I lost the race on day one

We, that is Dorit and I, got up to Willows on Friday night and checked in one the motels. Saturday morning I was awake early and ready to go, but I wanted to stick with the published 9am start time (which turned out to be a big mistake).

The town of Willows was ready for the race: Black Bear Diner welcoming the racers and their fans.

So there I was at the starting line by Denny's. Nobody else showed up, so it was just between me and the race course.
The legs were looking OK. The issues was the heat. As I figured later, the temperature was around 100 degree (about 36 Celsius). But I started in good spirits and moved at a speed of 15 mph (24 km/h) through the slightly rising and rolling section to the bottom of the first climb, Mendocino Pass.

I stopped for a few minutes at the bottom of the climb, sat in the shade. Here I felt problems with my stomach for the first time. The main issue was that I just couldn't take in enough liquid. But otherwise I felt OK and I pressed on. So I climbed for about 3 miles (5km) stopped for a little bit and kept going. Eventually I reached the parking lot and vista point at 850 m (2800"). By now my stomach issues had developed into some more serious hydration problems. I lay down in the shade for 20 minutes or half an hour. But I still couldn't drink enough.

I kept going and had to stop after another mile or two. While I was sitting by the road, a car stopped and the driver handed my a bottle of cold water. What a relieve! The water went down much better than the sports drinks and the ice tea I had in my bottles.

The fresh water kept me going for another mile or two. When I had to stop again, I realized that I was in serious trouble. I got my sleeping bag out, lay down in the shade.I thought I could just rest to later in the afternoon and then continue somewhat recovered and without the blazing sun directly above my head.

After an hour or so, I still felt like puking and previous experience told me that I would need at least a night's rest to recover. I was also concerned about the lack of fresh water and the distance (45 miles / 70 km) to the next town. So I throw in the towel and started rolling down the hill. I wanted to call Dorit to pick me up, but it turned out that I wouldn't have a cell phone signal before Willows was in sight.

Getting down the hill was easy enough, but then I still had to cover 20 miles including a 500" (150 m) climb which wouldn't be a problem, but in my situation is presented a serious concern. I had to get off the bike twice to over that hill and and few more stops before I made it back into Willows.

I got some cold Coke (which I could get down) and some more water, next back to the motel and 10 minutes later I was asleep for the next 12 hours.

So this was all VERY disappointing, but it was mostly my ignorance of the weather conditions (the Ardennes and the Alps didn't prepare me for this, but I shouldn't have forgotten the taxing 90 miles on a super hot bike-to-work day).

Now I will focus on track racing (flying 200m and match sprints) and the Master States Championships in August. But I think I will give the Northern California Loop another try in late August.