Don't Bring a knife to a gunfight (Part I)

There is a line in action flicks that goes something like " Boy, don't ever bring a knife to a gunfight!" The meaning of this phrase is come with the right gear for the ocassion. Today I got it wrong, isn't the first time and it definitly won't be the last.

Basically I bought the wrong bike to the race, I thought I could race a hardtail at an alright level for 8hrs...I got it wrong. While I had built up the dually the day before I wan't prepared to go out and race it untired. This is one of the lessions learn't over the years "Never race untested kit...ever...even if the sponser wants you to"

I got a warning via www.farkin.net a couple of days before that the course would be harsh on a hardtail (harsh = understatement). The were a lot of braking ruts on the downhills (compliments of last years event)and the course was hardpacked as described, but with loose "bulldust" through most of the corners. So basically I got hammered on the downhills and the tires I was using didn't have much bite in the loose (Rocket Ron & Racing Ralph = better choice). I never got into trouble, but I was riding cautious trying to finish and not crash.

After about 3.5hrs my lower back packed it in (I also didn't have any pain killers). On the fourth lap it was like the power lights went out, the uphill parts of the course where I was strong suddently I just had to sit and twiddle a small gear. By the time I got to transition my back was killing me along with my wrists. I have a weakish lower back due to a mtb accident a couple of years back and my left wrist has been broken 3x now and plays up occasionally...today was one of those occasions.

The other issue was the heat, while not roasting at 11.30am it was still hot. When I sat down you could see the dried salt crystals on my thighs and on the sleeves of my jersey. I hadn't noticed it while riding but afterwards sitting there it was like "Sh!t, that's not good". At that stage I had drunken,

- 2 x 750ml of nuun
- 1 x 500ml of gatorade post-mix
- 1 x 500ml of gatorade pre-mix

so not an inconsiderable amount.
When I got home (3.75hrs after and drinking another 1.5l of gatorade, I was still 1kg underweight)

Summary

Lessions learn't,

- Know your course as much as possible if you haven't ridden it previously
- Opt for caution, hardtails are for XC wippets!(Or teams riders)
- Dehydration creeps up on you quickly in extreme heat, hydrate or suffer

Part II

I will post up the HR file after I download it and post any comments as nessecary