"It's hot for my Irish skin"

The headline were the words I spoke to one of the lads racing against me on the final lap as I offered him room to move ahead of me and off up the trail. I had cracked; or at least, I didn't have much in my legs and I was overheating and content to just get myself round to the finish. It was in the mid 30's Celsius and with humidity you could factor in another ten degrees at least.

I done all the right things pre-race. I drank lots of water, I took in eLoad, and some Hammer Gel, but that doesn't cool you down and when you go up the climb and into the trees and the breeze is only a warm one, it feels like you are riding in a steam room as the sweat lashes from your face.

I knew what I was in for after my warmup lap but there's nothing I could do about it. I forgot my Garmin so had to go on instinct as to how the heart-rate was running and I don't reckon I did a great job. Or if I did, I didn't factor in the heat. I rode steady enough the first lap but had little to push on with in the second lap as I had the week before until the final downhill when I figured the climbing was done and threw everything at it. I had gradually slipped down the order finishing somewhere in the region of 7th in the sport category after gaining one place back on that final descent. Not bad in a field of just under 90, but when you get the taste of winning -- even in a sport race in a local mid-week series -- you want more of it.

I hope it's a little cooler next week and I could certainly do with putting in a few road miles in between. Not doing anything from one Tuesday to the next was another problem.