The E12: In Summary

Bob captured my sentiment well…

The 12 Hours of Endurance started well. The laps were ticking by, feeling easy and fast.

By midday I was feeling immortal, just motoring along. Heart Rate was spot on, perceived effort was good, stomach felt great.

Around 3:30-4:00 I started feeling some stomach discomfort, and by 4:30 I was a dead man riding…and walking.

By 5:30 I was in the Urgent Care with an IV dripping into my arm.

I am feeling good now though. I have had a few emails asking if I was still alive, and the answer is yes. I am doing just fine. Thanks for the concern.

What happened? I am still trying to figure that out exactly. I think I was just short on electrolytes, and it threw the balance in my system off. Stomach stopped working, and my body stopped absorbing the fluids I was ingesting. Or, as described on the Nuun website, I think I had (mild) hyponatremia.

hyponatremia – what is it?

we hear a lot about drinking more water being good for us but the increasing reports of hyponatremia showcase the fact that water is not always enough, especially when being consumed in large quantities over short periods of time. hyponatremia is the long word for low concentration of sodium in the blood and can occur from over hydrating with plain water. doing this, especially during exercise can deplete essential electrolytes from the body, causing disorientation, illness and in rare cases, death. for athletes, effects are generally seen in longer (and hotter) races since that’s when the levels of water intake are likely to be high.

Lots and lots of positives though coming from the day. I will elaborate on them later.

As usual, people came and dropped the hammer out there Saturday. The duo teams were fighting from the gun, the solo’s fought hard all day, and team riders from all groups were pushing the limits.

If anything stands out it is the great work that so many first timers did. Bill Dark, Lyna Saffell, Brad Pilling, Rich Abbot…all attacking there first solo attempt, and all made it look, well not easy, but they rode incredibly strong, inspiring rides.

Brad Mullen trained his tail off for this race. He executed a text book ride. He set a P.R. and looked fresh as a daisy doing it.

Congrats to everyone!

EDIT: There is some silver lining. I ended up 3rd SSer in the solo class. I’ll take it!