In the week prior to the Swakopmund XC I had a slight flu – sore throat, achy, headache. I had had much worse and on Thursday, I even thought I was on the mend. After we decided to delay the Swakopmund XC race to the afternoon, I went with the family to get some flu medication for my 1 year old daughter. While in the pharmacy, I also bought myself Nurofen for my headache and Sinu Max for the flu symptoms. At 12pm, I took the recommended dosage of 2 Sinu Max capsules and just before 1pm, I took half the recommended dosage of 1 Nurofen tablet.

As 2pm came, the meds had kicked in and I was feeling pretty good. I drank almost a liter of fluid before starting and put 700ml of sports drink in the bottle I carried on the bike. As we lined up on the start line, I thought that I could push it rather than taking it easy as I had promised my wife. The race was fast thanks to the incredibly fit veterans Johan and Mike, but I was enjoying the ride and it was going well into the final fourth lap. I was feeling the strain, but nothing that felt overly unusual – especially given the heat. I have a clear recollection of turning slowly on to the road at the end of the black ridge and thinking I was almost home – about 1km left….. The very next thing I remember is a nurse looking over me asking me something I could not make out. After another 20 mins, I had worked out that 5 hours had passed, I was in Intensive Care Unit at the Cottage Medi-clinic, I had been diagnosed with a pre-existing Bacterial Infection, Heat Stroke and Kidney Failure. Fortunately, over the next 12 hours I recovered slowly but surely and was moved to the ward and then discharged about midday on Sunday.

Although I have no recollection of what happened in those lost 5 hours, I have my family and friends to tell me. And I am not sure what is worse – the damage I did to my body or the events of those lost hours.

So why did this happen?

1. You should not ride sick. I rode with flu and an undiagnosed bacterial infection.

2. I took SinuMax. SinuMax contains Pseudoephedrine. Pseudoephedrine elevates body temperature in two ways. It decreases blood flow by constricting your veins, reducing heat loss. And it increases heat by increasing muscular activity.

3. I took Nurofen. Nurofen contains Ibuprofen. Ibuprofen is a nephrotoxin – this means it is toxic to the kidneys.

4. It was hot and I rode hard ignoring my heart monitor. Over the past 12 months, I had been riding to a Maximum Heart rate of 180. Looking at Saturday’s data, I see my heart rate reached 180 after 1km, and gradually rose to 199 before I blacked out.

Piecing everything together it would appear that my body was compromised with flu and the infection before even starting. Then before heading out into 35degree heat, I continued to overheat my body with the SinuMax. Next, I attacked my kidneys with the ibuprofen, simultaneously giving myself a false sense of health and masking my increased body temperature. I then rode fast, having disguised my body’s natural warning systems and ignoring my heart rate monitor. About 1km from the end, without apparent warning to me, my body lost all faith that my brain had the ability to control it and so I lost conscious control of my actions. My kidneys failed and I succumbed to heat stroke.

I have to say a huge thanks to the people that helped me. Thanks to Otto for raising the alarm. Thanks to whomever the person was who gave me their camelback to drink from (I have no recollection). Thanks to Oliver, Ian and Vince for getting everything sorted and getting me to Casualty in time. Thanks again to Dr Vince for helping in Casualty. Thanks to Dr Christoff Coetzee (another MTBer). Thanks to that wonderful nurse who saw me through the night and must have changed my bed 3 times. Thanks to Dr Kok. Thanks to my wife Natasha for all the love and care she has given me over the past few days.

The prognosis is good. Blood tests on Saturday showed that my kidneys were working again. I was a little nauseous on Sunday and Monday with the backlog of toxins in my system as the kidneys tried to catch up. But I am feeling much better now and just have to keep myself well hydrated. I am taking a week or so off the bike, but will be riding again soon – a little wiser this time.

All the best,

Barry