Mansfield Park 'n' ride

Paul Maxwell and Jon Walford takled the Nottingham Evan's Ride It event last weekend. One their own as it turns out.
Well Nottingham came and went, actually it ended up being Mansfield, and although we signed up to 60 miles, when we arrived it was actually 69 miles.
So Jon (Iron Man) Walford and I headed out. All looked good, overtaking lots of riders and onto open road! However after about 10 miles and no signs, we realised that we had gone the wrong way.
After meeting up with the local riding club and showing them our map, they sent us on our way, in a round-about route back to the course. By the first rest stop 20 miles on the route, we had completed 44 miles, great! Cramp set in, which for me was a new experience. Clearly I pushed too fast too soon and ran out of energy in the leg muscles!
I continued to follow Jon as we duly got lost again finishing the course after 90 miles! All in all 5.15 hrs of riding and 30mins of stopping so I could keep trying to stretch out my cramp! What a nightmare.
But it was a useful lesson learned, 300k is a long way, take it slowly and take in lots of energy fuel.
The 2.5 hrs drive home gave me plenty of time for legs to cramp (difficult to push pedals and not advisable according to our Health & Safety bods) and the bottom hurt even on the soft car seat! After a hot bath on Sunday,Monday dawned less painful and I could start to walk again. By Tuesday I was back up and running -- thank goodness.