I swear that when I am racing if someone asks me what 2+2 was I would not know. I would stutter and stammer, reanalyze the question until finally giving up and focusing on something simpler; like how much I am hurting right now.
My most recent conundrum I tried to solve on the bike was at the Provincial Time Trial Championships. The computer on my time trial bike is in miles per hour. Don't ask me why, but for the life of me I can't figure out how to change it. Before the start of the race I worked out in my head what speed I wanted to average. I also had my computer set up on distance. Well, in my oxygen reduced haze I couldn't figure out why it was taking so long to get to the turn around. While I fully realized the speed was in miles per hour I had totally forgotten that the distance also would be in miles per hour. Duh. I kept telling myself to calm down and don't go too fast because there was a long way to go. All the way out I kept repeating that to myself. My brain didn't clue in even when I saw the turn around. I took the turn around and was trying in my head to figure out what was going on. Eventually I figured it out. If I was capable of laughing I would have but the pain in my legs was just too much for me to crack a smile.
I do think it was a blessing in disguise though because I always have the habitat of starting time trials too fast. Not this time. I was prepared to go 38.5 miles instead of 38.5 kilometers. Math and bike racing, it just doesn't mix well with me.
Source:
Symmetrics Cycling