It was not an auspicious start to June. A rainy Friday saw me sliding along the tarmac wearing nothing but shorts and a short sleeve top. I got up with a lot of gravel rash, a hole in my right knee where a pedal had taken a bite, a large bruise on my hip, a sprained wrist and a (re)broken rib. The only real damage to my bicycle was a mangled front brake noodle.
I cycled to work as usual on Monday, The ride went well enough at the time, but it aggravated the rib and wrist injury and I woke in a lot of pain on Tuesday. I drove to work for the rest of the week. I was fit enough to ride (with the wrist strapped up tight) the next week. Due to the rib, running was right out for all of this time so when I turned up at Bosley I had done no running at all for three weeks.
The Race
After a cool week, Saturday decided to reinstate the 'flaming' in flaming June. I am uncomfortable in anything over 20C, particularly so when I haven't had time to get used to it. It was 30C by the time I got to Bosley. The tune 'Honeysuckle Rose' hung in the scorching air as I walked to the registration tent. The race officials told me where the water was, this included a stand pipe which I found immediately and drenched myself, clothing, hair and hat. I then found some shade behind the band's trailer and lurked there (with a few others) until the start was called.
We gathered at 15:15, I couldn't hear too well in the throng and, as I was expecting a briefing first, missed 'go' being called. The field started moving so I assumed I had better move too. There were no restrictions or bottle necks so we were soon moving quickly. The first mile was easy going. When the ascent started, gently at first, I still felt comfortable following my drenching. As the ascent steepened all evaporative cooling effect wore off and I started feeling unbelievably uncomfortable and tired. When a break in the ascent came I was completely unable to take advantage of it, moving at all seemed hard work. Even my feet hurt, they had swollen in the heat causing my toes to rub.
I soldiered on to the highest point in the race. By now I was feeling so awful that the only reason I carried on was because I had to get back to the start somehow! The mostly descending return leg didn't seem any easier than running uphill had. I have never been so glad to see a finish line. I ran straight through and on to the stand pipe. I have never felt worse at the end of a race, not at any distance. Three drenchings later I was starting to feel better, especially as a breath of a breeze could then be felt. I got a beer from one of the tents and loitered in the shade listening to the band.
While I genuinely felt worse than at the end of my ultras, recovery was somewhat quicker. I had mostly recovered by the time I had had a few sips of my beer. I say mostly as I ended up with mild sunburn on my shoulders. As I finished in just under 50 minutes, that says something about how fierce the sun was for I had stayed in the shade when not running.
All in all ~50 minutes doesn't sound too bad for the distance and ascent, but this is a fast race with easy terrain. Mind you, while many are better in the heat than I, I noted that no records were broken this year.
The rest
I decided to go for an alternative start to my route to work, even if it does add an extra mile to the distance, this and an earlier addition adds a total of two miles to the minimum. I have never looked back after the first extra mile and this second is just as worthwhile. In fact my journey times are shorter, the motivation of a pleasant ride seems to more than offset the distance. I am temporarily forced to make yet another detour. This last actually saves nearly a mile, but as I have to negotiate the unsurfaced tow path at walking pace it doesn't save time. It is pretty enough cycling past cattle coming down to drink, grazing cob's, steep locks and under 'duck or grouse' height bridges. All the same I'll leave this bumpy path, only a hands breadth wide in places*, to walkers once the six week bridge repair on my usual route is completed.
* I did check with both Cheshire Council and British Waterways that cycling was permitted here.
