Spring Fat Tyre Festival

[orphic]

Making a new thread for this instead of continuing conversation in the Scott 24hr one...

There's going to be some DHBC presence at the Spring Fat Tyre Festival (8 1/4 hr XC race) in Ourimbah on the 22nd November. Lindsay and I have just entered as a mixed pair.

If anyone else is keen to enter, details are at www.wannaride.com.au. Rego's are predicted to be filled up this week so you need to be quick.

I'm looking forward to the free beer at completion of the race already

[Toff]

Glad to see you found a sucker to ride that one with you, Orphic.

[orphic]

Just a tad jealous are we Toff? Don't be sad you didn't make the team. You are more than welcome to come along as the cheer squad.

[NOOG]

I've entered and so has Kevin...Are you guys still planning on riding the course this weekend?

[mikesbytes]

DHBC cheer leader uniform?

Sounds like fun, I'll have to buy a mountain bike one of these days

[orphic]

I've entered and so has Kevin...Are you guys still planning on riding the course this weekend?

Yep, the plan is to head to Ourimbah on Saturday. We will have to head out relatively early to get a decent amount of riding in. Christian said something about trying to do 5 laps. I just need to try and master the tricky bits. Not sure how long 5 laps will equate to, but I would personally like to get about 4 hours of riding in.

This weekend is pretty much the only free weekend I have until the event, so if the weather sucks I'm screwed. And we can't move it to Sunday as DH racing is on at the track which may get in the way.

[christian]

I was thinking of leaving Sydney on Saturday around 8am or maybe earlier, It'll take around 1.5 hours to get there depending on traffic out of Sydney. I don't remember saying 5 laps, that would be 56km, my plan was to do 4, but I guess I'll have to see how we go for time.

[orphic]

Oh, I thought it was one slow and four fast. Much of a muchness anyway. As long as I get my slow lap in before you guys ditch me...

Leaving a bit earlier than 8am might be a good idea if it's possible.

[NOOG]

Oh, I thought it was one slow and four fast. Much of a muchness anyway. As long as I get my slow lap in before you guys ditch me...

Kevin might be coming along as well. He'll be able to keep you company

[orphic]

I have a feeling I'll be getting ditched by Kevin too

[orphic]

Transport. Lindsay and his bike needs some. Do you have any room John?

[NOOG]

Yeah, that's fine. I plan to leave at 6am. I'll talk to Lindsay to see if he can meet at my house at 5:45.

[orphic]

Given that it is going to rain, is the Gazebo coming along?

Anything else we need to think about bringing for setting up at transition?

And can a mod move this to the new mountain biking forum?

[NOOG]

I can't fit the gazebo in the car with 4 people and 3 bikes unfortunately. I guess we'll just have to suck it up...I have a feeling we'll be praying for rain after a few hours in 40+ temperatures.

[mikesbytes]

Rain

Make sure your opponents eat your mud

[orphic]

Well, that was tough.

Riding that course in that heat was just crazy. When we went out to Ourimbah a few weeks ago I did what, 3 laps in 4 hours? Today I managed 1 1/2 in 6.

It was a bit of an epic day for me, with a few key events I can see were pointing towards ultimate failure now, but I didn't see that at the time.

My first problem was that I started the day with really high blood sugar, so I was dehydrated and feeling pretty lethargic. No worries.. Dose up, eat some food, dose up some more. She'll be right. That's what I thought anyway. I rolled out for my first lap and probably went far too fast/hard for my ability. It's a bit hard not to in a race environment. Came down when I was coming through a corner which stuffed my hip, arm and my front shifter. I had to stay in the middle ring to get back to base, which kind of sucked for some of the climbs.

Got my bike sorted back at transition, then set about sorting out the food situation. Blood sugar still sky rocketing and I felt like utter crap. Dosed up, ate minimal food, dosed up more... Rolled out for the second lap when Lindsay returned.

I realised at some point on that lap that I really wasn't feeling well at all. I started seeing stars and getting a little dizzy. It's easy to think you're just pushing it too hard though, so I continued. It wasn't until I was coming down into a corner that my legs went like jelly and I caught myself going a little sideways, and I felt like I blacked out for a second that I realised it was time to get off the bike.

I sat on a log on the side of the course, and yelled 'yep' back at everyone who asked if I was ok as they came past. The world was spinning at this point (perhaps I was just drunk...) and when it didn't really stop I started yelling back 'no' so I could get some help. Someone called it in and after about half an hour or something help arrived. Poor Christian got stuck sitting on that log with me for a while. I don't know if I was making any sense at that point.

So it was pretty much all over for me from there. I've since determined the problem - the heat killed my insulin, so it was basically like riding and not eating any food at all. Which is damn near impossible with mountain biking.

I've been feeling pretty off about the experience since I got home. I'm feeling a little off about cycling all together right now for the first time since I started, which isn't very nice and I am sure will pass after a good feed and a rest. It certainly taught me a few lessons... Like stay in bed when it's going to be 41 degrees!

Apologies for the lengthy post... It feels good to let it all out

[weiyun]

Quality lengthy posts are GOOD!

