Paul's Dirty Enduro.

Paul's Dirty Enduro report. Let's just say things did not go as planned. I'm currently sitting in the waiting room of Petebrough General Hospital. Will get to the conclusion soon enough.

The road trip down was nice. Crashed at Ben Dawson's Mom's on Friday night which meant about a 45 minute drive to the event in the morning. Perfect.




Heather had limited me to the 60 km loop since this was supposed to be a ramp for the 8 hour next weekend. This meant I didn't start till 11am. The 100km racers were off at 8am. Ben has won this 3 years in a row and was pretty pumped to do it again. Ran into a few other buddy's also. Craig from Big Ring Racing was going to be playing on his single speed. So was my buddy Matt Wynen. Matt and I have battled it out many a times at some 8 hour races.

Craig at his best!!!

Ben lead the 100 km from start to finish. Followed by Zac Wheeler on a single speed about 20 minutes behind at the end of the day.

I stated typing this about 5 pm just for time frames. Now lets start with my fun. Had a good warm up, legs felt pretty good. Staged up at the front. A good group in the 60km field. Probably 60-70, hard to tell. After attendance was taken, made me feel like I was in school again, they did a very quick count down. Go. I went pretty hard off the start. I always like being in the front 4-5 for the half k or so before settling in. That is exactly where I was. Tim Carlton caught me pretty quick like I expected him to. I didn't expect to keep up with him for the first 2 hours but hopefully start pulling people back in in the last 20 km.

I really need to do this race again in the future. Talk about singletrack. Oh have I mentioned the climbing? of course what goes up gets to come down. Now as much as the singletrack was fun, things were extremely bumpy. Ganaraska forest is is obviously a man made forest with lots of replanting. Ya you know row planting bumps that are just of rhythm of a 26 inch frame build so lots of chatter to the body. This is where my problems began.

Hit the first feed zone feeling pretty good. I had two bottles so my plan was to top up at the last feed area. At this point I was running in the top 5 of my division and probably 8th overall. This was about an hour in. I'd pulled in 2 riders just after this point for the overall position. Still in my rhythm.

The next hour things were still going good. Sorta. I could feel a bit of tightness beginning to develop below my stomach. Well I timed it right and dropped a chain. Pee break. Sorry I know over share but it does become important. The pain went away for the moment. The next 20 minutes things started to change. I kinda knew this feeling and it's not a good feeling. Kept in my rhythm but I found the the chatter bumps were starting to hurt more and more. Not just bumpy course sore but someone stabbing me in the gut type pain. My abs became tighter and tighter and I was starting to have a hard time climbing. I'm not talking about sore legs pushing a hard gear up a climb problem, this became to the point that I was in my granny
I was fighting to keep my heart rate down. It was peaking on the easiest things. Then came the technical singletrack and stuff that I would normally be smoking through and I was stopping to take some strain off. This is also where the mind starting thinking alot. Oh did I mention that people started going by my like I wasn't even moving. That was because I wasn't. I was back in 20 plus
by this time and i kept feeling worst.

This is the same problem I had at the 9 hour. I couldn't drink or eat and I was hunched over. Flash back to the 2 litres of fluids i brought up after the race. The stuff my body was not absorbing. My thoughts today, make yourself puke. Tried for a few minutes with no success. Get on the bike and pedal. Things kept getting worst. I was praying for the last feed zone. Surprisingly I was still sorta happy. Hit the feed and asked the fastest way out. I'm done. About 3km down a fire road and I was back in the chalet area. I was still gurgling alot but had some gas come out in different directions, another over share.

Of course I still have the thought that the 8 hour is next weekend. Smart, stop riding recovery and play hard next weekend. All those thoughts changed about an hour after I was thinking this. Hanging with a few of the boys that had just come in I started to feel crappy again. I also had an urge. I won't share this to much but lets just say that there was blood with something that there shouldn't be with.

Came out of the porta pottie of death, got dizzy, laid down, first person I saw told them to get me first aid. Next thing I know I'm on a gurney being rolled towards the St' Johns Ambulance. Some test later and they are organizing Ben's brother-in-law to drive me to where I sit now. I've been here for 2 hours, had some blood taken. I'm really glad I had my laptop in the car. I would have probably gone crazy. No updates yet. I'm starving and thirsty. I haven't eaten since 10am. I'm still having some cramping, not like earlier but enough that I'm even concerned.

6pm
So here is where I'm at. My season is done, at least for the moment. The 8 hour is out, the Enduro championships are probably out also. Race the night? Not sure yet.

What do I think has caused this? I really think it might be caused by the bike. The hardtail is sorta forgiving in most conditions. Carbon is sweet BUT! I have been thinking about the courses and where the problems were at and how long it took to happen. Mansfield was tough but all the bumpy stuff was pretty much stood on. Both 24 hours were pretty smooth, the ocups to short to hurt anything but lungs and legs. Mountainview. Bumpy and physical, this race was extremely bumpy. What does this mean I should have pulled out the full suspension.


I've made a few phone calls and sit patiently, watching Off Road to Athens. unfortunately no wireless. More updates later.

8pm
blood work done. sitting and waiting. kinda sorta patiently. Lets just say that I have watched Off Road to Athens once, all the extras and ready to start it again.

10 pm
Just came from cat scan. I didn't even know I had a cat in me to scan.

10:45 pm
All results are back, I'm free to go. Basically it was what I thought. My bike abused me. Had a good doctor that was in to cycling and explained a few things to me. Very relieved, where can I get some food? He gave me the ok to continue racing. No permanent damage.

11 pm
heading home, I need to sleep in my own bed. I still need food. Ok this is the only thing open at the time and probably not the best thing to eat but I'm starving. McDonald's drive thru. BLAH!!! 12 hours without food and close to the same amount of time without fluids I don't care what it is I'm eating.

1 pm
Home

Sunday Morning
Eating and drinking is the agenda for the day. I'm taking it easy today, not sure about the 8 hour yet. I'm going to get the full suspension ready. It's been a while since I've been on the NRS. My time commitments for Blue are done. I'm not making any decisions about the rest of the season for a couple days. Lot's of play time left.

A huge thank you to the Dawson family for getting me over to the hospital and checking in on me. Same to the St. John's Ambulance guys.

Time to eat again.