94.7 Cycle Challenge 2011

This was taken at the last water point / aid station and this young woman was the last lady to be allowed to complete the race. Behind her are the official vehicles for the race - they are there to indicate the cut-off. A mixture of emergency vehicles, sweeper buses and police. From this point approximately 7km's is left of the race. Thankfully, most of it is downhill but here but there are still two hills to get over to get to the finish line.

By this stage of the race the cyclists were broken and no encouragement seemed to help. I get that. I walked up that hill last year with my bike in tow and somewhere not too far behind me was my crazy husband who had decided to join me at the last minute and take part with me.

Seeing the cut-off was heart breaking and the tears flowed.

I made a promise to myself today. No more excuses and there seemed to be plenty of them. I will be back on my bike to partake in the race again. The route is 94.7 km's long, give or take. The real race takes place at the back with the fun riders, it is where the SPIRIT of the race is.

Last year I finished in just over 06h30 minutes. It was a long day out in the saddle but worth every moment spent on that road.

Time to get fit again!!