I recently raced in a qualifier for the World 24hr solo and ended up suffering an unusual health problem that I had not heard of or considered. I'm posting here, which I will copy to the main thread about the worlds, and also post at MTBR.
This is so people can be informed and perhaps consider during races, or any endurance rides. We all know endurance racing can be risky and at times unhealthy, but how you manage your race and body can lower the risks.
I ended up having two areas of necrotic (dead) tissue removed from each buttock, about 6cm long and 4cm deep. The surgeon said this was because I had been on the saddle too long and cut off the circulation to my tissue which subsequently died.
The recovery is slow (and not much fun) and I'm now at the point where I must face the fact that I will not be up to competing in the Worlds. I should be OK to ride again in a few more weeks? and probably ride good distances after a long slow build up, but may not do 24hrs again.
I have done 24hrs before, and a few 12hrs and 100k races, this time I decided to go hard.
My race tactics were to ride as many laps as I could without pitting, my support passed me drinks and food on the run for the first 6hrs or more. I did stand sometimes for log rollovers and technical parts of the track, but not enough for my body at the time. I have been for 9hr road rides before without problems, so it seems this was partly due to just bad luck, but could have been avoided by standing more, stretching, massage and the occasional quick break.
Please add a bum circulation consideration to your race plans
This is so people can be informed and perhaps consider during races, or any endurance rides. We all know endurance racing can be risky and at times unhealthy, but how you manage your race and body can lower the risks.
I ended up having two areas of necrotic (dead) tissue removed from each buttock, about 6cm long and 4cm deep. The surgeon said this was because I had been on the saddle too long and cut off the circulation to my tissue which subsequently died.
The recovery is slow (and not much fun) and I'm now at the point where I must face the fact that I will not be up to competing in the Worlds. I should be OK to ride again in a few more weeks? and probably ride good distances after a long slow build up, but may not do 24hrs again.
I have done 24hrs before, and a few 12hrs and 100k races, this time I decided to go hard.
My race tactics were to ride as many laps as I could without pitting, my support passed me drinks and food on the run for the first 6hrs or more. I did stand sometimes for log rollovers and technical parts of the track, but not enough for my body at the time. I have been for 9hr road rides before without problems, so it seems this was partly due to just bad luck, but could have been avoided by standing more, stretching, massage and the occasional quick break.
Please add a bum circulation consideration to your race plans