I had been out round Kielder on Saturday, so even though it was only 30 miles, with it being off road it was a good work out. I managed that perfectly fine, despite still recovering from a bad cold. Today, with a different group we were doing a 50 miler. Round Durham and Conset and some other places I forget. As I have recently done the C2C and have done 90 miles in a day for it, I was thinking today wouldn't be too bad. How wrong I was.
The start went very well, though one guy did fall on a tight turn and amazingly only ripped his trousers, no harm to him at all which was a good relief as he bounced along the tarmac. The next problem was to be mine, we were going up this rather long and very steep climb, one meant for the lowest possible gear you could (1st on front and back). I got part way up in the middle ring in the front and then had to change down to the 1st ring. But it wouldn't. Instead my chain just clicked away making awful noises, leaving me with a high gear for this climb, and a chain that was making it seem harder as it wasn't going round correctly. I stopped part way up to see if I could move it into place, but this didn't work. So I set off cycling up the remainder of this climb, clicking away and mumbling 'darn it' to myself. I put all my effort into getting up this climb and even over took 3 riders, and 3 people walking with their bikes. At the top half the blokes came to my rescue and fixed it.
The next problem was when we stopped to allow the rest to catch up, I was in a group of 5 and we were wating on 15 others. some chavvy 12 year old buys were sat near us and decided to start throwing rocks. We ignored it at first but then one guy half shouted over 'One more time, and your going to get a slap'. They laughed and stopped a while then started throwing more rocks, swearing at us and taking the mick out of the guy etc etc. He then walked over to them and started shouting at them (didnt hear what he said). They shut up for a while, in that time the rest of the group caught up. They then started again, so the same guy went up, grabbed one of the lads, put one arm round his neck, another round his waste and dragged him back a bit. The rest of the lads ran off. I should clarify, the guy holding the kid wasn't meaning any harm, just trying to scare them a bit so they would stop, as he is a lovely guy. He let go and they went running away.
We then set off again, it was the last ten miles that I really suffered. It was cold and dark and raining a little, it was all big climbs with the occaisonal flat. I don't know why I found it so hard, but I had completely ran out of energy (again didnt help with the kielder ride yesturday and still being ill). I was feeling sick and light-headed and so I wasn't really concentrating on the roads, the group had split up completely, there were two infront of me, the rest behind (some had gone off home when they were close). I was on an island in the middle of a road by a roundabout. It had two lanes going into it which I was watching to see when was safe to cross. But as I felt like death warmed up I was being stupid and couldn't concentrate properly. The lane furthest from me (inside lane) had stopped and there were a few cars waiting to move, I saw this and thought, right I can go. I set off and while in the middle of the other lane a black car blasted its horns and slammed its breaks on. It was ENTIRELY my fault, i'm just glad the car was watching out as it was a fw inches from me, I was so close to being hit by a car (it was going about 10mph + as it could have gone straight over the roundabout and had no need to slow down). This close shave certainly woke me up a bit. I still felt sick and light headed but I was able to concentrate more due to the sheer shock of it. I finished the ride 3rd and got a lift home off my dad.
After my 90 miler on the first day of the C2C I have had a false sense of ability, if I could manage that fine, this ride would be relatively alright, I mean, "It's only 50 miles".
Note to all: If you feel sick and dizzy, stop for a bit, don't just power on and risk your life on a roundabout.
Still, a very good route all the while.
The start went very well, though one guy did fall on a tight turn and amazingly only ripped his trousers, no harm to him at all which was a good relief as he bounced along the tarmac. The next problem was to be mine, we were going up this rather long and very steep climb, one meant for the lowest possible gear you could (1st on front and back). I got part way up in the middle ring in the front and then had to change down to the 1st ring. But it wouldn't. Instead my chain just clicked away making awful noises, leaving me with a high gear for this climb, and a chain that was making it seem harder as it wasn't going round correctly. I stopped part way up to see if I could move it into place, but this didn't work. So I set off cycling up the remainder of this climb, clicking away and mumbling 'darn it' to myself. I put all my effort into getting up this climb and even over took 3 riders, and 3 people walking with their bikes. At the top half the blokes came to my rescue and fixed it.
The next problem was when we stopped to allow the rest to catch up, I was in a group of 5 and we were wating on 15 others. some chavvy 12 year old buys were sat near us and decided to start throwing rocks. We ignored it at first but then one guy half shouted over 'One more time, and your going to get a slap'. They laughed and stopped a while then started throwing more rocks, swearing at us and taking the mick out of the guy etc etc. He then walked over to them and started shouting at them (didnt hear what he said). They shut up for a while, in that time the rest of the group caught up. They then started again, so the same guy went up, grabbed one of the lads, put one arm round his neck, another round his waste and dragged him back a bit. The rest of the lads ran off. I should clarify, the guy holding the kid wasn't meaning any harm, just trying to scare them a bit so they would stop, as he is a lovely guy. He let go and they went running away.
We then set off again, it was the last ten miles that I really suffered. It was cold and dark and raining a little, it was all big climbs with the occaisonal flat. I don't know why I found it so hard, but I had completely ran out of energy (again didnt help with the kielder ride yesturday and still being ill). I was feeling sick and light-headed and so I wasn't really concentrating on the roads, the group had split up completely, there were two infront of me, the rest behind (some had gone off home when they were close). I was on an island in the middle of a road by a roundabout. It had two lanes going into it which I was watching to see when was safe to cross. But as I felt like death warmed up I was being stupid and couldn't concentrate properly. The lane furthest from me (inside lane) had stopped and there were a few cars waiting to move, I saw this and thought, right I can go. I set off and while in the middle of the other lane a black car blasted its horns and slammed its breaks on. It was ENTIRELY my fault, i'm just glad the car was watching out as it was a fw inches from me, I was so close to being hit by a car (it was going about 10mph + as it could have gone straight over the roundabout and had no need to slow down). This close shave certainly woke me up a bit. I still felt sick and light headed but I was able to concentrate more due to the sheer shock of it. I finished the ride 3rd and got a lift home off my dad.
After my 90 miler on the first day of the C2C I have had a false sense of ability, if I could manage that fine, this ride would be relatively alright, I mean, "It's only 50 miles".
Note to all: If you feel sick and dizzy, stop for a bit, don't just power on and risk your life on a roundabout.
Still, a very good route all the while.
but yep, you're right. Live and learn! And hope for no more stupid mistakes. 
