King of the Downs - Followup

Turns out I wasn't alone to quit at the half way mark.  In the post of the official times for the event (Evans Cycles Ride It!: Rider Times), the organisers announced that 500 people who had enrolled for the full distance did the half distance instead.  Only 200 people went on to complete the full distance - hats off to them.

My official time was confirmed as 3hr 35min, which was in the top quartile of results.  Not bad given that I did stray from the course and added about 9km to the 53mile route.  For example, taking 10min from time would have placed me approximately 100 positions higher.