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Great ride Nick. Looks like you rode very consistently and paced it well. I was all over the place but learned a lot.
I also actually put on weight and finished with a few of the SIS bars I set off with. Taking the eating competition thing a little too seriously.
cjr-
I also actually put on weight and finished with a few of the SIS bars I set off with. Taking the eating competition thing a little too seriously.
I only ate 2 family-sized trifles this year, which is up from 0 last year but still makes me a bit of a lightweight in the TAW eating competition. I was down about 1kg this morning vs pre-race, but that could easily be a random fluctuation. I wasn't absurdly hungry afterwards.
Nick.Earthloop
Lesson learnt: when coughing up flem and spitting it into a bush, first check that you're not still wearing your midge headnet.
It went pretty well until I ran out of food on the second to last peninsula in the early evening, with no resupply options. I put on a bit of speed to try to get to Durrus while something was open, but no. I pushed on as best I could, rationing my last morsel to last until morning. By around midnight I had the severe dozies, so I stopped for a 20 minute hedge kip. It didn't help enough though, I still couldn't safely ride a bike. That left no option but to stop for a proper sleep.
I got my head down at about 0100, woke at 0400 and was rolling again by 0425. It was already starting to get light and I felt much better. Two caffeine pills and my last little bit of chocolate for breakfast. A town, everything shut. Another town, ditto. A garage, also shut. More empty road. By now it's late enough that things will be open, and I see a sign for Clonakilty 12k. This makes me happy until I realise that it isn't 12k for me, because I'm going there via a long diversion up and down a stupid fucking hill.
Finally I get to Spar in Clonakilty and load up on food. Another 20k on survival mode and then the food has kicked in and I'm ready to race. The tracker shows that I only lost one place overnight, but someone is one hill behind me. I don't know if he's chasing me or just surviving, but for some motivation I choose to believe that he's chasing me hard and give it everything for the last 40k.