samuri.co.uk

Bike:Handjob
Distance:53 miles

Well that was a huge disappointment! The event was ace, lets get that straight, well organised for the first attempt, very ambitious and a great location. The weather was pretty crap and the ground was very wet, especially in the campsite. The course, that I saw, was great, wide variety of trails.

Now to the bad bits, namely me. Started off great, as soon as the car was out of the way I picked up the pace a little and my fitness from the last two months training was totally awesome! I was charging through the field without expending any real effort. Rode along for ten miles or so passing plenty of people on every climb. I had visions of a top five place in the vets at this rate, all the chaps I was passing were young guns so assuming there wasn’t a gaggle of superfit veterans leading the race out, I was sorted.

Then I had a puncture, not a major problem. Quick repair and off I go again, a bit faster this time to try and get myself back on track. Then my middle ring started sucking, big time. So bad I couldn’t go into the middle so ended up either slugging away on the big or spinning like crazy on the granny. My back was starting to twinge a bit too. Another 10-15 miles further on and I’m starting to experience some serious back pain. It really is starting to cause me grief and it affects my speed. Then my back brake dies completely, no amount of pumping is sorting it out, pants, I slow down even more. I’m OK on the steep climbs where I’m spinning in the granny and I’m still passing people there but the flat and descents are killing me. I’m very stiff going downhill and as a result I puncture on another fast descent. I fix it, take some pills and carry on but as I approach the fifty mile mark my back is starting to seize up and is making my arms ache.

At the 47 mile feed station I realise I’m no longer competitive and more importantly realise I can’t do that again with this back so call it a day. (This is helped by me realising I am the nearest point to the castle so getting back will be easy) . I still have to ride the mile or so across a boggy lake above that feed station, find a marshall and let her know I’ve wussed out.

Riding the three miles back to the castle was a very low time for me. I was extremely disappointed about not completing, particularly since my legs felt absolutely fine. The bike not running properly is my own fault but I’m sick of this back causing me problems (this isn’t the first time I’ve dropped out of a long race with a bad back).  I need to get it sorted, not sure what it is, if it’s the banging about or the camelbak or the position or just a crap back. it’s fine on the road, never get a problem with it. Ho hum.