Tough one at Mt Annan

This was the last race in the 4hr Summer Series and was to be held at Mt Annan. I really like the twilight format and was looking forward to this one.
Coming into this race I was sitting in equal 3rd place overall in the series (mainly due to some riders only doing 1 or 2 races). I had hopes of an overall 3rd place but knew it would be a big ask.
My starting in the last 2 races has been terrible and I wanted to make a good start and get in a good position. I lined up in the 2nd row just behind big Martin and got a clean start. I pushed pretty hard off the line but quickly settled into a more comfortable pace. Stephen caught up to me about half way through the first lap and helped me set a comfortable pace to try to maintain over the 4hrs. He said there was a huge margin back to the main pack and not to worry about them.
The first 5 laps went by pretty quickly. I was basically riding solo, occasionally passing the odd slower rider but not seeing anyone coming up behind me. Lap 6 started to hurt a bit and cramps started to develop. The faster pairs started to lap me by this stage. I couldn't take in much more water or staminade and just had to back off.
Lap 7 I lapped one of the blokes sharing my shelter as a base camp and pushed a bit hard to try to look fresh and fast in front of him - then the cramps took hold. I battled through lap 7 and was struggling.
I drank about 400-500mL water and a few mouth fulls of staminade in transition thinking I still had at least 2 laps to ride. I was just taking my time grabbing a cookie and going for a gel when my wife was like "What are you doing? there's only 10 minutes left, just ride your last lap!"
I had no idea what the time was or how far I had ridden. Mt Annan seems to have that effect on you - It felt like I rode that rocky climb through the thick forresty section about 100 times. At least I rode it every lap.
I cruised around for my last lap and held the cramps at bay.
I finished in 7th place with 8 laps in 4hr26min and ended up 4th in the series overall.
I liked the challenge and satisfaction of the solo series and will do some more of them in the future but also missed the comradery of a team race. Our team of 6 for The Mont should be good fun.
Thanks to Ray, Big Dog, Erica and the team for all their work.
Cheers.
Ian A