GBDuro Stage 1: The Heat

Header photo by Catherine Dunn.

Pre-start

I travelled from Bristol down to Land’s End on Friday the 12th, the day before the race started. It’s a GBDuro tradition that the riders meet at Sennen Cove for beers and a pub dinner on the evening of the race and this was a nice opportunity to meet some of the riders, over a few of Bristol Beer Factories “clear heads”.

I was staying at the Land’s End Youth Hostel which is about 7km from Sennen Cove, so after a few hours at the beach and a fish and chips style carb load I slowly rolled my way towards St Just for my first Co-op raid of the race.

With snacks and breakfast acquired I headed to the hostel to relax and enjoy what would be my last nights sleep in an actual bed for the next 10 days.

Day 1: The roll out & Cornwall

The race started at 8am and we rolled away from Land’s End along nice gravel cycle paths and typically narrow Cornish lanes before hitting the first real off-road section, a semi-technical piece of singletrack winding the riders towards Hayle. A fully loaded bike always takes some getting use to, especially on anything remotely techy, and this was a nice shakedown early on.

The dotwatcher support throughout Cornwall was incredible, it felt like there were people out supporting riders every few kilometres. A personal highlight was my girlfriend’s Mum and Dad who were waiting near Hayle giving all the riders big cheers of encouragement and waving them on with their bright Giro pink umbrella.

It was only 9am but you could already feel the warmth of the sun. There was an amber weather warning for extreme heat released for the first two days of the race with temperatures predicted to hit 33+ degrees on both days. With the looming heatwave in mind I was very wary of pushing too hard and ending up with heatstroke. Initially, my race plan was to stop every 6-8 hours (100-150km) to refuel as I could carry plenty of food, but more importantly 3.5L of fluids.

70km in the temperature was pushing towards 30 degrees and I’d started guzzling through my water in an attempt to stay cool amongst the never ending wave of short and steep Cornish climbs. A Spar was a very welcome sight and a quick water and ice resupply (filling my camelbak with ice was a gamechanger) and I was on my way again. Day 1 quickly transpired into stopping every few hours for water and more easily digestible food, this was frustrating as I knew my stoppage time would be mounting up, but it was apparent the first two days were going to be all about survival.

Getting through Cornwall and Devon felt quite transitional, a case of getting the riders into Wales towards the best riding the UK has to offer as quickly as possible. I’ve ridden a lot in Cornwall and there’s some amazing riding both on and off road around the coastal areas however given the heat I was happy to be bee-lining towards what I told myself would be a cooler Welsh climate.

200km came by and I was content-ish with the time I was making given the weather, I’d planned a big resupply here and was happy to slump on the floor for 15 minutes to try and catch up on some much needed calories. As I rolled on the day was fading and thankfully the temperature had dropped to around 26 degrees.

I was joined by Henry for some welcome company shortly after this resupply and we chatted away as we rolled towards Exmoor and the first real test of a climb, Dunkery Beacon. Henry turned off to get some sleep and I pressed on towards Exmoor, keen to eat up a few more km’s before turning in for a couple hours of sleep.

My rough race plan was to hit the Quantocks on day 1 after approximately 300km and to get a couple hours of sleep, before another ~270km on day 2, leaving me with just 70km for day 3 to roll into CP1 by lunchtime.

Dunkery Beacon came and went and I bounced down the very sketchy descent in total darkness, accompanied for a little while by race organiser and media rider Miles who was filming riders throughout the race.

I knew I was approximately 30km from the top of the Quantocks and decided to get over the next climb and get some sleep. It was pushing 2.30am by this point and upon reaching the top of the climb at 276km I gave myself 3 hours to sort my kit out and get some sleep before pushing on again. One positive of the heat was that I didn’t need much kit to sleep on, just my sleeping mat in the grass and my down jacket was plenty warm enough.

2 hours or so of nervy and adrenaline filled sleep and I was off again.

Day 2: Heat exhaustion

I was keen today to get another 270km or so in the legs today as this would give me less than 100km on day 3 to make CP1, this felt manageable and not a million miles from the schedule I wanted to keep to. I climbed over the Quantocks with spectacular sea views over my left shoulder and dropped down towards Bridgewater where I had planned to resupply. From Bridgewater it was 35km on flat roads towards Cheddar where I’d climb over the Mendips.

It was late morning and it was getting really, really hot. I was Bristol bound and coming onto home roads and knew there was a village shop in Mark a few minutes away. George and Emily were both sat outside nursing ice lollies and I was happy to find more lucozade and milkshakes inside. Milkshakes were quickly becoming my main calorie supply as my appetite was waning and I was really struggling to keep solid foods down, happily liquid calories are refreshing and crucially easy to digest.

I knew the climbs and descents over the Mendips were hard, I’ve ridden them all before as I live just off the route through Bristol. Unloaded the climbs are hard but rideable, but with the bike loaded up in 34 degree heat as the time ticked past midday they were a totally different animal. Looking back now this was the hardest part of the race for me. I kept telling myself it would be cooler once I got to Wales and that if I could just make it to Bristol I’d get a well needed morale boost as my girlfriend would be waiting at the Suspension Bridge. Plus, a few friends had said they would ride to meet me and keep me away from any tempting home comforts!

I’d considered scratching over the Mendips. My flat is just 200m from the Suspension Bridge into Bristol and I knew the suffering could be over so so soon. I also knew I’d hate myself if I gave in so soon, and that the forecast for Monday onwards was far more manageable. Within moments, scratching here for me wasn’t an option.

I wasn’t going to scratch, but I was physically and mentally smashed to pieces by the time I’d cleared the Mendips and finally made it to Bristol. I’ve never felt so exhausted, so overwhelmed by the heat. I sat down in the shade by the Suspension Bridge with my girlfriend, Lily, and started to cry. I didn’t feel sad, I was just so spent. It’s a strange sensation being so exhausted you’re just overcome with emotion. I pulled myself together a bit and enjoyed lying in the grass for 10 minutes happily chatting to Lil, this was a big morale boost at a well needed moment. I ate a little more before rolling on towards Wales. Getting to Wales felt like a big milestone on this first stage and I was keen to get there where I knew there was a Greggs just off the route in Chepstow.