(cross post with Tips and Tricks, where I asked for advice)

wheee! whooo! I did it

I'm back, safe and sound, and my legs are aaaaching.... It had to RAIN of course, so it was bit hard to get warmed up and I lost touch with my toes after half an hour

Boy, am I glad I was with a team, though. We'd decided what to do, who goes where and who decides what, and even though it wasn't perfect there was never any doubt about what we were trying to do. So when we caught up with a stray rider or something there was no quibbling about what to do, we just stuck together, passed him, and let him tack on the back if he wanted to.

Clothes - a bit inadequate. I did warm up but I think I work better if I'm warmer and dry. Drink - not too bad, but I will try out using a camelback, Freda be d*mned, at high speed I don't really want to reach down more than necessary. And for me this was high speed, I really had to concentrate and that got harder as I got tired. Food - how the heck do you eat?? Managed to stuff a banana down my throat on one long slow hill in the beginning, tried to eat an energy bar later on but only got down half before I started wheezing because I was so out of breath.

But the best part: my team knew it was my first race and they were SO supportive, little bursts of nice comments all the way. And my dh and son had set up a huge red banner with my name on it on a bridge close to home, and were standing there waving! How sweet is that! AND they turned up, with dhs parents, on the final killer hill in to the finish line. Where my team started yelling for me to go ahead and take that hill, since they know I "like" hills (I weigh about 2/3 of these guys, so not too surprising). So never mind the rain, I was cosseted and pampered all the way

Okay, I'll go post this on race results. Ooh, I've so been wanting to post there.

Thank you! for your advice - especially redrhodie - what a terrific thing to say Thanks!

Oh, and hard facts: 80 km in light drizzle, rolling hills, in 2 hrs 21 min.