28km 66% ride able ALT 4450m-5416-2776m
If childbirth is harder then today, well I don't think I'll be having any children.
I think today tops out as one of the hardest days of suffering I've ever done. Last night we went to bed early for our 3am wake up call. In the middle of the night I woke up to Jeremy sitting at the end of the bed then rushing to the toilet to throw up. Instantly I panic as I thought altitude was the factor. I was about to start packing up and heading back down with him to lower elevation. Then I broke out in hot sweats and found myself rushing to the bathroom too. Luckily just out the other end for me. With no head ache and seemingly instant relief afterwards we ruled out altitude and figured it was just bad belly. Maybe from the potent garlic soup from dinner. 3am we were up and Jeremy headed out for a head start. 4am the race started at 4450m with a 5km hike a bike to reach Thorong La pass at 5416m. I strapped my bike on my bike with some home made straps and set off in the dark following a headlamp train of racers up the steep slope. The weight of the bike and the lack of oxygen made for a snails pace. There was snow and ice but manageable footing in my Pearli Zumi cycling cleats. An early start is mandatory as the winds pick up during the day making it a brutally cold ascent other wise. Even with an early start the wind was still blowing then blasting at the top. I was way under dressed and out of any more layers of clothes. I stopped in at the first tea house with fear of frost bite and hypothermia potentially setting in. I begged for spare clothes from others but they were in the same case as me. I jumped back out with frozen fingers and toes and marched as hard as I could. The sun was rising and I figured I was over halfway to the top. Stopping again at one point Kumar caught up to me and he so kindly lent me a small pair of bike gloves that fit under my bad choice in shell gloves. On ward we went. Each step was painful and as the wind picked up I was a sail being pushed back down the hill. up ahead I saw the bright orange jacket of Jeremy and so welcomed his company. He was looking good but cold too. Lucky to not have to carry a bike. We continued on together to the summit and I was so grateful for his words of encouragement. I couldn't talk, I was a zombie staggering up giving every last bit of energy into moving forward. My belly was not good and worry of shitting my pants or throwing up feared me with each step. Porters with our bags were unfazed with the altitude and gave bits of encouragement to me along the way. Approx. 2.5-3hr I reached that freeken summit. Never, never have I had relief like that in reaching a point or summit before. I shouted out a few curse words and wahoo's then rushed into the tea house and frigidly stole a jacket off Jeremy. 22km to go.
It was a snowy descent and icy. I tried to ride what I could but with majorly numb hands I couldn't operate them to even squeeze the brake. I felt drunk and disorientated from cold, altitude and exhaustion! Those crazy porters with double loads on their backs were bombing down the snowy slopes. They put the pressure on me to stay ahead. Mostly sliding, running, and walking my bike down I was knocking off the elevation. I met up with a Nepali rider and we stuck together for the rest of the descent. He was crashing, sliding all over the place and bringing much enjoyment to follow. What a hell of a crazy ass race. I caught up to Soonya to find she had no breaks working. Making for a majorly tricky last 20km. Others had lost break power too which had something to do with the pressure of fluid at altitude in the break line. Most breaks returned at lower elevation but she still was out of her front break. Once out of the snow and slippery slope we road some really fun, bumpy single track. It was kind of hard to enjoy in the state I was in. I'd had no water or food as it all froze. I was just wanting to push it to the end. Making it to the town of Muktinath it was then a fast ripping jeep trail descent down to the ancient village of Kagbeni. 5:45min I made it back to the warmth of 2800m. First female of a stage today, mostly out of luck. I'm so happy to be over the pass and on the other side. It was beyond digging deep today it was fear of something worse happening. There was no backing out or stopping up there or you could get yourself in serious trouble. No choice but onwards and up words. Hard, hard, scary day. I'm glad I did it but really don't want to go through that amount of suffering again. Had I had better clothing it wouldn't have been as bad but I seem to be notorious for always thinking about pack light, go faster. This case not a good plan! I'm dreaming of Thailand's beaches now. One more day to go 67km then hopefully I will have successfully completed the world's hardest mnt. bike race. The Yak Attack.
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