the MO said and this is the view on the way back:



A lot better! 48.5km and 1071m later - not even hungry.

Telemetry 1: Lift off..........to 830m altitude, 21km down range.

I got the idea to cycle to the edge of space this morning when I was part of the way around a triple ascent of the Quantocks reaching 830m ascent over 21km.

This is the view from the second ascent above Triscombe. The bike is an Orbea - but more on technology in a later post.



Later I watched the rain come in at the top of the third ascent up Bagborough Hill onto Lydeard Hill. This is looking west to southern Exmoor.



I got a little bit wet on the way down, which was speedy.

James May at the edge of space......

Here is the clip of James May reaching 70,000 feet in a U2 and having his lunch. What I am going to do is cycle up there on my bike, tap on the window and give him a message. What should the message be? The prize for the winning suggestion will be a 3kg lump of moon rock.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8110001.stm

It's actually a very cool clip.