I made a tactical error in the ‘race’ yesterday, but I have to say I saw it coming. For the whole 140 km I only had 2 water bottles. Why? You probably know if you’ve done these things – nobody in my group stopped. Simple as that. Well, nobody I was riding with stopped anyway. Maybe this the difference between riding at the back and riding at the ‘pointy end’.
Anyway, the result was more than 4 hours on 1.2 litres of liquid. The result of that was cramps near the end and an urge to either fall down, puke, or both, once we got into the lunch room. I had all the symptoms of Rob’s first stage of Haute Route last year, so I was looking forward to that IV, but after a few Cokes and most of my lunch plate I was good as gold.
You can really do a lot of damage to the human body and get away with it.
The Vicious Cycle 
Not to mention the warm temperature and climbing to rid you of the fluid already in your body…
Indeed. It was pretty hot near the end.
Amazingly they cancelled a half marathon in cool weather in Sheffield at the weekend because they couldn’t get huge supplies of water for the competitors.
If Sheffield’s weather is anything like yours I’m surprised they ran out of water.
Been there! Way to hang tough, Gerry.
Thanks. It was one of those ‘manageable’ cramps that stays on the edge of exploding. Seems a few of us experienced them, so must have been the heat.