Normally I'm very nervous come race day, for some reason I was relaxed, maybe to relaxed for this one, drawing number 17, I didn't think i was going to be seeded, from memory it was the top 15 who got a seeded place, then I get the call up, geez this is alright.
We line up and talk anxiously between us with a little bit of sledging with best wishes thrown in for good measure.
The countdown says 30 seconds, 15 seconds, bang goes the start gun, I take off in a valiant effort only to have the guy in front of me stall, meaning I come to a complete stop as the rest of the field passes me by. I try not to let it worry me as we are 10 seconds into a 24hour race I have all day to make up for lost time.
Being so used to other races and their mass starts, it pays to get a good start before the single track, especially when there's 400 people on track.
This time around however there are 120 of us and almost 10km of sweet flowing single track.
I didn't have a look at the track the day before the race, I didn't think I would really have to, then talking to some of the guys I normally ride with, it was the opposite way to the previous year so those long gruelling climbs were now fun bits of down.
The track, honestly I didn't like it, I didn't like it at all, And I don't know why.
Maybe I just had to get used to it. There were no pinch climbs, in fact I liked the fire road sections. Maybe I just wasn't used to it or I had spent too much time on the road.
How did I go?
Well, It took me 2 laps to warm up as I didn't want to push myself to hard to early,
I decided to put it into a gear I knew I could pedal comfortably and basically enjoy myself for the day, then push at night, then keep on turning the pedals over come dawn,
It didn't happen or I didn't happen. So casually riding around being overtaken by only the really fast guys I'm having fun, A mate of mine B-Rad on the rigid single-speed catches me so I decide to ride with him for a while, we talk and laugh to each other as we are actually having a-lot of fun out there, eventually we part ways as having gears sometimes has it advantages.
Come to the 6.5 hour mark I was feeling great,
I had just taken and lost 3rd place in my division (35-39),I had already been lapped by 1st and 2nd in my class, (these guys also came 4th and 5th over all.)
My achillies tendon on both legs were aching along with the balls of my foot, so the next time I come past transition I make the call for painkillers, I bust out another few laps and pull into the pits where Big Dog and Ray apply some neurofen gel and massage my achilles (many thanks guys)
OK, give that 5 minutes to sink in then get told by Big Dog that I cant have any more painkillers for another 8 hours.(or i will die!!!)
I set out to get my 3rd place back and put the hammer down just a little more,
I get halfway around the track and the pain comes back, hmmm this is no good, guess I'll have to harden up and deal with it.
One lap later I get to one of the choppy downhill sections and make the decision the continuing is probably going to do some long term damage, I get to the fast sweeping flat section of singletrack and it hurts, I back it off and tell the guys that im not doing any more.
18 laps and 10.5 hours of riding, IF, i had kept that up I could have finished really well, but I didn't and thats that,
What did I eat?
HAMMER GEL every 2nd lap and half a POWERBAR every 2nd lap, 1 750ml bidon of HEED every 2 laps.
I really really wanted to do so well, but unfortunately it just wasn't my day
now I'm sitting here washing clothes and making cakes out of all the bananas I didn't eat....mmmmm...banana cake.
next year I'll be back with a vengence, and hopefully a finish time.
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