As said in previous posts I was riding in the Double Century yesterday as part of the Wannabee Better CCH team one of five Wannabee teams in the event. We finished in a respectable 7:47. The goal had been 7 hours but unfortunately I was the slow-coach who held the guys back. Thankfully as a team we had already agreed to stick together so three of the guys were amazing at actually pushing me up bits of the last three hills, thanks go to Petie, Schalk & Smiley! I was determined to finish, but was equally happy for the guys to drop me and go for a better time. Now I have to live with the guilt. ;-)
I was fine for the first 150k's but then my bum gave out. I've had some issues previously with my saddle but yesterday's race was the last straw! The saddle will be replaced imminently. The lads kept offering me cramp-stop as well as advice on eating etc. but the problem quite simply was a very sore bum on which I struggled to sit. That being said, the last three hills going into Swellendam each felt like Mt. Everest and I had probably underestimated how tough they would be.
The official results have just been posted on the Winning Time website and our team time was 7:47:04 with my personal time being 3 seconds behind. We finished 86th out of 191 teams so just within the top half of the field. My personal result was 687/1579 which puts me well into the top half which makes me quite happy. So next year I'll train a bit harder and hopefully finish a bit stronger.
Overall the race was a lot of fun along a brilliant route and the weather was just about perfect. The team were great, a real pleasure to ride with and our support crew of Archie and Ina were amazing, Thanks guys!
We passed a few friends along the way and my friend Nigel from church finished 10 minutes ahead of us, although I know he was disappointed with the time.
Full results available here.
Mountain biking as a workout.
1 month ago
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