Right folks, the time has cometh, and it has gone-eth.
Just thought I'd update you all on how the whole groinal/arse situation went down.
I attended The Arrow ride, and rode 52 out of the 81 miles, I'm chuffed with the achievement, but not happy with not completing.
The reason I had to stop, was my arthritis got the better of me.
As of this weekend, I also attempted my first DIY audax (if you could call it as such), attempting to ride from Plymouth to Tiverton (61 miles), and only managed to accomplish 40.44 out of the 61.
Again, arthritis kicked in, however with my personal life being manic lately, and my hip being dodgy from lifting and shifting (moving house), I think I did reasonably well.
I also don't think being fully laden with heavy panniers helped, whereas the lighter bike for The Arrow was faster, and more agile, whereas being laden with bags and my fat arse pretty much held well, but was slow and cumbersome. So between the weight and the Devonian hills, I had to call my friend for a rescue.
However, I was only 20 miles away, and have learned a few things from this weekend.
1.) Don't pack as much
2.) Don't follow the NCN 27, go direct to places I know.
3.) Don't move house prior to a long ride, and rest prior to riding it.
I'm also planning on investing in a good handlebar bag in the upcoming months, so I can keep my eats in there, instead of additional weight in the pannier, so this should also help.
The main reason for this post however, is to thank you for the advice (and comments), the MTFU etc got me to ride 92 miles within a fortnight, so for that, I Thank You!