Great Western Shortie

The Great Western Sportive... Lovely countryside but arriving late meant that Sam and I were a tad behind our co-intrepid explorers.  After about 20 miles Sam's cleats got stuck in his pedals which necessitated a roadside stop to inspect the problem. I used the opportunity to inspect my own shoes in an attempt to discover why they wouldn't clip in at all. The answer: I'd forgotten to put my cycle shoes on and was still wearing my trainers (I was even marvelling at how comfortable 'my new cycle shoes' were...)!  So... back on the road, but by this time we had the mop-up-the-stragglers man hot on our heels taking down the signs as we passed them! He did tell us not to rush, but when we got to the first checkpoint it was bucketing down with rain and we were advised to take a shortcut. We followed this sensible advice and joined the course further along and completed 50 miles, equivalent to the short route. Not bad though, having sustained a broken shoulder on a scarily similar route two months ago!  At the finish, we confessed to our shortened race and gratefully accepted the hot drink. We had warmed up a bit when Kate and Ian came in to finish the middle distance of 72 miles. Respect! What a Grand Day Out  - bring on the next!