2nd in the Open 5 - Kirkby Stephen

Yesterday was the open5 at Kirkby Stephen. After a break in the weather on Saturday which I made the most of, running Wansfell fell race (to 'test out' the ankle) and finishing in a close 3rd, Sunday saw the return of the gales and downpours....

Riding to the start it was already clear it was going to be a tough day! I really enjoyed the run which I did first and felt good despite the wind trying to push me off hills, getting all but 3 controls in a little over 2hrs, then came the bike. By this point I was already soaked right through, but was glad I didn't waste time changing any clothes at transition as within 800m of leaving transition I had found a river that was marked as a road on the map.....I got my first control then turned around into the headwind.

The ride continued much in this way except with bigger headwinds for a fair bit of it. I thought I had completely lost it by the time I'd reached my second bike control in just over an hour and was really not enjoying 'riding' into the wind so nearly gave up... but I got a 3rd control, then decided to carry on with my planned route. Half way to the next control, for the first time ever I decided to turn around instead of trying to get it. I thought there was not enough time in the conditions to ride the 1km left to the control...I was right! I took the straightest route back which happened to pass through another high pointer and rode down the river/bridleway finishing in 4hrs58 (incidentally the first time Ive made it back within 5hrs, maybe I should think more about how long biking takes me in future)!
I thought it was a good run but only 4 bike controls had removed any chance of me doing well, so was very happy to discover others had got just as many bike controls as me and I finished in 2nd :-)
A successful weekend and great fun (I can say that now I'm dry)....