180km bike

First down a narrow bike path with lots of support, then out onto a big road – Shiraz is there to shout at me – hi honey!

Then on to the first group of pirate supporters – excellent supporting! Then I saw my first crash – you plonkers – don’t you realise that this is a non-competitive leisure event?

And then it was time to look at my heart rate… Now the last time I’d worn a heart rate monitor was Bala in 2006. And I had no idea what values to expect or what values to aim for…. This was my big something new on race day… I did know from one of the turbo reports that someone had aimed for a heart rate of under 130 for the flat and under 150 for the hills… so I thought I’d try that too. Only my heart rate was already 140… So I decided instead to do under 140 for the flat and under 160 for the hills…

And so it went… lots of “zuper zuper hup hup” from spectators. Lots of bling bikes passing me very quickly. Some very slow hill climbs from me (160 – yeah right?!) Then I saw Brian – well done on getting all those photos, BtS! Then I saw Firestar and Meldy coming the other way after the switchback… And overall I thought the bike course was really very pretty….

Then Mr RodioGirl came past me, then CRAB came past me (“as you were” emblazoned across his arse) then the big hill, Rupert-The-Bear, wasn’t that bad! Really – it was honestly quite short and not at all steep. And the DJ near the top was excellent – I think I got YMCA first time – cool!

 

Some things that did go wrong:
- I had lots of chain trouble – I think it fell off 5 times in total (I blame the idiot who fiddled with the gears on Thursday!), although I only had to stop once to get it back on the hard way…
- I had one muppet cut across me and hit my front wheel with his rear – thanks.
- I did need a few pee stops – someone shouted “amateur” on the first of these, and on the second my aim was off so I ended up peeing on my flapjack – what a waste.
- The supplied ISO drink was lemon (YUK!), the alternative was coke (YUK!) and what I picked up seemed pretty random at each drinks station.

Then back into town… where the pirate supporters were so loud and superb (it turns out they did later get stopped and asked by the police if they were a protest – lol!)

Then the turnaround… half way in 2:55 – superb! …Then back out for lap 2… although I did stop for 2 minutes at “special needs” where I found Shiraz for a snog and for a mars bar donated by Hannabelle (thanks H – MWAH!)

The second lap was like the first really. My speed was definitely flagging a bit. My heart rate was a bit higher too. And it was sunnier and hotter – I did start to wonder where I’d left my sunglasses…

Somewhere on RupertTheBear I was amazed to catch up with Mr RodioGirl – he’d decided to slow down to enjoy Falco’s Rock Me Amadeus from the DJ… although as we approached this became Queen, We Will Rock You – good hand pumping music…

I then worked out I had to push on if I wanted to get sub-6 for the bike…. so for the first time I forgot “non-competitive” and I tried to cut my way through the crowds…

One final swing past the pirate support post on the way into town – discovered only Shiraz was left – hi honey – 2 down

Bike Time – 5:55:38 – my GPS measured the course a bit short but I’m *not* going to ask for any extra distance!