AM I NOT MERCIFUL!

 Seabiscuit was an exceptional horse. It was quite small, quite fat - was always eating and sleeping. But it had a helluva lot of fight in him, and he didn't like to quit, or lose.

Today's race was quite special. I raced with my Zipp's, and they did their job. So did I.

It was an unusual race in the sense that there wasn't really a leading pack and a runner up pack. What happened was a tandem shot of the front, and the cyclists behind formed a kind of comet trail, and just like a comet trail, pieces of it kept falling off. So the leading riders just got whittled down to virtually nothing.

I rode really hard for the first 40km or so, with my heart rate flirting with 170, and always being kicked over 160, most of the way. That's an 85% effort, for quite a few hours. At one point very salty perspiration seeped into my eyes and stung them. I tried to dig out the salty ooze, but I'd managed to get GU ooze on my right hand glove. While I was holding the foil sachet, gulping air and preparing for another dollop of ooze on my tongue, I inadvertantly squeezed some gloop out over my handlebars. Quite sticky.

It was quite a rollercoaster race - on the uphills I fell back, on the downhills I shot away from everyone. By the end of the race I'd pulled back most of the deficit lost, even hauled in my brother, and on the penultimate hill two of the four us pulled away, expecting me not to be able to close the back. When I pulled up on the one guys shoulder he glanced pointedly at me, and said, "Yisss." And then I attacked over the bridge.
So it was a strong ride, and a maximal effort. I'm getting lighter and stronger.

Cycle: 2:50
Distance: 97km
Maximum heart rate: 173
Also got a bit sunburnt.

After the ride I looked at my legs and shouted at them: AM I NOT MERCIFUL!