Brutal

Brutal is all I can say.

The previous week I cruised around and did 4 laps in 2hrs 50mins with 32x19 and felt really good.

On Wednesday I decided to chuck 32x21 on the bike so I could really ride and enjoy the whole 8 1/4 hours of the race without any dramas.

Ok race day was here and I was up way before sparrows fart and on the road arrived nice and early and was setting up for the day at 5.30am and all organised by 6.00am with plenty of time to sit back and relax before the race.

The morning was quite cool and very nice and it seemed like we might have a reasonable day temperature wise.

All right the race was on and the temperature seemed to change in a matter of a few minutes and it was stinking bloody hot. My pace wasn’t fast it was the right speed to tackle a good part of the day on the bike but I was already struggling and I knew this day if I got through it was going to be brutal.
The first lap was hard the second lap was twice as hard and I switched my riding to survival mode rolling where I could with no silliness up the hills but still this lap really hurt.
The third lap I knew I was in trouble for the day I was still able to ride everything in the 32x21 but it really took a lot out of me to do it this race was no fun at all the 2 litre camelback was empty about 500meters from transition so a pit stop was in order.

So with three laps back to back done I filled up with liquids and had 10 or so minutes sitting just to think about how I could do this race or if I could even finish the race.

Fifteen minutes later I was back on the bike my fourth lap was bloody hard I was cooked in about 20 minutes and getting around the course in order to pull the pin was all I could think about I walked a few sections and rolled along everywhere else. On the final little push up through the switchbacks to transition I lost traction on a dusty rock and fell of sideways into the bushes and got a nasty cramp in my calf. I arrived back at transition and collapsed in my chair and didn’t move from it for about an hour I was done.

After a while I started to feel human again but the heat must of been affecting my sense of reason as I was thinking about going out again for two or three laps.

So I kitted up took a few pain killers some other little wake up pills a gu and my stupid hat went on my head and I rode out on to the course. I came across Gavin lurking a little along the trail he was out spotting singlespeeders so having found one he joined me for the lap. About ten minutes in I started to fade and was gone by the time I got to Jelly Legs Gavin disappeared down the roller coaster and I struggled to walk up the hill. The rest of the lap was just a blur I came across Harry walking up the Short Meadows he looke smashed. Somehow transition appeared out of the heat and I stoped.

Back at camp the guys next door had a hose they where using to wash and cool down with I got a wash down and fell into my chair my head was spinning. A long while latter I started to feel something close to normal if not sane yet as I was still thinking about more laps luckily for me I didn’t head out again.

So 5 laps and fourth in Solo Singlespeed and I can say that was the hardest day I have ever spent on a mountainbike.