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I am planning ahead, and this time I may even decide to do 20 Km each way by BIKE (to and from the event). This is the route.

Now for the real thing…

Ruislip to Hastoe

Hastoe to Worlds End

Worlds end to Ruislip

I just discovered that I can also use the underground to get there. Handy if I am totally zoned out. Also – not taking the car gives me the opportunity to call home and get a lift – but I do hope this is not going to be needed.

Weather forecast is quite gloomy. Not too cold and windy – but rain galore! I am not going to give up as yet.

Update – post event.

Weather was REALLY nasty for about 30-45 minutes. I don’t know exactly how long – but it was certainly long enough to totally completely and utterly soak me up. There was a time, I confess, that I thought to just call Miri and ask her to come and collect whatever will be left of my dripping self. At the end I didn’t and am very proud of it. So this is the first time ever for me to cover 145 Km in a day! I cycled 20 Km each way to the event and about 105 in the event itself – so overall I am really pleased.

Other than the weather, I am also quite happy with the fact that I did not give up when we had a really STEEP mountain/hill/ascend to climb. It was not very long, but it was long enough and steep enough to force several people to just give up and walk. I didn’t. Mind you, I don’t think I would have been able to cope much longer, but luckily my endurance was not put to such severe test!

When I came home to the beaming with pride wife I was not as shattered as I thought I would be. Having said that, I though to myself that I covered just 10% of the LEL distance – and when going to sleep I was pondering if I would ever be up to such a huge challenge. The next day, while cycling to work, I was a bit sore – but not too bad. The amazing thing for me was the Tuesday, where I found myself totally at ease with riding the bike at speeds rarely contemplated before – and doing so uphill too! Clearly my body (muscles primarily I guess) develops after such ‘shock’ to the system and I am then able to cope with higher demands with greater ease. Bottom line – there may be chance for me to do it after all 🙂 Only one more year to go!

The certificate:

Another 110 Km under the belt – and I think I did it at the record speed of 20Km/h on the average. I am certainly improving!

Some highlights. I managed to start with a large group of experienced riders and managed to keep up with them for about 20 minutes 🙂 They (and me too!) were averaging 26-27 Km/hour and I was very proud to last however long I did… It’s clearly the uphill which distinguishes the boys from the men – and I feel very much the former when it comes to climbing hills.

The weather, overall, was OK. We did get the occasional shower and some unexpected hails, but it was not long lasting and I dried up relatively quickly. I was cold, though, most of the time (especially my feet!) but not actually freezing, and I was pleased not to have taken any extra layers of clothing.

On the way I met a nice guy who was doing his first Audax ride. His name was Morris and he played football for many years. It showed. Perhaps lightly less experienced than me, he not only coped, but clearly had to wait for me on several occasions. He must have decided that my company is preferable to shaving some minutes of his arrival time.

Then there were two people with just one leg. I have never seen one-legged people cycling before and I was amazed at their dexterity and endurance. More embarrassing was the fact that they would overtake me after every break we had. All – except the last one where Morris and I managed to finish the course perhaps one or two minutes before them. Quite inspirational!

Oh – and there was food and cakes – all FOC. Of course, donations were welcome, so I contributed few pounds to the fund, but the food was just great.

Having recovered from the ride, I managed to get to Oxford and see Shani, including a nice meal at a Chinese. That was great and I enjoyed the company – and the food.

The certificate:

Today I received the route, and decided to trace it in Google maps…

Stage 1 – Nortmoor to Chipping Norton

Stage 2 – Chipping Norton to Uffington

Stage 3 – Uffington to Northmoor

Sunday the 13/4/08 – at 09:30.