72 hours with Tracy Miles
PART FOUR: Sleepless in the Saddle
This time we had the benefit of a luxurious hareem-like tent by the water jumps, Mr M in total charge (complete with Oscar the Grouch socks) and a sub pit-crew of friends Mr and Mrs Evilgordon and Harold the dog. This meant that the nutritional side of things contained an even more interesting than usual variety of carbohydrate sources.
Photo: Warren Miles
We also seemed to be finally blessed with some glorious weather and when Sara and I were getting ready we realised that we needed to plaster on enough factor 30 sun cream to at least last until dusk! Keeping hydrated was going to be the major challenge especially as we hadn't really had any hot weather this summer and you forget just how much more you need to drink in the heat.
The laid-back atmosphere of the SITS event is rather unique and this year the course turned out to be potentially fast and furious. The dry and hot conditions meant it was really tempting to go just too fast and die a horrible death although I didn't really have this temptation as by now my legs were only capable of one speed and all I wanted to do was get to the finish in one piece.
