Alas it is a sorry report.
Crossing the start mat at approx 9:07 am, not even 100 metres down the road and my saddle slips and is uncomfortable pointing skywards. A quick curse and out with the tool kit. Levelled off, tightended up and on the road again, my fellow starters in the 9:07 bunch already well ahead.
I challenge myself to reel them in, the flat turns downhill and I start to pick up my group (a fundamental of cycling physics, when the road goes down, its got to go up again!). It went up and I lost the group again and was passed by a few other riders. Nevertheless I stuck at my pace and made it to the top.
A few more expletives as I feel the saddle shifting again but I shifted my weight forwards and tackled the next climb... A few more miles down the road and I could feel my hips tipping back. Off the bike again and reset the saddle. Almost immediately the saddle slips again and my full blue vocab fills the air.
The ideal position is to be rocked forward at the hips rather than an overstretched back, the more the saddle tipped my hips back the more my back took the strain and more I cursed under my breath.
Eventually after about 12 miles I realised it was a lost cause and I could ride the remaining 56 miles getting increasingly more cheesed off.
So I turned round and made my way back to the start, very broken spirited.
The only plus point I can take away from my morning in Hell was that I maintained a good rythm on the hills and more than made up my time on decents. It shows that I have made some large gains in ability since starting this challenge.
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