LONG-distance rider Laurence Hewetson must have seen racing for half-a-day as more of a sprint than a marathon when he finally set out on his bike for his latest endurance test.
Hewetson is far more used to riding enormous challenges over 24 hours but dropping down the scale paid off for him as he broke a 17-year-old Dursley Road Club record when he finally crossed the line on his long jaunt.
And, while it was only half the distance than normal, the Dursley ace he admitted the last few last miles of an 12-hour epic journey were painful.
Hewetson went to Berkshire to ride the Newbury 12 hour race as a ‘warm-up’ for the Mersey 24 hour event which he has ridden for a number of years.
When time run out on the Dursley RC member in Newbury, he had covered a remarkable distance of 268.53 miles – the equivalent of riding from Dursley to Durham.
And Hewetson did not hang around! To ride that distance, he had to clock an average speed of over 21 miles per hour, which is the sort of speed of a normal club ride.
Hewetson explained: “I’ve never done a 12 hour before. A 24 hour ¬– yes and I couldn’t tell you why. I guess I never saw it (12 hours) as challenging enough – but in hindsight, it is!
“Coming from a triathlon and cycle touring background originally, I guess I am a late bloomer to cycling competitions, only really starting to enter events five years ago.
“I wanted to enter this event more to see how much I could push myself as a final tune up for the Mersey 24 hour that I have completed for several years now.”
And a mechanical problem just as he was getting ready to roll caused a late worry.
“Just as I was about to set off for the start line, I noticed my rear tyre had a sidewall slice in it so a panicked tyre replacement meant I rolled to the start line with just over two minutes to spare.
“Having been counted off and thanking the starter marshals, I quickly set myself mentally to not go off fast.  Although my first lap was a little faster, I was able to maintain fairly consistent timings throughout the 12 hours;
“I had set myself a target to not get hurt or injured, not stop at all, to keep a steady and set a new Dursley RC record. Unusually I hit all of those goals.
“With everything going to plan later on in the race, my thoughts turned to the club record. It was a positive distraction doing all of the maths but I figured out I had a chance of doing it.
“In the end,  the verified final mileage ended up being 268.53 miles. Believe me, when you get towards the end, every mile becomes twice as hard. Even if you’re feeling good, stand up and stamp on the pedals, you aren’t going anywhere quickly!”