Four weeks ago, together with another 37 hardy souls, I started the hardest ride I’ve ever done. And it wasn’t over when I reached Slope Point, 9.5 days later. The past two weeks have been a massive sting in the tail. I start writing this hoping it will mark the beginning of my return to normal – and hoping that reliving the race will make it more prominent in my memories than what came after! (There will be a postscript if you’re curious.)
This morning I read a fb comment that some other riders’ (awesome) accounts make it sound easy (or at least relatively non-torturous). I’m aiming for more of a gritty vibe, and I’m definitely going to be more long-winded. For me, the challenge was just as much mental as physical, and I want to capture that pain and resulting hard-won thinking before it fades.
My stats for this ride are inexact. Ride with GPS thinks you’ve stopped when you push your bike too slowly, and from day 3 onwards I regularly switched between Ride with GPS and View Ranger for navigation so don’t have a full record.
I’m aiming to write a post reflecting on each day of the race and publish them as they’re finished.