Molly and I had been out regularly with the Club and had put a few miles in, but lack of continuous time and any really long rides, meant that we were both relying on the fact that it couldn't be that difficult! We would finish, but neither of us knew how fast we could, or should, be going.
When we booked in, the short course was 40 miles, the Epic was 100. After the route was finalized, the short one had turned into 54 - Molly was convinced I had lied about this from the start, but I can assure my reader that this is not the case.
We stayed locally the night before and had a relaxed evening with some of the other Club guys at the excellent Lamb Inn at Nomansland, followed by a short night's sleep, early check-out and cafe breakfast before the short drive to the start.
You never know how you will be 'on the day' with these things. I had a premonition that I would be finishing strong but way-back, having badly paced myself. Molly didn't admit to any pre-race nerves at all.
The 'girls' had got together at the start, but didn't remain that way long. Molly came in quite a way ahead of the others after riding the majority of the route on her own.
She readily admits to having absolutely no idea where she was at any stage of the event, or how far she had gone or how far it was to the end. Having said all that, she followed the arrows, did her own pace-making, ate her body weight in flapjacks and came in with a very creditable 4:58. An absolutely top job :-)
The 'boys' were split from the start as two of the team set off, leaving the five of us to chase them down once the bikes were sorted (gulp) .. It felt like we were going quick, but it's all relative. By the time we reached the first pit stop, we had caught (and left) the others.
Team Wealden Cycles - Simon, Justin, Johnny and Rick carbo-load (and look cool) at 31 miles.
Generally, most folk have a bad patch over a long event, but on this this particular day, I didn't. I wasn't particularly quick, but I didn't have a flat spot at all and came back in an OK time of 6:37, missing the 'Gold' level time by a measly 10 mins - and we probably spent 20 minutes eating at the rest stops !
As it turned out there was very little between the five of us, so I consider the day a small success and it gives me something to work on for next time. I got back to the car clutching medal and tee shirt to find Molly with her feet on the dashboard reading a book .. "What kept you?"
Big thanks to Simon Relf at Wealden Cycles for organizing a very enjoyable weekend.
Next ? Not sure, because the convenient local Sportive has just been cancelled, but in the long term I have booked the Velothon Wales for June 2015, but then realized that the other big event I have committed to is the following weekend ! Chase the Sun is held on the weekend of the longest day and comprises a 200 mile cycle from Kent's Isle of Grain to Brean Sands in Somerset. We start at sunrise and need to finish by sunset ... that will be a little 'tester' :-)
