Happily Convicted

Started the year at 85kg after having a nice break after the fling.
I have trained hard and consistently since the start of the year and turned up on race day at 78kg.
I am a dedicated single speeder. It is my only mountain bike! I took a gamble and decided that I would put a harder gearing than normal on my bike, suffer up the hills so that I could make gains on the many flat sections. I had a goal of cracking the 5 hour mark thinking I would be bloody lucky if I achieve it.
I got out and registered by 6pm the night before, then headed back to my accommodation, cooked dinner, ate, had a cup of tea and a bit of a chat with some others I was staying with, then we were all of to bed and asleep by 9.30am.
We all woke and were up by 5 am. I at a perfect breakfast of porridge, grabbed another banana and headed back to st albans. Got ready, had a quick spin up and down the road, then positioned myself near the front of the first wave ready to go.
Gun goes off and if you ever want a laugh at one of these races, find the SSer and watch the sod spin at 150rpm to keep pace at 35kmh with the peloton. I managed to get to blue hill in a reasonable position, started riding up, but sure enough there were people all over the place, I had to dab, then walk the rest. No getting back on without momentum. Once at the top I rode everything reasonably comfortable and passes a lot of people purely because of the pace I had to keep to get over the hills. For the first time that I have done this race,mi had a clear run through all the tech sections which meant I could ride them all no sweat. The only time I had to get off before the canoe stop was to refill bottles at 50km and to walk up one tech section on GNR. I'm sure you know the one? The entire ride until this point I had been riding roughly 20m behind another SSer, keeping a low profile... He knew I was there, but I wasn't wasting energy just yet 'racing' him.
Got to the canoes, refilled a bottle and rode the bridge. I hit the road and was in no mans land spinning on my own at a bout 25kmh until a mate came past leading a group got me to jump on the back and they all road me to the womerah turn off at 35kmh! Perfect!
I hit the hill with ok legs, so ok that I rode ALL of womerah except that one bitch of a left then right pinch. Again,myou know the one... As I started to ride the hills of womerah I saw other SSer ahead dabbing and struggling on the climbs. So I went... Straight past him and off into the distance until I could see him no longer. The gruntfest continued until the turn off for Jacks Track. Rode down as quick as I dared, and hit the road ready to spin thinking I was touch and go to crack 5 Hours thanks to the dodgy 80km marker at 85km!
But, as I spun up the road, I hear a hello.... It was my SS friend and he must of road the down hill like a man possessed because he had caught me.
What happened next must have looked comical. 2 men on giant one speeds spinning like mad on the flat 8km home trying to beat each other. Unfortunately he spun faster than me and ever so slowly edged away from me into the distance... I was beaten into second place by 1 minute and 1 second.
But who cares? I belted my goal with 4h47m07s. Previous best from 2010 was 5h47, so a massive gain.
The convict is my favourite - so definitely on for 2014!