It seemed like such a great idea in February. 85 miles isn’t that far is it, really? Well, the day came round and I donned my mankini and hit the M1 for the start venue at Peatlands park.
It started to get interesting when I realised I’d left my helmet and gloves back at home in the airing cupboard. Oh dear. Keith from work kindly lent me his spare helmet and that was me good to go!
Starting off with nearly 2000 cyclists was an amazing experience and it was great to catch up with some old friends as I glided along fast, easily, then BANG! The front wheel collects a pothole and is buckled, wrecked. Game over, only 1 mile from the start.
Gladly that wasn’t the end of it. A kind cycle shop mechanic stopped by after the pack had all passed by and helped straighten out the bent rim and thankfully the tyre and tube were intact. Back on the road after 45 minutes lost I joined Rodney and Dave who had similar trouble and we headed off down the sunny and uncrowded lanes beside the lough. A few small hills didn’t dent the great feeling of thankfulness that I could actually continue on this long awaited event and the miles rolled by easily.
Powered by sport drinks, sport bars and some dodgy soup at the Antrim lunch stop we finally rolled round into Peatlands park with sore arses and let out a sigh of relief.
It took just over 6hrs cycling time to get the 86 miles round the lough which is fairly respectable I think. Maybe I’ll try a few more events!
