Utter Failure

This past Sunday was the Autumn Epic cyclosportive. It started in Knighton, Wales which is up in mid-Wales near the border with England. The ride was 94 miles (150km) and included roughly 10,000 feet of climbing.

I was really looking forward to the ride. I wasn’t too concerned about the distance but I was a little nervous about the amount of climbing. Needless to say, I had never done that type of climbing before.

The weather has been surprisingly good the last month or so (except the last week where it’s gone grey again and cool). But I held out hope that Sunday would be good. The weather forecast all week called for 70% chance of rain and a high in the low 50’s. Not the best riding weather. On Saturday the forecast changed to 20% chance of rain, but still cool. Well, that got me excited. The excitement was short lived however.

On Sunday I got up and left the little B&B I had stayed in and it was raining. And it didn’t stop raining until after 12 noon. I started the race with all the other eager riders, but like everyone else, was not looking forward to riding 94 miles in the rain. Within the first few miles riders were turning back, other riders were having to change flat tires in the cold and rain. In fact, close to 400 riders didn’t even show up. I got through 2 of the 8 major climbs. In terms of the ride itself I was feeling okay. But by the 10 mile mark I was soaked to the bone, and I even had proper rain gear on. It was absolutely miserable. On the downhill descents it was so cold and wet I couldn’t feel my fingertips and couldn’t tell how hard I was pressing the brake levers to slow down.

I made it to the first food stop which was 35 miles in. One of the event staff working with the paramedics came up to me and strongly encouraged me to hop in the ambulance for a bit to warm up. I couldn’t stop shivering, and she could tell. In the ambulance were 4 other riders. Three of those 4 were deciding to stop their ride because of the wet and cold. One warmed up enough to continue on. In my head I could hear my wife saying I should be done, and whenever I can hear Julie’s voice in my head it’s a pretty good indication to stop and listen. So, I decided to quit and be done with the ride. I just couldn’t warm up, and didn’t want to run the risk of getting sick. After all, we’re having our good friends Ryan and Jennifer come and visit us this week. It would be to pleasant if I greeted them at the train station with the flu or pneumonia.

So, 2 hours of riding, 2 major climbs, and 35 miles covered and it was over. I got back to Knighton, enjoyed a hot meal, got changed, and came home. I’m disappointed that I didn’t get to finish, but sometimes your body just won’t let you do the things you want to do. Even though I didn’t finish it was still a good experience and one that I’ll remember.

The main riding season is over, in terms of organized races…so I guess it’s time to start planning for next season.