Do not get hypothermia. Not even mild hypothermia. It is not fun. I went to Hanmer Springs today, about 2 hours north-west of Christchurch where I live. It's a lovely little town, popular for its hot springs, bungy jumping and skiing. I was there to race in a duathlon event which consisted of a 12km off-road run followed by a 28km mountain bike (only barely, it was on gravel roads).
The race sounded like it'd be quite straightforward and I thought I should finish within 3 hours. The forecast had been for rain in the Canterbury district but the problem with Hanmer is that it tends to make its own weather. The town sits in a bit of a basin surrounded by mountains. I packed thermals and wet weather gear just in case but it was fine and sunny when we arrived. The women's race was in the morning and they'd had great weather. For the mens race in the afternoon, we had some light rain fall during the run. Nothing to worry about so at the transition I just followed my plan for clothing, pulling my MTB shorts on over the top of my running ones. They have padding in the rear, and I'd stuffed a nutrition bar into each pocket. During the run I considered skipping the MTB shorts but remembered that I'd need the food. Since then I've learned that when you're uncertain about the weather you should overdress, or at least carry the thermals in your backpack. I really struggled on the bike as there was a lot of climbing which I'm normally good at, but not after a 12km run. The wet weather made the downhills a little treacherous. My glasses ended up splattered with water and mud, and when they started relentlessly fogging up I was just about ready to quit. I don't usually ride my MTB in the rain as it ruins our tracks, so I don't have any waterproof gloves. With about 10km to go the rain had soaked through my gloves and because of the wind chill on the downhill my fingers were so cold I couldn't feel them and could barely move them. Bit of a safety hazard so I got off and started walking for a bit. After about 10 or 15 minutes of this I remembered that I still had my running gloves in my back pocket so I put those on and started riding again. Having those was pure luck... I'd thrown them in before the start, just in case I'd need them during the run. They turned out to be a bit of a lifesaver as they got me moving again. Not far down the track I came across a fellow who was in a really bad state. He'd had to stop due to the cold and was sitting at the side of the track shivering uncontrollably. Instantly I took my jacket off and gave it to him. I was feeling the cold myself but he needed it much more. Another couple of guys came past a few minutes later and one of them had an emergency blanket. One of them went ahead to alert the organisers and the other offered to stay so I took my jacket back and carried on because I was starting to feel even colder, and I could act as a backup in case the first guy crashed or something. During the rest of the ride I was starting to feel REALLY cold. My fingers were going numb again and my toes weren't far behind. My legs were feeling quite bad as they were wet as well and the wind chill wasn't doing them any good. I'd have been even worse if I'd not added my substantial MTB shorts over my light running ones. I was keeping a good eye on the distance display of my bike computer the whole way. Luckily it was a little bit out as it only showed 25.5km at the finish. But I was definitely hypothermic by then. My partner met me at the finish and helped me change into the thermals and put my dry clothes on. Score 1 for good planning as I'd packed a full change of clothes. We then headed into the township with the A/C cranked, straight to the nearest cafe for a hot chocolate then a two-hour drive home for a good hot shower. It's also lucky that I had the computer, it's an old one that I only fixed yesterday precisely so I'd have a distance display available (I had moved my main computer to the road bike). It's very useful psychologically to know how far is left to go. The big lesson from today is that when I'm uncertain I should overdress. It's easier to take a layer off if you're too hot, than it is to try and deal with not having it when you need it. I'm also going to look into buying a good pair of windproof / waterproof gloves. I'll also be adding a survival blanket into the first aid kit that I carry. I don't know what became of the other guy but I'll try and find out as soon as I can. I'm sure he'll be OK though. I also don't know what my time was. Don't really care either :) I might go back next year if the weather forecast is better. BTW I don't blame the race organiser for any of this as it's up to us to be prepared for the conditions (something he told us before the race). All I would have asked for would be more marshals around the course as it's quite long so it could be a long time before the alarm could be raised and this could be critical in some circumstances. In future events I'm going to program the race organiser's number into my phone as an emergency contact. Cheers, Dave PS good to see NZ get a gold medal in Delhi. I was on the edge of my seat, Alison Shanks had an amazing ride in the 3000m individual pursuit to take the win. We finally beat the Aussies on the track, but it's a real pity that the British cycle team didn't turn up as they have some of the best track riders in the world. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
