Twentyfour12
It was great but now I ache all over. I only did two laps (yes, I am that wimpy) but my body feels like I did about 10!
We arrived on site with grey but dry conditions and it slowly brightened up to the extent that my newly shaved head got sunburned (ouch). We got set up and sent Matt out on the first lap for he team while the rest of us got settled for the weekend.
Because there was so much technical singletrack on the course there were quite a few bottlenecks that meant Matt only managed a 1:37 lap. As the field spread out, times tumbled and I think Cookie Olly ended posting our fastest lap with a 0:54. There were hardly any points on the lap where you could just sit and spin and I have been reading that many people felt it was too technical with many section being quicker to run that ride.
The rain only started at about 2am on the Sunday, just as Trayl was halfway round his last lap, but it got pretty heavy and didn’t let up.
Olly ruled the roost by putting in four laps, the last of which was in the pouring rain on the Sunday morning. The rest of us wimped out of doing a lap in the rain. Trayl and Matt managed to put in three laps each and Cookie did one because he had no lights!
I totally dug the vibe of the weekend and personally thought the course was really cool (although I agree that it was a little too technical in places) but the sticky mud made it pretty hard going a lot of the way round and that sapped some of the fun out of it.
I haven’t seen any result yet but I’m pretty sure we came 7th or 8th (out of nine) in our category!
Update: We actually came 6th! I have no idea how we managed that. Well, actually I do, it was that last lap of Olly’s!
Would I do it again? Yes.
Would I train harder for next time? Yes
Do I wish I was in bed? Yes
Pictures to follow…
Glad you had fun
July 16th, 2007 at 1:48 pmThat 0:54 was mine! Not that I’m competitive about these things at all. Ooooh no, not me
Reading some of the forums would put you off the event for life, but I thought it was really good fun! I loved the course (except for one particularly sticky climb) and there was a nicely chilled atmosphere. The Humpy Dumps were ace, as long as you had the energy to hit them fast.
Same time next year?
July 16th, 2007 at 4:04 pmOk forgive the blonde in the equation here… If you did an average of 2 laps each at an average of let’s say 1:30 each… How is that a 24 hour race?! I am so confused.
July 16th, 2007 at 7:41 pmahhh… the time is hours and minutes, not seconds right? 54 seconds would be good going.
July 16th, 2007 at 7:42 pmSorry Olly - I have corrected the story to reflect your full glory.
There have been some really scathing comments about it but I say that if they didn’t like it then the event will be better without them next year…
NaiT - Oh dear.
July 17th, 2007 at 6:21 amHeh, I love the way I did a five hour lap. Mmmm, sleep
July 17th, 2007 at 8:29 amit is confusing if you are blonde…. :***(
July 18th, 2007 at 1:45 pm