The Bike leg has finished

Simon crossed the line on his bike at 20.28 local, a stunning performance. Apologies to all for posting 2929 earlier, you may have realised I was not wearing my glasses!

Wow, what a day, no what a week! Two finishes so far only one to go, simple.

I adore my sport and live sport is best of all, therefor I am very lucky to be totally immersed in this event. Sharing the physical ups and downs and the emotional highs and lows with a close friend is an experience that I will never forget. Today has flashed by for me, not so for Simon as there were times when he doubted that a finish today was possible. This battle with Kale has been absorbing and will no doubt continue to be during the run, but to witness two good cyclists trying to out wit each other with early starts, late finishes, fast laps, slow laps, admin breaks and food breaks has been immense. There were times today when both looked completely spent, nay were exhausted but neither would quit. Nursing Simon to the finish line and being able to leave time and energy to be able to begin the run after completing the bike was paramount. There were times when the racing head came on, a firm hand was required to stop him burning energy that he did not have, despite eating as much as the body would accept.

I am very happy to report that Simon came out of this battle far better than Kale, as Simon finished Kale still had 107 laps to go. As Simon took time out to reflect on what he had achieved so far and to decide on the next plan, Kale continued on his bike.

Simon and I chatted about what to do; all of the experts at this sport suggest running as soon as possible to allow the muscle groups to adapt to the change. So we decided to run as soon as we could, I accompanied him on the first two laps to establish a rhythm, we decided to see how far he could go. But by 11.30 he was falling asleep on his feet, hardly surprising after such a monumental effort today, he’s gone to the tent, I will let him sleep and review a start time for tomorrow morning.

A fantastic day my ‘pintsize’ friend, thank you and sleep well you deserve it.