Awesome climbs and scary drops

Just to reiterate the last post. What an awesome day we had yesterday. The whole event was organised by a company called No Fuss and I have to say the day was brilliantly set up. From the moment we arrived and signed in we both felt in good hands.

Bigman stole my race number when he arrived - it caused all sort of confusion but it turned out they thought we were a team not individuals. Anyway with my new number we set off. The climbs were testing but gave us road monkeys the chance to take a few places. Sadly, we lost the places gained on the downhills....

We played cat and mouse with people through the first 50 minutes of the course catching on the uphills, sharing the craic and the getting passed on the downhills.

I suppose yesterday was a learning experience and I think certainly for me I need to focus on the technical side of riding - the roots were a nightmare and I so struggled and went over 3 times. Despite the falls it was great fun.

The Bigman was storming yesterday and really strong. He was immense on the climbs and grew in confidence as the laps went on. It was a shame he snapped his chain - he was consistent in lap times and looked strong, if not midgy eaten at the end.

As he has mentioned I knew I was in trouble in lap 3 - my whole upper body was sore and my arm was getting increasingly numb. By the end of lap 3 I couldn't change gear and braking became more difficult. By the end of lap 4 I called into the medical tent for advice. They told me that they couldn't stop me but if they could they would. Given this was a training event I decided discretion over valour and packed in. Initially I felt rotten about the decision but as the afternoon went on I knew it was the right thing to do.

I think I'll pay a visit to the doc in the morning to find out what is wrong. I had this before I did Ironman NZ - didn't stop me racing and I'm sure that I'll be 100% soon.

Yesterday made me even more aware of the fitness levels I will need to achieve to get what I want out of the Cape Epic - it also built my confidence as I know that we'll be able to do it. I did some calculations based on time, distances and climbs and I think whilst we won't win we will finish.

Bigman is a great team mate. He could have gone quicker without me but every time he got ahead he would slow down and when I caught up he always had a word of encouragement. We shared our thoughts on strategy and agreed a plan for the day - it wasn't difficult, there was no arguments and I don't remember exactly who suggested what but between us we came up with a plan that was working until my arm gave up.

The strength that you get working in a team is also a factor that can't be underestimated and I think that we'll work well together in South Africa.

It's going to be great!