We had spent a couple weekends in the camper van and was looking forward to this trip, packing for camping when you have a 7 year old boy is pretty stressful, i must of re packed the van 3 times to make sure we had everything but as always im sure there would be something i would forget !
We were booked in at Ben Nevis camping site for the Fri to Sun but decided to set off on Thursday as Luca was off school on half term and i thought we could stop and sleep in Scotland somewhere maybe next to Loch Lomond to split the long journey up for Luca.
Off we went and it wasnt long before he starting asking that question “are we there yet dad” 🙄 we were passing the Lake District ! 😆 IPad time for Luca while i set in for a long drive, it may be long but its such nice scenery and the weather was nice.
Not for long ! As we approached Lock Lomand the heavens opened and i decided stopping around here was not a good plan so we carried on all the way to Fort William. We went straight to the campsite and they kindly gave us a pitch we could spend Thursday night in before we went to our booked pitch on Friday.
While i set up the camper and tent luca went exploring around the campsite on his bike, we took the ebike for him and my hardtail as the plan was to ride up to the Nevis Range so we didnt have to wait for the buses when leaving. Luca met a few kids and yes he got the classic, “thats cheating” well maybe so but luca is only 7 and has asthma and doesnt like peddaling any distances, he is very tall for 7 so many people think he is about 10 years old. Anyway he didnt care and knew it was the best bike for when we rode up to Nevis range and down into town. No way he would of done it on his Kona Stinky !
It was at this moment i realised i had forgot the charger for his ebike 🙈🙈🙈 Daddy is an idiot, “LUCAAAAAA ..... PUT IT IN ECO” 😂 turns out after riding round the campsite / riding down into Fort William town and along the front and back up to campsite / riding to the Nevis range and back 2 days in a row only used 80% of the battery, phew !
Luca was stunned by the mountains and the scenery and we went exploring, he was even more stunned the next day when he seen the course and we were going up the hill on the gondola, he didnt think it was safe. We walked the track while the riders did there qualifying runs. Being from Lancashire we know local lad Elliot Heap who was in juniors racing for Chain Reaction Pay Pal, i seen Elliot coming down on the pin ball section when i seen his wheel facing the wrong way and down he went. Unlucky Elliot next year pal ! (Since turns out Chain Reaction will not be racing Downhill in 2018 and concentrating on the Enduro after Sam Hill winning the series, i am confident Elliot will do brilliant in the Enduro in 2018)
Here is our highlights from some go pro footage during the weekend.
What a race that was ! Rachel out with her shoulder after crashing in the woods section which was super boggy, Hannah taking the win and the men’s ... well. Greg Minnar, what can i say. I think you had to be there to feel the atmosphere as he crossed the line. It was magical.
Luca got a bit fed up towards the end of the day on Sunday, long day for a 7 year old to be stood up all day but he loved it and cant wait to go back again this year.
So we got home and i spent most of the week packing the camping stuff away after cleaning everything. But it was soon time to start thinking about the enduro i had entered. I hadn’t exactly trained for it and i am far from fit and healthy, i am overweight / type 1 diabetic and have asthma. Not really the best mix for a mountain biker but i try and plod on and just enjoy my riding .... well the downhills 😏
I entered the welsh enduro series at Llandegla, obviously because i know it and thought would be good for my first race. I got myself a campsite so i could stay over and be there nice and early, all of a sudden the sign in que was out the door. There went my chance of getting out on the practice lap early so I could take my time and save some energy. I think i got out onto the trail about 10:30am, but i chose my race time so was leaving mid afternoon so knew i had time for dinner and a rest.
I needed a few glucose tablets on the first lap to keep my sugar up, for those that don’t know what being type 1 diabetic means you basicly have to keep your sugar levels between 6-10. Anything over 15 for a period of time can make you ill and anything below 5 you can have a hypo. Which sometimes feels like the drunkest youve ever been ! Once i was very low and looking at kitchen cupboard because the lucozade was in there and i wanted to open the door but my brain could not send the signal to my arm i ended up collapsing. Luckily i was with Luca’s mum at this time and she got me the lucozade and i had to talk her out of calling the ambulance. If i dont get sugar or glucose when i am low i could then go into a coma which i may not wake from. And i have to inject myself with insulin before every meal, and before bed.
This picture is 1 months of injections for a type 1 diabetic.
Yep thats a lot ! An enduro race was probably not a good idea but i really wanted to do one, even if it was just one to experience racing on a mountain bike.
So after snacks and glucose tablets on the practice run and finding out they didnt stick to the normal trails and created a steep downhill natural none trail that was a bit beyond my kind of riding i was back at the centre ready for lunch. I eat my pasta and had a little lie down in the van to stretch out, i then went for a walk round the car park and bumped into my friend Drew Alker who was having no issues at all and found it a bit of a walk in the park (he does do them every weekend and is only a teenager, i was 41) 30 min before my race start time, my sugars drop again. Bottle of lucozade and some snacks and chocolate i thought i should be good for round 2 now. I packed my pockets with more glucose tablets and some snacks and off i went.
