The long course

https://www.facebook.com/rhys.jordan.37/videos/10153455188140645/

Another year a week after Sweden and volunteered to pace make for the boys on the bike. couldn’t be arsed to do the swim. Did get as far as putting the double kayak on the van to paddle about a bit . The kayak is now firmly attached to the top of the van having not moved since being placed there. Still it could be seen as progress. Watched the swim didn’t miss it one bit.

Rolled down to the bike in the morning and its British summer time so warm rain. Saw LLoydy then NB turned up and i was glad i’d selected the tt bike with the zipps on. It looked like this was going to be all business. The plan was to start soon after Ollie catch him then ride all jolly hockey sticks to the finish. Ollie went down the Ramp about 4 mins ahead of us that was the last we saw of him. In the Rain ,Me ,NB ,lloydy ,James ,Kyle and mike set off. Warp speed. We settled in a bit and as pacemaker i tried to convey the message to the team that i was there to do a job to protect them as much as possible from the wind while trying to keep the pace high enough. Wasnt sure how long i would last but figured i might be good for half of it. James and Kyle struggled to comprehend this and took some big pulls on the front down to Angle. Things did seem to settle down and i did a fair amount of the work. When NB hit the front we all knew about it .like grabbing the rail of a moving bus whoosh and try to hold on. The rain was little/no comfort. Felt pretty good and when we turned with the wind behind us kept mis judging the pace on the front and had to reign it in a bit. Up onto the ridgeway did a big pull on the front looked around and it was just me and Mike. So decided to push on. Mike was incredibly strong on the hills and we pulled away.Up to canaston catching alot of riders now we seemed to be cracking on. Coming down the hill into Narbeth is always a tricky experience and i overcooked the penultimate corner edging the turn just holding on to control and then up the hill came a bus. Like the freckin truman show. i know i wasnt far off loosing traction on the front as i only had a continental podium on there in the wet .Due to some little gem nicking my spare tub out of t2 at sweden last week. I had time to reflect that if it did go i’d know nothing about it.It’ll be good night vienna. Dragged my face and elbow down the side of the bus and clipped off the end. Not sure relief was the right word i was almost looking forward to the final check out. Find out once and for all. I looked back at the boys faces behind me and if they were anything to go by i dont think mine would be making the cover of Mens Health anytime soon. Still theres a Franco face smudge permanently embossed on the silcox no 35 bus narbeth to tenby. Mike pulled in at Narbeth i cracked on and had decided to finish the first loop 70 miles. The first 50 was now starting to show and although i wasnt regretting those 350 watt efforts on the front it was hurting now. Caught Brazier and Andy at Princes gate and had a quick chat then down the hill to summer hill. I made the corner at the bottom of the hill but went down like a sack of shit at the junction . Could’ve been worse and i figured the scars made me feel a bit tough and a valid reason ….ish not to do the second loop. I did give it the big guns up the st brides hill tt . About half way up as a lung detached itself from its mooring i realized i didnt have a chip on so racing up here was a bit pointless still its a good spot for show boating and i looked resplendent in my pink IM Austria lederhosen kit.There was a guy up st brides handing , or trying to hand out , fresh mackerel to the riders. It was ‘not normal’ but he seemed quite animated by it all. I didnt oblige but said he would get my endorsement which seemed to make him and his mackerel happier. Last climb and the objective now was not to get caught by the pack behind me. Went into tenby and finished in 3 hrs 19 mins off the garmin .Which is over 20 mph and on the back of sweden last week was happy ish with that.

Pissing down on the Sunday and went to watch the run. It was quite good fun being a spectator although watching the top boys come through it does make me wonder if i run that fast. It turns out i dont, 2 40 was the winning time. The sun came out and Rhys and i pedaled around cheering them all on. Good fun watching the locals burning up the road and we ended up in the square at greggs eating sugar by the kilo.