Sportive

Standing at the start I look down at my bar-tape and a section on the left-hand side just on the curve above the brake hood is tatty and ragged where it was clawed by an angry dangling bramble during ride over a week ago. Normally this would irritate me to the point of itchy-fingernails anxiety, can’t start a ride with scruffy bar-tape, it’s just not done, I even have some new tape with which I could have rectified the situation and frankly I’m quite disappointed with myself. But right now I have bigger worries on my mind.

This is brilliant. I’m over three hours into the Marrakech Atlas Étape having scaled the single big 2,129m ascent, the skies are blue, I’m way out in front on my own and my legs feel great. All I need to do now is ride back down the mountain and then do the 20 miles or so on the flat back to the start/finish. It couldn’t be going any better. Forty minutes later, I have to pull out with hypothermia.