Bikedock Belles

It wasn’t long before we passed the first puncture victim of the day (at just about 1 mile in), but I didn’t think that I’d be the next. At just over 4 miles there was a huge pop, my heart sank,  my back tyre had blown. My 1^st ever puncture, and it had to happen here! We quickly got the tube changed but when we tried to blow the tyre up the loud hissing noise coming from it almost resulted it being thrown over the hedge in rage – we’d nipped the new tube. (another puncture repair course by Bikedock and the Belles required ?!) Almost on cue a marshall appeared on a motorbike and within a minute had my 2nd tube fitted and the wheel back on the bike. There was no stopping us now, only the 77 miles still ahead.

As a novice to this type of event I was both petrified and exhilarated by the speed at which some groups over took us, I'm still trying to work out if they gain those speeds because of their bikes or if it is all in the legs, but I took the opportunity to check out a few muscles as they went by (though some were definitely bigger than others).

Having crossed the M1 at least 4 times I was delighted to be finally following the Lough, and the banana and water stop about 25 miles was a welcome break, but we quickly pushed on hoping to get back in front of the hordres of teams and individual riders that had managed to overtake us, at least for a wee while. And it was a good excuse to listen again to all the coded shouting that goes on within the groups as they whizzed passed again. I'm certain some of it was directed at me.

About 2 miles from Shane's Castle I was starving and craving food, but when we arrived at there I was amazed by the sea of bikes abandoned on the grass and the queue of cyclists snaking up the path. There was nothing for it but to join the queue and wait the 40 minutes to get the to the sandwiches and cuppa.  To be fair, while some keen folk, itching to get on, did a bit of moaning, I was happy to get the break, as this was only 4 miles less than I'd ever cycled before.

With only 35 miles left after lunch the journey home felt much easier, thought that was perhaps helped by a few Jelly Babies, and the rather large icecream we bought at Ballyronan (well we were too late for the water and the gels).

The footbridge at Maghery was a fantastic sight, but there was no fanfare that we had completed the lap, just personal pride, and that was blaring much louder than any trumpet.

Bring on the next lap!

Andrea