DNF another one this weekend - it's dubbed the toughest BRM600 in my country, and aptly named The Big Hills Challenge 3.0 which is sort of an annual event. This year's route is practically similar to the one I did in 2019, and back then I barely completed the ride with no sleep stops, and just minutes to spare. Here's the link to the route:
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/40162209
Thinking I did it before in 2019, I could do it again, but heat-related stomach problems reared its ugly head again. I made it up the first climb in some decent time - but still a little bit off my old time because I stopped for a quick power nap twice along the way. I didn't sleep well the night before, and then woke up early in the morning for a 2.5-hour drive to the starting point of the ride, which flags off at 5am, so right from the get-go I was disadvantaged by a bit of sleep deprivation.
Anyway, things were still good, could eat a decent breakfast at the peak at the 65km mark, then had a very fun descent down the steep mountain which leads to a very hilly course for 60km towards the nearest town along the route. By that time the hot afternoon sun was up, and there was absolutely nothing all the way to town - no restaurants, no convenient stores, no roadside stalls, nada. Survived on two bottles of water and four sticks of Mentos candy all the way to town where my stomach had begun to act up. Tried having something semi-solid -- whipped potatoes at the nearby KFC -- but could only consume it in tiny bites. Their Pepsi tasted like crap though, could not even finish a cup. Had a short nap afterwards, hoping that would help my stomach recover a bit (and also deal with the ever-present sleep deprivation), then left slightly past 5pm. At this point, I've only done 160km and am way behind, compared to my 2019 time.
The way remains very hilly, and with not much energy in my legs I was going up at 10km/h or less, rolling down at nearly 50km/h, then up again, down again, rinse and repeat. It was also getting pretty dark with pretty crappy road conditions - single lane countryside road, pitch black, sometimes lack of road shoulder, close-passing fast cars... ugh. Even if I wanted to stop, there was nowhere to stop except for a bit of grass (and maybe a ditch) by the side. Was feeling very hungry, but still unable to consume solids and at this point, even my ability to consume liquids was beginning to suffer. Eventually managed to crawl to a petrol station just past midnight, with slightly over 240km done, and decided to end it there.
I called the organizer's DNF pick-up service to come get me and send me back to the starting point. Had to wait until 8am the next morning though - seems like the pick-up service is being strained by the number of DNF's during this ride. Later on, I heard people are even abandoning as early as the KFC that I had left earlier.
To be fair, this was an extremely tough route and the attrition rate was high. I stuck around at the end to see how many made it back and... there weren't many, so those who made it back truly deserved their success.
Also, come to think of it, back in 2019 I had a group and therefore group dynamics (including drafting and sharing the load) must have played a significant part. I'm mostly a solo rider these days, so it's a lot more difficult this time around. Oh well... live and learn. Also I'm starting to have new theories on my stomach issues, looking forward to testing them out and see how I can handle next month's 400km event.