An eventful event

This was my first event so had no idea what to expect really. Set off with a couple of mates who I'd been training with so knew we were about the same pace - but I got a fast line around the outside of a few slower riders at one point so ended up a few hundred meters ahead - that was to prove costly! Hit a fast rocky downhill about 10k in and heard what sounded like a shotgun, but was actually my rear tyre / tube giving up. Pulled over to the side and whipped the wheel out, just in time to see said mates dissapear past without noticing me - must admit it was quite a fast downhill section with a left hander of deep sand at the bottom, so concentrating on where they were going was probably a good idea.

So the puncture was problem no 1. Problem 2 was that my spare tube was 'fat valve' where as the hole in the rim was 'thin valve'. Bugger! Eventually a friendly bloke stopped and gave me a spare tube - although it was so small it looked like it was from a road bike and I was a bit worried it would burst before it actually filled out the tyre! Problem 3 was that there was a split about an inch long in the side of the tyre - but I got it all back together again using a gel wrapper as a tyre boot and managed to get going. By this time there was a huge queue at the water crossing, but once through there I had an uneventful ride to the transition - 1:51 to get there.

At the transition the Shimano guys let me make a more robust tyre boot out of their cardboard and tape supplies, before I headed off again into the GU section. Didn't feel particularly tired, but put that down to the fact that I'd had three 15 minute rests so far!! Got to the top of the grassy winding climb and stopped for a breather, checked the tyre and noticed that the tube was poking out of another split in the sidewall. Gel wrappers to the rescue again (but quite welcome of the enforced rest). Finally got to the start of the road section, where the marshall shouted that it's '4.7km, all downhill' (yes, apart from the uphill bit!) Got to the turning into the farm and had a bloody great slide - looked down and the rear tyre was soft - not fully flat but not as it should be. Pumped it up and couldn't hear it leaking so went for it - didn't last long though before it was soft again. I didn't have a spare, so decided to stop, pump, ride until the end - did this a couple of times before someone shouted 'only 600m to go' so I thought 'sod it' and just rode on, weight as far forward as possible and eventually got to the line - 2:40 for that section, 4:31 in total. Not good, but not last!!

So my first event was pretty, well, eventful. And I think I've learnt some sort of lesson about being prepared!