Nasty insects

I love cycling in the sun.  As soon as I knew it was going to be hot today I starting working my arse off so I could free up most of the day allowing me to get out.  I finished working at 1:30am on Wednesday night / Thursday morning but I was free.

Now, many of my usual cycling routes go through Box Hill which is very wooded.  Sun and woods equal insects.  Eating the odd small fly is annoying but a hazard I can live with but today, the woods were full of caterpillars hanging from trees at about head height in the middle of the road.  I head-butted many as I only saw them at the last minute.  Resisting the urge not to swerve violently was hard.

Of course, my biggest fear was eventually realised then one hit me full in the mouth.  I just about avoided both eating it and falling off.  Nasty.

Other than this, I had a great ride.  67 miles, topped up my cycling tan and rode at a good pace.

Salvaging a poor day

Today was supposed to be the Turbo X Salomon cross country 10. A wet, muddy run on difficult terrain; the ideal preparation for my cross country marathon. However, on Saturday night I realised the car was double booked.

My kids had a fashion show event (don't ask) in town and Cath needed to take them there and back so I would have to make my own way to Bordon in Hampshire. I looked at the trains but the usual rubbish Sunday morning service was in place with the first train getting into the closest station too late to make the start, even if I took my bike. So the only option was to cycle the 42 miles. An extreme day but worth it if I pulled it off.

Bordon is not too far away from Haslemere where I used to live so I thought I would be able to find it. I printed out maps, set the alarm for 5:40 am, got all my bike and running gear ready, fixed lights on my road bike and went to bed.

The alarm went off and I jumped out of bed and got breakfast ready fast. I knew that the sooner I could set off, the better. As the forecast had said, it was wet and windy but had stopped raining. I rode out in the empty roads towards Wimbledon, Kingston and Cobham. This was all familiar territory but it went wrong as I got to Aldershot. My map was done using A and B road numbers but all I could see were names which were no help. I knew I was going wrong but just tried to head in the right direction.

Time was slipping away and by the time I left Farnham, I was only just going to make it. It was then that I must have taken a wrong turn as I cycled and cycled looking for signs to Bordon but nothing. It was 9:55 when I saw a sign and in said 6 miles. Pointless. The race had begun and I was not going to be running it. I was gutted. It was a race I had been really looking forward too. Normal road races are ten-a-penny but these cross country runs are a lot rarer.

I had 50 miles on the speedo so I decided I would cycle home and make it a century and save something of the day. Trouble was, 5 miles later, the Almighty got angry and decided to flood Surrey. No one told me I was going to have to build an ark and my flimsy rain jacket was doing nothing. I could hardly see and it got quite scary.

I persevered for another 7 miles but decided I couldn't go on. It was beginning to shiver violently and I was worried I would get hypothermia. I got to Godalming and got a train home shivering all the way, having done around 65 miles.

I got home and sulked for a couple of hours. Outside the weather cleared so I go angry, got my running gear on and set out. My legs where tired and I was slow but I forced myself round my 11 mile loop. All was not lost. Nearly two thirds of a half ironman :-)