Free Sheffield United Supporter's Kit

Although ironically I doubt the Blades could fight their way out of a paper bag at the moment.

Mission Accomplished

At the start of the Summer I bought a road bike with the aim to get fit. After years of beers and a nasty illness that floored me for endless months, I was mightily unhealthy. Walking up stairs was about the limit to my exercise, and even that whacked me out.

So I signed up to a 50k sportive (The Grindleford Goat: Nanny), got into some lycra (not good for the belly viewing experience) and rode regularly in order to get myself trim enough to finish the thing. Come to think of it, hauling 100kg of mass up hills three times a week is good training.

Today has come round rather quickly. I was up early to get a large bowl of porridge and honey eaten, packed up all that was needed and headed off with a little too much keenness. So much so I was the first person to register and therefore given Number 001 :) If only my finishing position would be so high!!

I had ridden the route three times previous, as they had posted up a file in July that I uploaded onto my GPS. However, due to some road surface issues, it had changed and I had not realised. So as I was riding up high on a ridge, I could see quite a few riders down in the valley...... oops. I rode just a little bit more than the rest of the field, hopefully under a mile :-|

The best bit for me was that I was not overtaken until 17.5 miles, just over half way, and I beat my best time as my GPS recorded 2h22m. I am glad for the little gadget, as it recorded my first attempt at 2h58m and so I can take pride in how far my cardiovascular fitness has come in two months.

So my first ever sporty-type event done and dusted, and I think I'll continue the training to get my stamina up so that I can enter some more, longer events.