...continued.
“Oh My God”, – I thought to myself, “I am gonna be knackered trying to keep up!”
Well, as you can imagine, all her talk about HER slowing ME down turned out to be the complete opposite of the true situation.” Yes, I climbed steep trails, I swooped down twisty woodland descents. I huffed, puffed, and sweated my way up more steep rutted bridleways, I briefly took in fabulous views and then bumped and bounced down more rutted, stony bridleways. All this time Abby sat alongside or just behind me - happily chattering away. I noticed she didn’t seem to be exerting herself at all, and that there didn’t seem to be a drop of perspiration anywhere on her. After 2 hours of this, I was well and truly ready for our lunch stop in the Compton Tea Shop (very highly recommended btw).
The return journey was more of the same – only more so, as
1. I was more tired...and
2. I had eaten the bigger lunch, and finished it off with 2 Earl Grey teas and a large slice of Lemon Drizzle Cake.
Abby waited compassionately at the top of every climb as I gulped in huge breaths and waited for the pounding in my chest to subside. On the final high speed descent back into Funtington, I decided to show Abby that, although I wasn’t as fit as her, I COULD go downhill faster. Yes: – you’ve guessed it already: I lost control about halfway down and ended up somersaulting over the handlebars and landing in a patch of nettles! My bike lay a few feet away, facing the wrong way and upside-down in a bush. Having made sure I was alright, Abby (between fits of giggles) took pictures with her mobile and explained to me that it was very common to crash in the latter stages of a race through fatigue causing a lack of concentration and slowing of the reactions. --- Now she tells me!
So there you have it Ladies and Gents. The moral of the story: never bite off more than you can chew, and always wear protection!
Yes Ok – It wasn’t all that bad and we both had a great time.
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