ALL soloists should do this, except me.

I just got off of the phone to one of the organising authorities of the UK 24 SOLO CHAMPS.

Dammit, I can't do it due to "The Hobbit's Tale".

The amount of preparation that is going into this solo only race is absolutely phenomenal. New soloists will have support on tap- That's awesome! And the big boys can go at it hammer and tong in a field of fully like minded racers. This means that soloists will(for the first time)get all of the recognition they deserve for pushing themselves well beyond their preconceived limits.

I'll be there, because I don't want to miss it, but I'll be mincing and supporting.

It's been a good week, capped off by a great weekend, too.

The weekend started with us driving down to Weymouth for a dirty weekend away. Well, a dirty shoe and legs weekend away.

Jo was doing the Weymouth EnduranceLife Coastal series marathon: the idiot.

We got a nice early bed (11pm) and were up at 6 am so that she could have her first breakfast, followed by more roughage free food at 7am. She looked quite cool and ready for action.

I took my bike so that I could ride around the road and catch her at various points on the course. It would be nice to just ride around for 3 1/2 hours at endurance pace.

Mistake.

The race was around Portland and every road goes from one side of the island over the top of it. I managed to get a few photos of the race, but it turned into a 4hr climbathon that saw the "endurance" focus of the ride flying well and truly
out of the window.

The road climb to the top was heart wrenching and then I was met by this...

26 miles of this?

downhill to the lighthouse

I missed Jo at the lighthouse as she had beaten me there as I did some more "efforts" on the hills around the island: Up and down, up and down, up and...you get it.



So I photographed someone else at the lighthouse.

I met Jo on the shingle beach, which she had to run about a mile on, twice. I was in agony from walking about 1/3rd of a mile once. I was impressed with these guys.

Nutters.

She finished it in really good spirits, and with no blisters on her feet (due to the clever insoles I made her specific to running) and immediately wanted food. KFC had a good beating, I can tell you.

Sunday and it was my turn again. 5hrs on the road bike with cold feet and watery eyes because I forgot my glasses, followed by some food, a glass of wine and a cuddle on the floor with my dogs.

Jo stayed on the settee in muscular agony...

...She couldn't get down onto the floor.