A bit of friendly competition

Things just got serious.

In 2015, I was the best rider from my workplace on the local 100km charity sportive - the Tour de Vale.
Actually, I was the ONLY rider from my workplace :-)

Naturally, I've been "bigging it up", and doing the "you should give it a go next year" line.

Anyway, looks like my colleague, John, has risen to the challenge.
Everyone knows that a "sportive" isn't a proper race, so it doesn't matter which of us covers the ground fastest, as there are no winners and losers, just finishers and non-finishers.

Yeah, right.

Back in the real world, it matters.

And, to make it worse, John is a darned fine rider. He has far more "competition" experience than me, as he used to be a serious MTB rider.
Way back when.
John has a bigger equipment budget than me, and a "better" bike that is about 8 kilos lighter than mine, too.
Actually, John has several bikes which are both "better" and lighter than mine.
All I have is Mermaid, my 18kg "cheapie".

So I am going to get my butt kicked, so as to speak.

Or perhaps not.
I have three main weapons.
1) I am about 20 kilos (44lbs) lighter than John - good job I've lost almost 14 kilos (30 lbs) this year. I'm going to try to shift a bit more before the event itself, as well.
2) I am using fancy software for training analysis (Training Peaks)
3) I clocked up about 6 metric "centuries" in 2015, and I will be starting 2016 at both my lightest and fittest for about 20 years.

I have one other "secret" weapon. A resting pulse in the 40's.
You just can't buy that.
OK, so it is mostly genetic, with just a touch of fitness on top.
You can't buy genetics.

But all of that will not be enough by itself.
I'm going to have to train more effectively than John, too.
And since John is no fool, that is going to require some serious hourage.
Boring paced work, not just pleasure riding with a few hills thrown in.
A serious exercise program, too, off the bike as well as on.
Some serious running early in 2016 to improve my cardio-pulmonary system.
Strength exercises.
Structured training designed so I reach my peak for the event - not before, and not after.

Let's see how it goes.
Nothing like a bit of friendly competition to get one motivated!