How I spent my Sunday
I rolled out of the house around 10:30 am on Sunday and took an old Reston Century route out to Purcelville. I was doing fine for the first hour and was probably averaging around 19 mph. By the time I hit Leesburg, I was down to 18 mph. The heat was starting to get to me. I was fueling with Perpetuem, Hammer Gel, and I had a Camelback filled with Ice and plain water on my back. From Leesburg, I basically crawled into Purcelville, so I stopped at a Subway Restaurant and grabbed some food. There was a huge line and I nearly passed out waiting. I actually got out of line and sat down for awhile, before jumping back on line, and then sitting down at the counter while they prepared sandwiches for the people in front of me.
I took my time eating and then took it easy as I left the restaurant. I got more water in Philomont. I had been taking about 1 Endurolyte per hour and I was popping a few Anti-Fatigue caps here and there. I was really depressed at this point, I had started out so strong, and now I was suffering like a dog. I wanted to get off the bike and throw it into brush along the road. I wanted to give up riding altogether. To add insult to injury, I had forgotten the Chamois Butt'r and I was starting to develop saddle sores. I was miserable. My average speed was closing in on 14 mph.
In Philomont, I decided to take the shortcut on rte 690 to take me back towards Purcelville, and the W&OD trail home. My original intent was to detour up to Frederick to visit with my wife at her parent's house (and POOL); her brother and her cousin had brought their families up. The Powerbars I had brought were now soup. The Perpetuem was hot, but tolerable. At that point on the W&OD, I had about 23 miles to go and I was out of Gel and I started doubling up on the Endurolytes, but it was no use. My legs were cramping. Luckily, there's a lot of downhill from Purcelville to Leesburg. That brought my average up to 14.5 and there it stayed for the last 10 miles or so.
At home, I downed a banana and half a bottle of the new Gatorade Endurance Formula. (I'm told its the same as regular gatorade with more salt). I took a shower to cool my core temp, then had another banana and 3 endurolytes, plus some other food and the rest of the Gatorade and I was STILL CRAMPING and still Light-headed. I developed a headache, which I think is my body's way of telling me it needs more electrolytes. In 5 hours of riding, I had over 150 ounces of water. That's nearly 30 ounces per hour, almost twice as much as I've been drinking lately and 25% more than my normal intake. I was getting a bit bloated from the water, and didn't need to urinate which are bad signs. I'm guessing my core temp just got to hot to be cooled by ingesting water. After Philomont, I was pouring water over my body to keep the core temp down, but it was probably too little too late.
