Started at 1045. Good first day and gained time on my schedule. Arrived at Pocklington at 0455, had food and went to the sleeping hall at 0530 with instructions to wake me at 0745. I came to at 0915 !! They hadn't woken me and all of my gains from the previous day were lost.
After hearing tales of shoes going missing, I was careful to keep mone in an easily identifiable bag at controls. However, on one occasion, I left mine with water bottles and knee warmers for 2 minutes while I went into the toilet to apply chamois cream. I came out, put my foot into a shoe where I had left mine, and..... IT WASN'T MY SHOE !!. Mine had gone - in the 2 minutes I was in the gents. Panic ensues. I run outside looking for riders who had the same type of shoe asking them to check that they definitely had the right shoes. No Luck. Go back into the control thinking my ride was over. The shoes that had been left in exactly the same place as mine had different cleats so I could not use them. Eventually found them over the other side of the entrance to the school. But who had moved them (and why) in the 2 minutes I was away, I will never know. Also in the panic and confusion, I somehow lost my chamois cream. Pocklington was not a good place for me
Left here behind my schedule and headed for Thirsk. Asked if there was a bike shop nearby where I could buy more chamois cream, but was told the nearest one was in Northallerton and that I would have to divert off route, which I did. All of these unavoidable things just play with your head.
Barnard Castle, but I was behind my schedule which gave me about 4 hours on the official schedule, so tried to stay positive. My intention was by bypass Alston, go through Brampton and have my next sleep stop at Moffat. However, descending off Yad Moss, the sleepiness hit me and I could not focus on the road. I ended up stopping at Alston for food and sleep, but this was 100 Km short of where I wanted to be.
Set off at 0300 Hrs, in the rain. After Brampton, I had a 'feeling sorry for myself' moment as I could start to see the writing on the wall for my LEL attempt. Got to Edinburgh at around 1630 on Tuesday after having another attack of the dozies, but could not afford any time to sleep, so pushed on to Innerleithen and Eskdatemuir. I had climbed reasonably well, but was wet due to rain and sweat. My target was Brampton, but arrived at Eskdalemuir freezing cold and decided to sleep there. WRONG DECISION. I had to go 1 Km back up the road to the village hall, where I was shown to a mattress, but there were no blankets. Due to being damp, I spend the next 2 hours shivering and getting no sleep.
I left pre-dawn on the leg to Brampton. Due to getting no sleep at Eskdalemuir, on the stretch from Longtown to Brampton, the sleep deprivation really hit me and I couldn't keep my eyes open. It seemed to take an eternity to get to Brampton. Shower, change kit, food, 1hr 20min sleep, more food, and left. But I was now 1hr 30mins behind my 'closing time'.
Shortly before Alston, in deteriorating weather, I realised that I was not going fast enough and would not make up the time, and made the difficult decision to retire from the event. This was 1230 Hrs on Wednesday, and I eventually got back to the campsite at Debden at 2300 Hrs.
Still beating myself up about it and wondering what I could have done differently, if anything. Or did a catalogue of events just conspire against me ?