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Cycling · BHF 108km bike race result!
BHF 108km bike race result!
30.04.2009. 15:26
Well, it's taken this long to gather the energy to write an entry on how it went after the 66 mile ride, but here goes... ;)
Ha ha, it wasn't that bad really!
Firstly, although I have been previously writing about a 100km race this ride was actually 108km!
We got there for about 8.45 and after a quick stop at the mobile bike mechanics to borrow their awesome pump we would be ready to go. 100PSI later and the start was drawing closer. At 9 on the dot we all set off (although the horn was broken so we just kind of guessed when to go!).
We were quite near the front and so set off with the faster group. There was a suspect bit of off road to begin with which made me happy I hadn't spent more than £200 on my road bike as I wouldn't have wanted to go over it on an expensive bike! After that though we got back onto the road and after a mile or so disaster struck... I got a puncture (co-incidence after our little off road adventure??!)!!
Although I have about 100 spare mountain bike inner tubes I didn't have any spare inner tubes for these wheels as the wheels are new, and I've never had a road bike before. Luckily I had a puncture repair kit, but no pump as this had died just before we set off. this is a long and elongated story, but basically this happened 3 times within the first ten miles, mainly due to me rushing to get the puncture fixed. Each time we had to flag someone down with a pump to find where the air was leaking, fix the puncture and then flag someone else down to re-inflate the tyre!! Nightmare, but I will learn from it!
Anyhow, after it was finally fixed we set off and didn't make a bad pace at all considering. We came in well under 6 hours and at least 45 minutes was taken up with repairing the various punctures and we also stopped for half an hour for a spot of lunch, just over half way round the course (by some lovely old ladys who bore an uncanny resemblance to the women on the Shreddies adverts!).
With regards to the course it was much worse than any of my training rides which was a bit of a shock to the system, but the more huge hills you are confronted with, the less the next ones seems to phase you. This coupled with the fact that it was a race setting with lots of other people going through the same pain definitely helped matters.
The most important thing though was that I raised £280 for the British Heart Foundation (with giftaid that's £354.74). This amount is beyond my wildest dreams and I am sure that it will benefit so many people, so a huge thank you to everyone who sponsored me.
I think I will give the 100km mark another crack, although this time take it a bit more seriously and if it is a flatter course, definitely go for a sub 4:20 time.
That, and the fact I have just registered in the ballot for the Marathon 2010.... =o/
Ride Time: 5 hours 50 minutes
Ride Distance: 108km (66 miles)
Ride difficulty: Medium / Hard
Edit (Mar 2010) - We are now gearing up to the
2010 BHF 66 mile bike ride...
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