Fallen in St Gallen#

Wed, 30 Aug 2006 11:53:01 +0000

The article title really doesn't work. For one thing, Gallen rhymes with "talon" not "fallen", and for another, I actually fell about halfway around the course from St Gallen, after 64km or so. And it wasn't just a fall, it was an assisted fall - at least, the guy in line in front of me was already lying on the ground when I hit (him and) it.

So. I went out on a line that would have been about the right pace for a marathon, and because I was working fairly hard and concentrating on things like staying on the road around the wet downhill bends, omitted to take any food or water. At around the 45-50k mark I got rather impatient with the "arms in the air and legs all over the place" approach to hillclimbing that half the line were displaying, so foolishly decided to attack, and died utterly when I got to the top. My body was clearly saying "ok, you've done a marathon, the race is over". Which was obviously going to be a problem, this race being more than twice as long as a marathon.

So anyway, plodded along very slowly (like, about 12km/h slowly) feeling miserable to about 50k, where I picked up an energy drink and after about a third of that began to feel more normal. Jumped ("lumbered" would be a better word) onto the next line that went past, skated with them for 10k with utterly useless back - alternately standing up and leaning on my knees - then hit the guy in front and fell over him when he fell somewhere shortly after 60. With a faceful of road and a mouthful of teeth (I exaggerate: actually only one and a half teeth came out, and the half wasn't even a real tooth - though there's another one which I think may have been loosened), I decided I'd had enough.

Swiss hospitals are pretty good, though, and didn't charge me for stitching my chin. UK dentist charged through the nose[1] for doing the dental fixup ,though.

The experience really left me smarting all over - metaphorically and literally. As learning experiences go, that one was degree-equivalent and probably wound up costing only marginally less than a term's fees. Eat!

fn1. figuratively speaking