Yesterday it was time for my 12th 200 to complete my RRTY. It was a lengthy affair.
I started off by marginally miscalculating my early morning insulin which meant that after two hours my blood sugar was low, I lacked energy and felt nauseous. I ate what I could and struggled on until beans on toast revived me at 76km. My pace was dreadful despite a stonking tailwind, and it was a struggle to eat enough to keep my blood sugar up, and the early part of the route was quite hilly (though I'd normally have completed in 12 hours or so).
It had taken nearly 7 hours to get to 100km and this was the first time I realised how slow I'd been. I struggled on and walked up a steep hill shortly before the 140 km mark where I knew I would turn back into that wind. I calculated that there were 4 hours to do the final 80km (it was a 218km route) and my pace was only going to get slower as I became more weary and fought the wind. I seriously thought about bailing and considered my options - call my wife, call in on a friend who lived close by for a lift, or go to the railway station and see what was available.
But I wasn't prepared to give up on this after the effort I'd put in so thought I'd give it another 20km and see how I was doing. At this point my front hub began to hum and this only got worse as the ride proceeded. I didn't have time to stop to investigate. From hereon I resorted to Coke with frequent blood tests as I couldn't face solid food (have been on Diet Coke for the last 30 years, so it was quite a treat!) Thankfully despite the wind the terrain was now very flat for large sections.
At 60km to go it looked like I might make it and where I'd normally slow down and stop for frequent rests as the end of a ride approaches I was now on a mission. Another service station for another coke and on I went. All the time I was waiting for the hub to seize up, or a visit from the fairy to end things but I finally reached to arrivee with around 20 minutes in hand, more exhausted than ever before. I sat on the petrol station forecourt for 20 minutes before cycling the 3km home, with a very quiet feeling of elation.
Just one sting in the tail. I switched the Etrex off at the finish and tonight tried to send the track to Chris Smith for validation. However, my computer said there was an error and i chose to scan the device and fear I've lost the track - have I made a momentous error? Has anyone else had this experience. My Current file is a document instead of a folder, and is only 8Kb - is that right? Any help greatly appreciated...
