Sickness and Health

Was really looking forward to the CORC 24 after having a personally quiet disappointing Mont race last year (due to couple of injuries). Gazza, Cupcake, Tien, Buck, Loz and Rob combined to become 'Dr Nobs Bocz of pins and screws'. As it turned out was quiet nicely matched but sadly again I could not perform as well as I'd like.

My race went a bit like this...

I'd felt a bit crook on Thursday night and woken a shocking runny nose on Friday so got on the Demazin immediately which seemed to sort that symptom out by the time I woke up on Saturday, after what has to be said was a rather sleepless night on a sloping camp site in Canberra.

We had a vaguely organised race plan to each do a single lap in the arvo then hit double laps all night and return to singles in the morning. This saw me head out on a blue lap around 2pm. I was told that the Psuedoephedrine in Demazin could do dodgy things to your heart so went out what I thought was quiet conservatively and tried not to smash this lap. That said, it's a race and you can't help but get carried away so wasn't going real slow (well - slow for me) either.

Felt fine during and after the lap which I knocked off in 52 mins so concluded my illness must have passed and the drugs must be out of the system - sweet.

Riding in a team of six there was plenty of hanging around before heading out on the planned Blue/Red double which started around 11pm. As it's night this was clearly going to be slowed, and although I started off around the same speed as before managed to contain this and to slow down a bit, especially when thinking of the nice red climb to come. Came to transition in around an hour for the blue and start climbing red.

Hadn't ridden the red lap in the daylight of course, but vaguely knew what it was about from previous trips. Was riding along thinking, "This is a nice climb" and settled into a rythmn.

The track was incredibly dry and dusty, and in parts where there was no greenery in your field of view imagined this was what riding on the moon would be like. Firetrail at speed was like riding in a snowstorm and going closely through trees and shrubs all you could see was them and the light coloured powder on the floor - reminded me of tree skiing.

One of the riders earlier had remarked the Red lap was around 35 mins up and 10 mins down, so about 35 in I begin to think, "Where is the top of this fcuking climb - I want some fun!" Some time after that found the descent, but it's dark and I haven't been down here before. Plus, a lot of the corners have massive bumps in the braking zone so it's not quiet the fun as advertised. My arms were a bit tired which I found odd and began to think it'll be nice to finish and get some sleep. Finished the double around 1am and felt a bit spent to be honest.

BTW, why I start by saying our team was well matched is that Tien, Gaz, Bruce and I all finished our double night laps within 1 minute of each other - very consistent. The young'uns need some practice mind!

So back in camp I eat some food, have a drink and visit the bathroom to discover... oh dear - stomach is clearly upset. Take a shower, go to bed expecting to be out like a light. But bloody hell, I feel terrible! Get up and visit the bathroom again - more squirts. Bollocks! Bump into blondie wondering around in the bottom car park - around 1:45 by now? Gotta love the 24s - who says I look terrible. Go see the medics who concur. Tell them symptoms and they reckon I have picked up a virus ("There's a nasty one going round Canberra at the moment"). I mention the Demazin from Friday just in case and they think nothing of it.

[ NB: I also had (and still do slightly) a rather bruised ring finger on the left hand, even though I haven't crashed or hit it anywhere else. I seem to recall earlier in the day being pricked by a bush or something. Could I have had a reaction to this or an insect bite? Highly unlikely. ]

Visit the bathroom again and feel rather weak. I lay down in the medics tent and am shivering so get some blankets. The medic stuffs a thermometer in my ear but it won't register. Odd. He tries another and then one under my tongue. Eventually they get a reading in the 35s. They pull out a pulse/ox meter and my O2 is stupidly low so stick me on Oxygen. Bingo! Begin to feel better after 5-10 minutes of this (although O2 will generally make you feel better in just about any situation I'm told).

Anyhow, after half an hour of O2 and being covered in blankets my stats are much better and am feeling almost normal. The medics consider sending me to emergency but I'm not keen and in the end they decide 'cos I'm looking better it would be pointless at 3am on a Saturday morning anyhow, so I just go back to the tent (in a car, thanks to Paul who by this time had been by and then gone to collect a vehicle in case the trip to ER was required) and get into my super warm bag still wearing a fleece. Put the hood on and try and sleep. Suppose I slept a bit but not much at all.

Later, although I'm feeling OK the consensus in the team (which includes a GP who doesn't seem overly concerned) is no more laps for Rob.

By mid morning I'm a bit disappointed in this 'cos another zap round the red in daylight is owed to me by the plan, but on the flip side better safe and all that. Plus, I get to walk around a witness smiles and grimaces at transition, pack up a bit and generally relax.

Although my episode with the O2 may have been side effect from the Demazin I'm not convinced to be honest. More likely it was due to exhaustion from very little sleep Friday and the fact I was clearly not feeling great end of last week either. Oh well - sh!t happens. The laps I did were fun and an MTB weekend away is always good.

In the end we managed 25 laps and came 39th out of 85 teams. Tien & Gazza with 5. Bruce, Buck, Loz with 4 and me with 3.

OK - so bring on the Mont next year, and please... a race with no incidents!

Here are my GPS plots for the record:

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/6954430

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/6954431