han-grrl's blog

24 hour hot august nights, albion hills, ontario

I did my first 24 hour solo race this year...and i reached my goal of ten laps!! Woohoo!

and now the gory details - my first 5 laps, i was feeling good almost elated. I was riding well, and by not hammering i was really enjoying the course. It was nice not really needing to rush through the course. Lap 6 was a bit tougher physically. I could tell i was starting to feel tired. It didn't help when i squirrel ran in front of me and another solo rider coming down the last section before the 5th race marshall. Lap 7 came and i was really starting to hurt. but mostly...the undercarriage was really starting to hurt. i had to stand for a lot of my riding, and that was draining me physically and mentally. Then lap 8 came along, and that was my sad lap. i was told i would have some hard times mentally, and that lap was it. i was hurting A LOT. i couldn't sit for very long. and i realized i needed to eat more when i got back. it was night too, so the riding was a bit tougher as well. Guys would pass asking me how i was doing, and i would manage a sobbing kind of "i'm ok" because i didnt' want to admit that i wasn't doing so ok. i was telling myself that these feelings will pass, and as long as the bike was moving foreward i was making progress.

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