Day 2 of a busy weekend.

Bank holiday continued....

So once I had congratulated Matt on his efforts I headed away to finish my day of training by taking a long route back to Henley. I did this and ended up with pretty good mileage for the day, although in 3 smaller rides it all counts.

So I fill my belly Saturday evening with a shed load of calories and start to think about Sunday. Sunday I was going to do very little in the way of training, but I was still a little nervous about my job in the morning. My friend and sometimes riding partner Pete was entered into a local 100 mile Time Trial. This is clearly a long ride, and if you are racing it for a fast time you are going to be hurting at some point. Pacing is very important and nutrition will play a big part if you get it wrong...!

I was entered into this same event but did not get entry so I offered myself a “bottle man” to help Pete. So instead of him having to stop and pick up his bottles and energy gels/bars, I would see him coming and he could then just roll past staying at pace and me handing him whatever he wanted.

This sounds very simple yes? Well in theory it is, but when he is travelling at 20+mph and only passing me once every 50 minutes there comes a bit of stress getting it right. If I miss him or if I drop the bottle its not like I can run after him, his then gone without the fuel he needs for the next 50 minutes...! The night before Pete had told me that James another guy who was racing would like me to hand him bottles, so 2 people to look for.

Luckily Pete is a very relaxed guy and would not blame me or get angry if we did not get the hand offs right. Luckily each time he came past me I was there ready and we smoothly kept him fuelled. Each time he came past I was trying to work out if he was on schedule and/or on time for a good time. I knew a few very good guys in the race and Pete was on pace to do very well. In the end he was second behind the legend Andy Topham who I believe is a machine. Pete took a few big scalps so it was all worth it.

Once I had congratulated Pete on his efforts I had to leave quickly to get down to the Tour of Wessex to finish off my bank holiday weekend with a spot of Haute Route promotion.