So I have been terrible…  it has been 2 weeks since the race and I am finally going to talk about it.  Not that it went badly..  in fact it went very well.

I thoroughly enjoyed it!   What a lot of fun.  I had hoped to finished the 40 km race between 2 and 2 and a half hours, considering my training was fairly light.   7 weeks earlier when I started training, I did 20 kms in 2 hours 20 minutes.   My unofficial time was 1:57:27,  a full 30 minutes less than I had hoped.
The course was great and the weather perfect. We all got off to a great start with everyone behaving well and no jostling which is always good.  Unfortunately 1 rider just ahead of me at the first gravel turn lost control and fell.  After that though, never saw anything untoward again.

Marcell managed to catch me every now and then, although he missed the first checkpoint due to a wrong turn.  Hence the photos.  His videos are more extensive and will post them as well later, once edited together.  He was complaining though that I am not gesturing or responsive – of course most of the time, any response would probably not be more than heavy breathing.
The hardest part was absolutely the last 15 minutes.  Up David Avenue to the top corner was indeed the hardest part of the entire race, but I did it.  It felt great to finish and afterwards, they had laid out a spread of fresh fruit, yoghurts, drinks, hot dogs, you name it.

A great wrap to finish the race.  Lisa and Alan came to the finish to cheer me on,  and I missed Lisa M who was jogging along the path..  Sorry Lisa…
A huge thank you to all my supporters,  the money you helped raise is going to a great cause here in the Tri-Cities.
Will be doing some more again soon…    Anyone interested in the Mud Run Ride in August?
Later

M

The last week I have completed 3 rides, a 20 km, 31.5 km and a 26.5 km. Now I can start ramping up to the 40 km distance. With only 19 days to go, training time is getting short. The good news is that I am seeing improvement. Despite the very heavy head winds along the Pitt River section today, I had my fastest average speed of 15.28 km/h across the 26.5 km route.

I have been very lucky to have some very generous friends, so here is a shout out to Alan & Lisa and Bill & Barry for their sponsorships. I am now more than half way to my target. Would love to exceed it too So for the rest of you, go here… do some good… Karma time…

Further to my comments about the Poco Trail in my last post, it is good to note that a section has been opened through the First Nation land to complete the circuit from Colony Farm to Red Bridge. Thanks to all parties concerned with making this happen.

So the next few days are not looking too good weather wise.. most likely rain till Friday, but then the sun should be out for the weekend! Woohoo!

Later

M