Cycling as a sport is tough. If you don’t do the training it becomes painfully obvious on the road really quickly. So it was with some trepidation I entered my first sportif (timed road cycling event) last sunday. I have been training over the winter but I was unsure how I’d fair. Well,  I cycled 53 miles and 1370 metres of climbing in 4 hours and 22 minutes. I gained a Bronze placing which was superb. The last ten miles were tough but I made it. Helen met me at the end and I headed home pleased with my result. I’m going to keep working towards some longer distance events later in the year.