Nothing could prepare me for what went through my head as i passed the first timer marker and the little wristband on my wrist vibrated to say i was on a timed section. In my head coming up to this race i thought ok im type 1, unfit, not amazing on a bike so im just gonna have a blast and ride it like i normally do and just enjoy the day. NOPE ! As soon as that thing was vibrating i went hell for leather peddaling into the first section had to slam on the brakes skid round the bend out of shape and not much grace then pedal like hell again as i lost all my flow. When it buzzed on my arm it sent a little message to my brain saying F**KING GO GO GO YOU FAT USELESS BEEEEEP. 😂
I get it, why they put themselves through hell every weekend, the adrenaline buzz is insane. Nothing like a good buzz on a good ride or great downhill section, its amplified by ten when you know your on the clock. I was hooked i was gonna go for it on every section.
Until i got to the end of section one, i would of normally cruised and rested my legs on a long section but didnt on this so by the time my wrist buzzed again to say this was the end of the timed section i was knackered. 2 min into peddaling to the next section my sugars crashed like the titanic, i was going down fast. Sat off at the side of the trail munching on oat bars and glucose tablets i started to feel slightly better after 5 minutes or so. I got up and walked up the hill to the next section while all the enduro monsters pedalled past me with smirk looks on there faces.
Section 1 was a trail i knew, section 2 was the newly not built more carved out of the natural mud and roots steep section. There was a que by now to get onto the section and time was ticking down and i didnt have that much spare time in between sections to recover, my time came and off i went.... on the brakes this time not peddaling. I hated this section, i messed up all the steep switchbacks and was off the bike before the drop so had to walk a small section to get back on. Im pretty sure someone took a picture of me just to make me feel worse ! This was the longest section and yes i got took over, oh well i knew this section wouldn’t be my best lets just plod on, it went back onto a section of trail i knew so found my flow again for the 2nd half of it but my time would be awful due to the 1st sections 2 crashes. The end of section 2 was straight into one of the biggest climbs so i got off and walked, glad i did because yet again my sugars were low, i carried on walking while eating more glucose and snacks (i was started to run out now and gettting worried if i would make it back)
Section 3 was B line, i liked this section and felt this would be my chance to make some time up as i knew i was pretty quick on it and it was all downhill, maybe just maybe i will not come last. That was the plan always all along, as long as i dont come last i will be happy.
Section 4 was all the way back near the trail centre, now i knew i didnt have to do all the red and Julia’s trail i could go back on the blue and cut across the lake to the start of section 4. Again topping myself up with glucose i eat my last 2 tablets, this was it last section. Did pretty rubbish because there was an uphill and 2 flat sections to pedal on, but i pushed as hard as i could as i seen the last marker post up ahead and could smell the food from the cafe.
I emerged through the tree’s back into the trail centre and there was Rachel, Drew’s mum. She asked “how was that” my reply ........ ‘I need cake” 😆 she told me to hand in my wrist band to get my print out. I seen my times and checked the screen ........ this was it, i was ready all ready starting at the bottom of the screen. But no what was this ? I wasnt last !!! 🙌🙌🙌 i was 3rd from last 😁 that will do me. Mission acomplished ! 44k of trails completed in 1 day, not bad for a type 1.
I hit the cafe ordered a burger and chips and of course .... the much deserved cake ! I also had a lucozade as my sugar levels were still dropping but i thought this lot should sort me out now, and i had a bbq to have back at the campsite.
Happy in my accomplishment i said bye to Drew and Rachel and thanked them for there advice of just go for it you will be fine 👍 and Drew did say i wouldnt come last 😏
back at the campsite my sugar levels would not stay up regardless of what i drank or eat. I ended up staying up until 2am sipping lucozade as 9pm i threw up then again after every time i eat. Problem with vomitting is your emptying your stomach and therefore emptying my sugars so had to eat again, and again. I nearly called myself an ambulance but eventuly i leveled out and got some sleep.
I even went onto revolution bike park the next day and met some friends there for a days riding.
So my first enduro / race experience nearly killed me, no seriously it could off ! I decided that it was a silly idea and prob not worth doing again. A few weeks later i bumped into a girl who also did the enduro and she said “you should do what i do, dont do the practice and just do the race run blind”
Why did i not think of that 🤔 🙄
I am going to leave this blog here, i know im still in the summer of 2017 but lots more to come yet and sorry if i have gone on a bit about being diabetic sometimes i feel like i need to explain myself. There are so many judgmental people, even in Mountain Biking and they dont know what the individuals story is. its so easy to say “why are you walking up the hill” when you are mr motivator all healthy and been doing it all your life. Some of us are new to this exercise lark and don’t have the athletic ability to climb the hill as quick as they do. I do tend to find i am quicker downhill than most of these judgmental types though haha and I have met some amazing people mountain biking it just annoys me the small percentage who judge without knowing the whole story.
Again thanks for reading, i look forward to writing the end of 2017 and getting onto this years adventures soon.
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