As I enjoy reading other people's summaries of events.. here's mine.
This was my 5th randonnee and second attempt at a 600 (The first was the Pendle which broke me!).
I found this event the most interesting from a mental perspective with a full range of emotions during the event - Bliss on the way to the first control in the transition from dawn to blue skys. Excitement during the Saturday afternoon when my average speed indicated I should be in for a good early finish. Comfort when chatting to others at controls knowing I'm not in this by myself. Frustration after Goole as my legs stopped producing any power. Anxiety at Gainsborough wondering if I'd be able to finish given I'd slowed down so much. Misery riding in the shivering mist south of Lincoln and seeming to go nowhere. Loneliness for most of Sunday only catching brief glimpses of other riders all day. Anger at the headwinds from Spalding to Arrivee... particularly around Chatteris and after Cambridge! (I was exploring the full vocabulary of swear words shouted out loud at the wind and geography of the area that allowed such winds to occur!). Satisfaction at finishing with time to spare.
I was a bit rushed at the start of the event as I'd arrived late due to motorway closures near home. I arrived to the start the moment everyone was departing. After getting myself sorted I ended up setting off 15mins later. No issue in the scheme of things.
Prior to the event I'd changed the saddle on the bike as the other one just wasn't working. I'd bought a cheap (£15) Selle Italia to explore different shapes and this one was a big improvement... not quite there as a little too much pressure on my bloke bits (I don't think I qualify to call them the 'Gentleman area'). I'll try another to see if I can improve comfort further. Other changes were a shorter stem and position changes on the 'tridax' bars (tri bars but raised up much higher and with a fabricated route sheet holder). This was a great improvement, previously I would only be on the bars for a short period to rest the hands however I could stay on the bars for ages at a time which helped a lot with upper back and shoulder comfort.
No mechanicals on the event. Luckily, I'd cleaned the bike the day before and noticed a cracked chain link which I swapped out. By the end the chain sounded a bit grindy due to the lube being washed off but not too bad.
Kit wise I'd prepared fairly well with more layering than previously and was pretty happy except I need some waterproof shoe booties as I had wet feet for most of the event after Sat arvo rain. I'll definitely have them for next time. I did pack spare socks so that was great. I also should have worn tights as I never took off the knee warmers.
This was my first time sleeping on an event and my plan was to stop when I felt sleepy and if I didn't feel sleepy then keep on riding. As it turns out I felt sleepy towards Lincoln and found a nice abandoned stone bus shelter with wooden benches. It looked like it hadn't been used for years and was overgrown with Ivy and the benches were dusty and various types of natural detritus. I had my as-yet unused bivvie bag and a foil blanket. I was so tired I thought I'd get out the foil blanket and use the bivvie as a pillow and was asleep in seconds. Another rider came in some time later and I thought "I'd best check if he has enough room to lie down... I'll do that in a second...Zzzzzzz" Whoever it was, apologies if I didn't leave you room and hopefully the foil blanket didn't crackle too much!
I felt I improved my feeding on this event. Much less sugar and more proper food. Good sandwiches at each stop seemed to work well. I'm not sure Maccas works for me, it tastes great when hungry but it didn't seem to work as well as other food I'd eaten. I definitely need to eat more often as there was a few periods where I felt crap but a good feed picked me up. I did have a nice breakfast in the the tea room at Thorney, just north of Whittlesey, the proprieter was lovely and some of the other customers were 'eclectic'.
I relieved I've now done a 600, hopefully now I can relax more on events and enjoy the controls knowing I can do the distance in the time. I'll probably do a couple of shorter distance events for the rest of the year depending on what I can fit into the calendar.
Overall, I really enjoyed the event. Many thanks to Tom for organising it and congrats to all that took part.
Matt
