Worst experience on the bike

A ex-team mate of mine cycled down from Dublin to stay with us, yesterday.
Just to set this in context, Dublin is 123 miles (198kms) from where I live.

After having some dinner and shooting the breeze about this and that, we got to
talking about the old days and reminiscing about racing when we were younger.
And it got me thinking, about the worst day ever spent on the bike.

What is your worst experience on the bike?

I’ll kick this one off, if I may, by trying to describe the worst day I spent on my bike.

Several years ago, I took part in an audax event in Sussex, England.
Audax events are long distance cycling events and I got roped in to riding an event
called Jack Fuller Grimpeur Audax.
I hadn’t heard of this event before and a mate of mine, who had relocated to Britain asked
me if I would be up for doing this event.
Maybe I should have taken note of the name of the event before entering!

The audax involved cycling a route traversing the South Downs of Sussex.
In the month of February
The only problem being that I had no idea of what I had let myself in for – nor had I any
idea of just how much climbing was involved.
I had little or no training done (after all winter lasts from September to May, in this part of the
world)
Added to that, the place where I was staying the night before the audax, was having an
18th birthday celebration so I had little or no sleep.

Anyway, got up at an ungodly hour to make sure that I had enough fuel intake to sustain me through
the day.
I got to the starting line in Hailsham and I wasn’t feeling too good, to be honest.
Instead of listening to my system, I decided that I had not come all the way to Sussex to
back out – so I decided to give it a go.

I can safely say that nearly 90% of the 120km route involved climbing!
Literally, we were climbing switch back hills all day.
As we did so, my stomach was getting worse and worse.
Despite the emergency stops, and jumping in to fields to get this infection out of my system,
I started to feel worse and worse.
And the fact that I had several layers of clothes on didn’t help.
At one stage, it really was touch and go as to whether I would make it in to the next field in time
to get rid of what had to begotten rid of !
You try stripping your leggings off in a wet field, in full rain gear!
Not only was the sweat rolling off me, my innards were rolling out of me as whatever infection took hold
of me.
I can safely say that was the worst day I’ve ever had on a bike.

Epilogue : somehow I did manage to finish the route.
No, there was absolutely no sense of satisfaction having finished the course.
When I finished it, I got back to the B&B and immediately showered and went straight to bed.
The following day, I was right as rain and felt 100% better.

__________________
.."But finally the last thing I’ll say to the people who don’t believe in cycling, the cynics and the sceptics. I'm sorry for you. I’m sorry that you can’t dream big. [I]I'm sorry you don't believe in miracles. You should believe in these athletes, and you should believe in these people. I'll be a fan of the Tour de France for as long as I live. And there are no secrets - this is a hard sporting event and hard work wins it" - Armstrong 2005 TDF
morelike hypocrisy.