Having trained steadily for many months with a mix of time trials, sportives and solo long distance rides VC Revolutions Wyatt Wendells lined up for the start of the ultra-distance Race Around Ireland event on 12th September. His story is best told in his own words:

"What an event, what an experience and what memories! Very little went according to plan, and these things always throw up the unexpected but this threw up more than I had planned or prepared for..............

The journey to Ireland went fine, as did the hiring of the van and the pre race registration and inspection. We all made friends very quickly and a lot of people seemed to know me and my team from online stories, the press etc. We felt very welcome and very comfortable as we headed back to our Dublin hotel for the Saturday night.

Sunday I was left in bed while the crew went for a pre-race meeting. I rolled up to Navan town centre just before 5pm to find trailers and support vehicles all over the place. The nerves really hit me as we got to an hour to go. The crew got everything ready, gels, drinks, food, bikes while I finally got into race gear and did some press stuff before rider 1 went off at 8pm.

There were 5 minutes between each rider with an interview done on a podium in front of the crowds. From there you had a police escort for the 1st km and then you were on your own.... I listened as various kinds of title and record holders went off ahead of me, until it was my time to go up. I told the interviewer I came to this race with no titles, no records and no letters after my surname. He asked how long I was planning to go before stopping. I said "Ten minutes". So we had a five minute informal fun interview where it was clear I was just an ordinary guy hear to do the best he could. And then I was away.... As I left the crowd I heard a little girl shout out "I want you to win", it was heartwarming.

As soon as I started the rain began to fall! It was Ireland after all. As expected over the course of the next 90 minutes I was passed by the five that set off after me, all of them seemed to be going great guns. It took less than 150 minutes to have a race defining moment. Wary of the darkness and the rain I found myself weaving to avoid bumps and holes in the road, but this made me seem erratic on the road. My crew chief asked me to move right (out of the hard shoulder) in order to hold a better line. I didn't see the road had subsided between the main carriageway and hard shoulder and as I turned the front wheel it caught the subsided road. It spun me out and at around 20 mph threw me to the floor. My chest hit the handle bars, and I slammed down on my left thigh while my forearm scrapped along the road. As I stopped I was convinced that was it and my race was over on stage 1. My arm was a mess. My crew checked me and the bike over. Out came the baby wipes and they cleaned me up. My arm and thigh were on fire! It also became apparent that I had smashed my Garmin GPS screen and that was now dead.

I was soon up and on the way, somewhat shaken and fed up with my luck. The rest of the night was uneventful and into the first morning we went into Northern Ireland where we stopped for breakfast at Giants Causeway. The weather just got worse and worse. My thigh and chest felt awful, and I certainly knew I'd been in a bad fall. Round lunchtime the torrential rain gaveway to gale force headwinds. You had to stand up to pedal down hill. It was so bad the race was extended by 12 hours. Everyone was getting brutalized out there. Even the Irish had never known weather like it. Truly awful.

Into the second evening we made it to the most northerly point of Ireland Malin Head. We stopped 15 miles later at the town of Malin having covered 270 miles in the first day. The errors of judgment began here. We should have made more hay while the sun shone and cracked on. Instead we stopped for six hours having stopped very little in the first 24 hours. We should have stopped for no more than 3. We set off again just after 2 am and it was soon after this I started getting problems with my right knee. I was struggling to get any real speed up battling my knee and the constant wind and rain which just wouldn't let up. Headwinds literally followed me everywhere. I'd be riding into a headwind, turn left and still be riding into the same force! It was so strength zapping and demoralising. I was losing time, even with the time extension, and couldn't see where I was going to make it up.

We moved back into the Republic of Ireland and moved into County Sligo, complete with it's amazing mountains. It rained nearly every hour without fail, even if the sun was out. As we moved into the third day my crew finally helped me find some speed with some well placed words and home truths about the time I was losing. I found some pace going through Sligo despite the pain of my knee, chest, thigh and arm. My health wasn't great, but a finish before the cut off was still on.

