We got bused to the start and had a chance to warm up on the tarmac before climbing up and up and up some more. The sun was relentless and really made it hard. There was a pushing section (steep climb) out on the exposed land and I was literally dripping, there was a time when I could hardly see too because of the swarm of flies around us! Gross and I am sure they were biting my head. That was probably the low point of the day. It's not often I pray for cloud! When we got to the top there was a nice fast fire road descent which was super cooling and we burned off the flies too.
The food stop was amazing, they had sweets, crisps, cake, biscuits and coke! Also a load of fruit and torq stuff. I could have stayed there a lot longer than we did, so the lady gave me a pack of mini cheddars to take away with me.
After lunch there was lots of lovely singletrack and some nice rocky descents. Anne was really fast on those parts. She's a demon downhill! Then we had another climb which couldn't be ridden or even pushed so it was a case of carrying your bike on your back and trying to stop my legs from buckling underneath me! I am rubbish at walking up mountains, even more so with a bike on my shoulders!
After that is was downhill pretty much all the way home. Some lovely trails, which was good as my legs were pretty tired towards the end.
I visited the torq stand and got myself some caramel magic powder stuff that gets in your body through the roof of your mouth so you don't even need to swallow it. For recovery. More expensive than gold! So hopefully a dose of that and the 2XU recovery tights will heal me enough to do the same again tomorrow...
