First long race

Started off not knowing what to expect, guess I went out a bit too hard. Felt fine for the first 20km or so, having devoured a couple of gels off the top tube buffet. I looked down and noticed that my speedo wasn't reading, I had a quick stop and saw that the magnet had loosened itself and moved. I quickly unscrewed it and chucked it in my camelback thinking I shouldnt waste time setting up my speedo again. So at that point any vague plan I had of regular gels went out the door. By the time I saw the 35km sign I was totally exhausted. I struggled along some of what I assume would be awesome singletrail, when not I wasnt totally rooted, back to the 50km mark.
Downing a redbull, an energy bar and a gel, I re-attatched the speedo magnet, rocking the wheel back and forth I set the race topspeed.... 116km/h. I stupidly headed away from the 50km feedstation alone so I found myself getting slower and slower. Eventually the food and drink started to kick in by about the 60km mark I was feelimg alright again. I could enjoy the fast wide open descents, giving me time to relax the arms and back which were knackered. I put a big gap into the riders, that I'd caught up to on the long grinding climb up to the 70km mark, on the descent soon after that made me feel at home with big sweeping berms and ruts.
I settled into a groove and powered the last 20km back to the finish.
I'll definately be back to do that race again, hopefully I can actually get some training done for next year and enjoy it a bit more.