Fantastic effort for giving it a go. Just remember our thoughts were with you guys when we all sat panting at Marrickville Cafe at 10am, thinking that you guys have just started.

Rest well and maybe finding a cooler day is the go for next time.

[NOOG]

Just remember our thoughts were with you guys when we all sat panting at Marrickville Cafe at 10am, thinking that you guys have just started.

We started at about 8:45 and it wasn't too bad at first, there's some nice shade down in the valley and it stayed pretty cool for a while. At around 11:00, the humidity skyrocketed in the valley and it turned into a sauna. The climb out every lap was almost a relief (almost being the operative word).

In the end, the heat and humidity got so ridiculous that they shortened the race by 2 hours, making it a 6.25 hour race.

[mikesbytes]

Wow V that's an epic story, glad you survived

[Toff]

Impressive post Orphic. Good thing you stopped. To me it sounds like you had heat stress. No doubt you also have some cool new bruises on your arms and legs to show off at the cafe.

I'm not convinced about your reasons for suffering. Sounds more like a virus rather than a medication issue. The effectiveness of insulin will decrease with exposure to heat, but you would have to sit it on a hot black surface in direct sunlight for it to break down so quickly. Plus, you should have a basal dose in your system alreaady to keep things ticking over, especially if you are exercising hard.

Since your blood sugar was elevated, this would have compounded any dehydration, which would have exacerbated the "heat stress symptoms" you described. Did you cramp at all?

Any results for the various DHBC entrants?

[orphic]

Hmmm, interesting to hear your opinion on it. I pumped myself full of more insulin yesterday than I EVER have before, even when I've been sick. When we got in the car to leave I decided to take a whole heap just to see what would happen - an amount that I would usually eat about 4 bowls of pasta for. Did nothing. I didn't get it back down til I got home and got some stuff into me out of the fridge... Which really made me think that had to have been the problem.

I felt dehydrated from the beginning of the day, and it only got worse as time went on, despite how much I was drinking.

No cramps. I don't really get cramps, only once or twice when sprinting on rollers.

[weiyun]

The time to home would also have given you time to rehydrate and partially recover, so it would be hard to prove the cause in absolute terms. I would have thought it's multi-factorial given the condition, and management of hyperglycaemic state is never easy when there's persisting background stress. Insulin infusions were great under those conditions. However I don't see any evidence to implicate a viral cause.

Just glad that you took rest at an appropriate time and not push further.

[lindsay]

Here's my race report - Firstly it was great being in a team with Victoria & inspite of our problems I think team is best & we had a cool name (Double Shot Dulwich Hill). So thanks team mate... & if you want to keep working on it I'm in for the long haul.

I did 2 laps which I quite enjoyed. It was a brilliant course, flowed well, not rocky & had enough hard stuff to make it feel like you were doing something. Not too much climbing either and some fast single track. The other thing I loved was being part of a big event, these things are well run. Could have camped overnight perhaps, would have been fun??

The heat was the main story of the day, it really overshadowed the event. People were leaving from about 12pm onwards and on my second lap there were riders flaked out all over the place. I love the heat though, I had my lunch sitting in the sun!!

I did the first lap & a little mistake I made was to get too far back in the group of starting riders. Then I was stuck behind some very sketchy riders who I nearly rear ended a couple of times. Finally myself & another guy just stopped & waited for them to clear a bit then started again at a better pace.

Something I learned is you can use your camel-back as a shower after the race, going from filthy to clean for the trip home is good.

Thankyou to our senior MTB riders John & Christian for your guidance & support, without you guys I'd still be riding with a picnic on the back of my bike.

[orphic]

Thanks Lindsay. I think we should keep this team thing going. It works for me and I will definately be back to fight hard.

I must say that I felt a bit different about the course than you. When we went out a few weeks ago I was like "what climbing?" and thought it was really flowy. This time around I felt it was rocky and that every little up hill was a massive climb. Guess the way I was feeling over dramatised it all. It was hard to concentrate, and I spent my time being petrified as opposed to having fun.

I would like an opporutnity to get back there. I dunno if it was something to do with my bike, the shape I was in, or a bit of both - but I felt like I was getting flung around a lot. In fact I would liken the feeling I had on Sunday to the feeling I had when I first did Manly Dam - and I know I have improved A LOT since then.

[alchemist]

You might like to check out the WSMTB 4 Hour Series... First one is a twilight race so you'll need lights for the last hour or so.

http://www.wsmtb.com/v2/4hr_09.html

[orphic]

First one clashes with Southern Highlands track open, but the 17th January is sounding good!

[Kev]

The photos from the weekend are up:
http://www.derekwaterman.com/Fat_Tyre

There aren't all that many. I one found one of Lindsay, two of Christian (one in the background of someone elses photo) and one of myself.

[orphic]

I remember riding past the photographers, it was just after I crashed and I was getting a stabbing pain in my leg with each pedal stroke... So I was pretty much swearing constantly, and blood was running off my arm all over my bike. I don't think they took a photo, but I can imagine it must have been a pretty funny sight.

[lindsay]

a bit to the left, now a bit to the right!! I'm looking very serious