Sunday 28th August 2011
Cycling
Lap the Lough 2011
82.00 Miles - 05:16:05 (15.56 mph / HR 139bpm Z2 76% of Max HR / Cadence 81rpm)
Consider the Lough well and truly lapped. A Really enjoyable day and I am delighted with the time for the ride today.
The event is a single loop of Lough Neagh and it is organised to perfection, with Water stops every 20 miles or so and Lunch in Shanes Castle grounds in Antrim at about 47 miles.
We started out a bit before the official start of the event at 9.30 just to get ahead of the crowds as there were 2000 cyclists riding today.
The run up to Antrim was very good and the 47 miles took about 3hours. The only blemish was seeing an ambulance coming to treat a guy who had obviously come off the bike and there was some blood on the ground - I hope he is OK.
The next 20 miles from Antrim through Toomebridge were pretty tough as we seemed to be in to a head wind the whole way and the legs started to feel a bit tired at this stage.
It was a great relief to get round towards Ballyronan and we finally got a bit of a tailwind for the ride home - although that rather disappointingly turned in to a side wind for the last 10 miles.
It was great to get round to the finish line and I am delighted with the time, knocking over 1.5hrs off the time from last year. It must be the Cube bike - or the 14lbs I have lost since this time last year probably doesn't hurt either.
Chilling out now with the FANTASTIC Stella Artois Cidre! Lovely Jubbly!
Thanks to my friend Jim Heaney for riding round with me - and I suspect slowing down a wee bit to let me stay with him!! Well done to my B-I-L Nick for completing the event in 06:40:00.
I am feeling pretty confident ahead of the Stena Triathlon on Sunday next week, so let's hope it works out OK.
Great day today Jeff. Enjoyed the company.
ReplyDeleteMy Garmin measured it at 83 miles. Remember you forgot to restart after the lunch break.
I did slow down a bit a couple of times but I don't think I could really have gone much quicker and I was glad for the company. Sorry for blasting off at the end but when I saw that 1 mile to go marker I just had to push on.