That was one of the toughest "local" cycles I've ever done! I never knew we had hills like that locally! My lack of training over the last few weeks really showed too, and I knew even in the first 10 miles that I was not really up for this. I was ready to "bin" it and head for home at several points along the way. But then I had an apparition of Sean Kelly in the clouds overhead, telling me to "Man the F**k up you pansy!" And so I did!. It was tough to get into any sort of rhythm as every time I got moving, there was a hill, and typically a very steep one with a gradient of around the 20% mark. A couple of the hills had my legs cramping up really badly and I had to dismount a couple of times mid-hill to stretch them out, but always managed to get back on and finish it. And thats just the cycling, never mind about my close call with a Renault Clio and very nearly going under the wheels of a Tractor on the route, but thats another story! Bloody tough!!!