Gorrick 100 - A lesson in pain & suffering

I had been ill in the build up to the G100, which triggered my asthma. Despite the Gorrick 100 being one of my favourite events, my participation was in serious doubt. I told my wife that if my peak flow was less than 500 I definitely wouldn't be going. Saturday evening after dinner I watched the weather forecast and decided that 475 was close enough!

Bright blue skies as riders gather for the start.

The chilly start and first two laps were a tortuous mixture of coughing and spluttering as I discovered the serious limitations of my broken body. In 27th and struggling badly I had a prolonged pit stop where I stripped off the gillet and armwarmers, which were no longer needed, had an extra drink, something to eat and a few squirts of inhaler. This seemed to do the trick and I raced round the next circuit of the 7.5 mile lap passing a lot of riders and climbing to the edge of the top 20. 

Then I began to slow again.  Without any warning I suffered a sudden bout of vomiting. In shock I rode on, feeling better, but worrying about the loss of nutrition and the impact on my hydration. All the riders I had caught and passed on the previous lap came back through. 

During another prolonged pitstop to sort myself out a little, I risked a banana and glugged a bottle of water. Lap five went well, pushing hard in an attempt to make up for lost time. In hindsight perhaps too hard, since half way around the 6th lap, with over 90 minutes of cycling still to go, cramp hit every part of my body. My legs, my arms and strangely even my hands. I rode along with my fingers locked straight, trying hard to stretch out aching legs.

My pace slowed dramatically as a result and I seriously doubted I had two more circuits in me. I really suffered during the penultimate lap, my slowest, but despite this nobody passed me and this is what kept me going. I had to hope that everyone else was feeling pretty tired by this point too. A caffine gel and the positive thought that the end was in sight got me round once more and over the line in 22nd after 6hours and 10minutes. 

I've had tough days in saddle before, but today was right up there. However I can take huge satisfaction from maintaining my 100% finishing record at what was my 10th Gorrick 100.