It was pretty much 5 laps of a 20 mile dual carrigeway section so just like doing 10 x 10 mile tt's with a roundabout at each end.
The weather conditions overnight were pretty dire with heavy rain and strong winds
, at the start of the event it was drizzling quite hard and it wasn't as windy as earlier, Less than half the field had even bothered to turn up and ride.I was off 17 mins ahead of Robert and set off into a nice pace, there was alot of road spray and I got comedy drenched by a car driving through a puddle which soaked me
Then after just 2.2 miles Pssst, oh sh1t my brand new £50 veloflex tub was as flat as a pancake
, oh well I thought, that was my race over as I wasn't carrying a spare one on the bike, Then I had a Bright Idea 
I know what I can do, Look theres the off slip from Bently, if I follow that road for 4 miles I can get back to the HQ/van and slap on my Bora rear wheel and still race the 100 miles 
So I gingerly rode back on the flat, I tried keeping my weight over the front of the bike to protect the disc wheel, got back swapped the wheel, had a pee and bobs your uncle I was back in the race. I could have easily just quit then but I had prepared myself for the 100 and wanted to ride this distance as it was my first one.to see how it felt.
I rejoined the Dual carriage-way and started again, I had lost about 25 minutes in all but started my watch again just after I left the HQ.
Got going well and took some tasty riders who must have been shocked to see my low number come past, but it did't feel as good as when I first set off, maybe this was just psychological, it too me a while to get myself back into the right frame of mind again.
Kept seeing Robert ahead at the turns and gradually was catching him up, after about 60 miles I almost had him in sight, Robert was the hardest of the riders I caught today and it seemed to take forever untill I actually went past, he was suprised to see me but I told him my story and carried on.
Then Robert came past me again head down and really giving it some, so after the roundabout I upped the pace and pulled away
We seemed to be passing lots of people fixing punctures by the side of the road today1
I was managing to keep energy topped up with drink and gels which worked a treat, although the saddle was a bit uncomfortable but after 80 miles I got used to it.
At 90 miles I started to wind it up, as Robert say's I could smell the cakes and crossed the line feeling rather fresh, which I wasn't expecting
Shame I had the puncture but still very happy to manage to sort it and finish, which is more than alot of others I can tell you.
Robert RE 4.23
Moi 4.38 (4.10 after starting my watch again
)
