"What an awsome experience...my great support crew...friendly people on the course...the girls who chatted me through a few slow laps...the guys who motivated me as I added and counted the km's...jokes in the pits...people crashing at night...lonely laps in the early hours...people riding in my lights...people hiding in the bush in the single track to scare us... dammit... I had instant goosbumps all over... EK HET GESKRIK!
Summit Cycles - Was nice meeting you and riding with you. Will forever remember that lap together - when we were actually riding quite fast with our minds telling us the opposite LOL...
My speedo ended 437.** km but I think they didn't count my thunderstorm lap - I was in the midst of it... rain and lightning all around me. When I finished the lap I heard that the race had been stopped - it started again about 5 minutes later.
A few highlights of my race...
I spent 11 hours driving to Gauteng on Whensday.
The run was quite fast and I go onto the bike with HR of 170
Fastest lap touched 28mins
Lap 4 to 8 was my hardest - I got some kind of asthma attack and couldn't breathe properly - I slowed down a lot and rode through it... (altitude I think)
First 8 laps = AVG HR of 163
Then thunder storm with rain and lightning all around me... lasted +- 25 mins
The night was cool and got much colder later
At midnight I had 250km
02:00 a girl riding in panties appeared in my lights...
03:00 Calabash and T-Nose rode laps with me and kept me company
Sunrise - felt like a rocket - increased pace
7:00 phoned some of my friends - felt great (were still aiming for 460km)
9:00 got very hot, thought I could ride harder for the last 3 hours and touched 170HR now and then - extreme heartburn.
10:30 something went wrong inside me... and I know why now... rode anearobicly at places when I felt so good, because of stomach cramps and heartburn I didn't drink or eat enough - dehydrated...
One moment I was on top of the world, smiling, joking - the next I felt like I was poisoned - couldn't touch myself, my feet hurt, everything hurt, my throat...I got negative for the first time in the race - for the first time it was OK to be off the bike...
I took 30 mins off the bike to drink a can of coke and I can't remember the rest - I could hardly swollow...
11:30 started my last lap with Calabash and T-Nose escourting me...suddenly the pain were gone as my body mended back to the shape and position it got used to for the past 23hrs... what a moment... happy, sad, mysterious.... Like when you fell in love and have to say goodbye, without knowing when or if you'll ever see her again...riding every root the last time - the last time...triumph!
I almost started crying - I didn't want it to end...I was tired, but I didn't want to part with the course that I bacame part of in that 24hrs....
Johannes Gerber "Brighter Lights"
