A race I've not done before and wont again. The course was a bit boring and far too flat for my liking, but mainly boring.
The usual tasks of arriving, setting up, registering, practice lap and relaxing and eating before the race completed. At 8pm it was time to roll, Clive B and I lined up supported by my Nik and Brian B. It was wet and a bit shit, oh well, have raced in worse longer and done a lot better than I'd do here.
Race started and for 6 hours things went well, good pace, eating well and I was staying warm, but soon things went wrong. I could eat or drink much from this point for an 1.5hrs or so and this was going to be an issue. I eased the pace a bit and forced in some gels. (What was going on?) None of this made sense, I pushed on for two laps like this and was into 7th.
I finally could stomach food again and carefully loaded up on my next pit stop and headed out in to the murk again. But soon I was feeling terrible, I wobbled around on the bike in parts and lacked power. This lap would take ages and I would crash a few times, one which knocked the stuffing out of me. I was done.
I limped back to the pits, where I couldn't go on, I felt woeful, dizzy, still can't remember half of what was said or happened and abandoned the race. Helped to get in the shower in Brian's caravan and some more food in me, I first passed out in a chair and then once awaken by Nik, again in the van.
I'm still not sure what happened and can safely say this didn't shape my view of the race or the course. But over the next week as my body took some time to recover and I struggle to eat, I clearly had picked up a bug or some how damaged myself internal. I just wasn't right.
All recovered now, with some time away from the bike and my psyche is back and I look forward to some CX and the Brass Monkey Series. Not to mention more climbing.
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