As we moved into day 3 and County Mayo my speed just seemed to drop as I had to keep stopping to have massages on my knee and was constantly getting battered by headwinds from the coast. I had already been in tears a couple of times because I was so frustrated. I was really finding it hard to beast through my pain. In truth I was losing faith in myself, something I promised never to do, but this race will and can tear you apart from the inside out. Despite my health issues I found some power into night 4 as I spent much of it climbing around the coast. I wasn't quick but I was smooth and consistent. My rest stops were getting briefer and briefer as I tried to make up mileage by staying on the road for longer. It was a slog.

We moved into day 4 and I still couldn't raise myself enough to get proper speed going. I was struggling. My chest stopped me breathing properly and I had terrible bruising appearing on my thigh. Just after the time station at Limerick City I pulled over on a hard shoulder for another knee massage. My crew members gave it to me straight. If I carried on at the same speed, and without stopping then I wouldn't finish until Sunday afternoon!! Hours after the 8pm Saturday cut off. My crew chief (and life coach) wouldn't accept this reality was good enough and refused to accept that I could accept this. He fired up my rage and anger with this great quote I'll never forget "Go and find the talent you never knew you had.....now get on that bike and ride!!" He then walked off and got in the van and left me raging.

From 7pm and for the next 5+ hours I found speed and power I never knew I had, uphill, down hill averaging over 25Kph. As we moved past midnight and into Friday morning I was starting to really tire. I had been on the road for 24 hours with just an hours rest. I hit an almighty hill averaging 8% for over three miles. I got up the whole thing and nearly collapsed at the top as my crew mate hugged me. I knew the end was near for me. I went on for another hour totally exhausted, before breaking down in tears, nearly broken 8km from time station 11. My crew chief was as great as ever. "Wyatt have you got 8 more KM's in you?" I nodded and set off again, totally spent, determined to make the next time station. I arrived in Killarney just before 1am and fell into bed for an hours sleep.

Waking up I made the toughest cycling decision of my life for a number of reasons. I deliberated with my crew and I was utterly distraught, absolutely in bits. To complete the race on time I would have to ride for about 21 hours a day without fail whilst maintaing a very high average speed. I had to be honest with my self. I could probably do this if it was mainly flats all the way, but the very next stage had SIX mountain climbs with two more beasts the stage after that. So I weighed it all up. Should I carry on until the cut off time and see how far I could get or live to fight another day, leave now and come back better than ever, with my knowledge and experience in 2011?

Devastated I withdrew at stage 11 just after 1am on Friday morning. I had covered well over 800 miles with my best work coming in the last two days. We headed back the 180 miles to Navan and checked into a B&B. Slept for a few hours before heading to Race HQ to show support for the others. Everyone was very kind and said nice things about me and it helped lift my spirits as I was still pretty down. People respected my drive and desire and the fact that I got up and did this and still managed a huge amount of distance.

I got an early ferry back on Saturday afternoon......and still missed the birth of my son by 8 hours!

On Monday I went to hospital and confirmed I have fractured ribs, so I rode for four days with this injury! No wonder I felt sore. My knees and ankles are really sore and swollen and I still can't walk properly, plus I've so much dry skin on my face I look like the Singing Detective!!!! Lets not mention the saddle sores!

There were many good things to take from this race, many friends made and lots of memories. I'm disappointed not to have finished and I hate the fact I have DNF next to my name. I have unfinished business with this race, but already I know the things which need to be done differently -

1. I need to find good form during the first night and not on day 3!
2. I need to crack on with the miles into the first 48 hours, as after that tiredness and aches set in and it becomes harder to stay on the road for 20-22 hours a days.
3. Best not to crash before or during the race!!!
I'll be the first to sign up for 2011 and will train from November. I'll be back on the road in about a month, and watch me train on them hills across the winter as I prepare to do this all again next year. I'm already looking forward to it, and don't feel I've disgraced myself this time round despite how disappointed I felt at the point of withdrawl.

My crew this year were amazing and saved me on more than one occasion. I hope they all can stick to their pledges to return in 2011, a year I'm looking forward to."

Wyatt Wendells

Wyatt and support crew
(l-r) Alasdair McWilliam, Bill Chapman, Wyatt Wendells, Johnny Crash, Elliot Kay

Race Around Ireland Official Website: http://www.racearoundireland.com/default.asp
Official race blog: http://twojournosandabikerace.wordpress.com