Realisation...

I had many titles for this blog but none seemed quite appropriate. Today was my first event of the year, the Meon Valley Riser sportive. This is a new event run by the people that do a number of events I have attended in the New Forest, so I expected slick organisation. What I wasn't expecting was a completely nails course. I met up with my ride buddies at the start, including IM Andy, Jockey John (he's not a jockey but is built like one!), my Titchfield Terriers buddies Hamish and Chris, and Tinman.

I was struggling almost from the off, not helped by needing to stop early on and adjust my seatpost that had slipped; I had ignored one of the golden rules of not changing anything on your bike the day before an event and had swapped the seatpost over. Lesson re-learned! Andy had very kindly waited for me and paced me back to Hamish, Chris and Tinman. John was off the front and Andy went after him; we never saw either again until the finish line. The course had some brutal climbs in its 86 miles; Old Winchester Hill, Butser Hill and twice over Portsdown Hill to name but a few. Chris was soon struggling; he had had an accident whilst out riding last week when a Land Rover braked immediately in front of him and he ran into the back of it hard enough to break his titanium frame, and the injuries were clearly bothering him and he called it a day after about 30 miles.

I am clearly not bike fit and the hills were taking their toll. Hamish broke away before the first feed station and although Tinman and I caught him up there was no way I was going to keep up and we let him go. Early on, I thought Tinman was struggling, but into the second half and he was powering up the hills leaving me in his wake, so maybe he was pacing himself sensibly early on. But I would always make up ground on the descents; Tinman must be the most cautious descender I have ever ridden with! After the 2nd feed station we met up with an old boy and then a younger chap and we rode to the finish as a 4, with Tinman usually at the front into the wind as we headed back towards the coast. I was struggling on the hills but had the legs after the last hill for a head down TT effort that saw a couple of the guys drop off, but we re-grouped before the finish. About half a mile from the end we passed Andy who was just coming to the end of his post sportive run! And Tinman won the sprint to the finish line!

So how hard was this event? The organisers had set gold standard at 4 hours 40 minutes; Andy had ridden it in 5 hrs 5 minutes and was fairly close to the sharp end of the field, as no-one it seemed had hit the gold standard! Ouch!!! I think my finish time was about 5 hrs 48 mins but will have to wait to confirm.

This was supposed to be one of the tests for me to see whether I am going to be up to doing The Outlaw in July. And my conclusion was a resounding 'No'! So I'm out. Yes, I have withdrawn from The Outlaw. And do you know what, I feel relieved and happy at this decision. I will still do the IS duathlon and Odiham will be my last triathlon. I won't say last ever because I might still turn out and support the RAF series because they're quite good fun. I can now focus on CrossFit and doing a hard turbo during the week with a 2-3 hour ride at the weekend. This is me now; CrossFit Man!

In case you were wondering, the wheels were AWESOME today, they have transformed the bike and are a significant improvement over the Mavic Ksyriums I was using before. They are just so smooth and comfortable to ride.

All the best to you all. And train smart.