Well, that was............painful..........
Did the 100 miles. Spoke to Tharg at the start before we rolled out at 7.00am.
Rolled along at the front with another guy, and once we hit the A560, all hell broke loose - the fast lads came flying through - took off after them with Tharg.
Seriously quick pace - 23/26 mph rolling through Hale, Astley, Knutsford etc. All stayed reasonably well together (there were about a dozen of us in the First group on the road)..... One of the lads was seriously powerful - probably about my age (ssh 40's) but was about 6 foot and built like a sprinter - just dragged most of us along.
Things started to fall apart in Delemere and we were down to 6. My turn was at Kelsall 5 miles later - about 30 miles - longish drag and I was dropped, then couldn't get the big ring to chase - had crunched a gear change at the bottom and shifted the front mech slightly. The other five were pulling well away from me on the drag. Jumped off, gave the mech a quick push into alignment, then was off on my own for the next 15 miles into a raging headwind - I was pretty spent... when the 'other half' of the group caught me 10 miles from the 55 mile feed point.
As we arrived at the feed, the fast group had refuelled and were off. We filled up with water, I quickly tightened the front mech, and we were off with the group that had come in behind.
Huge headwind from 55 miles coming back, 5 or 6 of us doing the work but the group started splintering from about a dozen down to 8 then 4, and I then shelled out the back as the other 3 made some progress, but I then picked up 3 others from the group. Made good progress until Middlewich, when I started suffering major cramp in my left leg, then right leg and feet. Told the others I had cramp, and I'd see them later and eased off, and kept the gears spinning. That last 30 was painful although kept a good pace in the headwind and was picking all the 100km riders off. Only two other 100 mile riders caught me from our group.
Was seriously worried about the 'blip' at Styal due to the cramp as I couldn't get out of the saddle, without my feet locking..... was OK - hammered it down the hill, then dropped o the small ring and all the way through the block to my 24 and spun up the hill. The last 3 miles we had a tail wind and I was feeling a bit better.
Came in about 15th 100 mile rider on the road, and got round in 5 hours 11 minutes (19.3 ave) - well pleased with that given the wind.