24/12; The story of a Broken man

If I’m honest the build up for this race was somewhere between shamble and completely chaotic; through no fault of my own on the Monday before the biggest event so far this year I had a bike with a crack in it, no gazebo and no kit. Thankfully the most important element of the preparation was getting loads of miles in and feeling really strong on the bike. Errrmmmm no can’t really help you there either…

So all in all between trying to maintain a normal life, working two jobs and organising a third Bontrager 24/12 had somehow sneaked up on me and was now a little more than a week away. Gulp.

I knew I had the mileage in my legs, having recently ridden the length of Wales in the midst of an extreme weather warning I was pretty confident I had the head for it too but as is always the case with endurance racing, and indeed riding, the proof is in the pedalling.  With my legs held together by Scott Cornish and his magic rock tape and some work on my knee with any luck I had the pedalling sorted...
Thankfully the help and support side of things was covered; not only did I have what has to be the best support crew in the business, Heather and Mark, but the usual suspects were to be racing as well meaning that there would be an abundance of friendly faces on top of the usual lovely people this sort of event attracts.  Looking back im not sure what I was worrying about, as Loco’s Gareth kept saying, its all just ridding your bike ‘innt?

Luckily working in a bike shop does have its advantages, a hasty late night call to one of the most helpful people in mountain biking, Brant @ On One promised to dispatch a new frame the very next morning, this still left it all a bit close – a chance conversation with Jez @ Trek secured an ex demo Superfly 100 that with any luck would arrive the week before the even. No chance to test the bike off road but from what I had heard they were simply stunning bits of kit and let’s be honest, I had 24hrs to get used to the thing!

Working Friday and then driving down in the evening had its own bag off issues, not least the timing involved in getting three people from across the country to one point on a Friday night – it was late by the time we set off and the rain was getting biblical, honestly I was wondering whether I should have brought the canoe rather than a bike.  Thankfully by the time we had reached Plymouth it had calmed down. We quickly put up the gazebo, tent and emptied as much of the car as we could and then headed off to curl up in a warm bed for the night, this as it would turn out was possibly the best decision we made all weekend.

Apparently there was nearly a decision made to evacuate the campsite as the weather was so bad, this we only learned when arriving back on site after a warm shower and a nice breakfast, suffice to say we were not flavour of the month among those who had been woken up by streams of water running through there tents.

Lining up at the beginning of 24hrs is always an odd experience, a strange calm descends as your brain try’s to comprehend what you are about to make it do.  The first lap was as always a challenge in not getting caught up in the mad dash to the singletrack, slightly slower than usual due to the mud but strangely the sky had cleared; after all the issues it was finally riding a bike.

I sometimes wonder why I write these things as to be honest I really cant remember anything about the race, it was sunny, then it rained and then it was dark. Then it rained some more… I’m guessing it got light again at some point although I cant really remember when; all I can remember is that it got REALLY hard at about 8 in the morning. 

Last time I raced a 24 solo at Newnham I went out far to fast and blew up after about 8 hours – as you can imagine I was pretty paranoid about this happening again, especially with all the support and effort people were putting in around me.  Throughout the 1^st 12 hours of the race I was making a point of spinning and being as smooth as possible and honestly I felt great, worryingly great.  Without warning this ended as the end of the race drew near.

Im not going to lie, im no Matt Page, I was broken with four hours to go, I was holding on by a ledge and that ledge was getting smaller – the fire roads instead of being a distraction from the fun singletrack were now becoming lifelines allowing me to regain composure, eat and drink before the next bit that I had to be alert for. With two laps to go i was not only counting down the laps but the puddles – I can honestly say if it wasn’t for the support of Mark and everyone else on site I wouldn’t have felt comfortable riding those last few hours.

As they say a photo tells a thousand words, I think this one has a book in it…

All thats left are the thank you's of which there are many

Mark and Heather, possibly the best pit crew in the business.

Gareth, Alex, Scott Zoe and Mark, basically all at Loco Tuning.

Scott Cornish for creating art out of Rock Tape and generally holding my legs together for 24hrs

Simon, Bethan, Clara and the Bikeshed Wales lads

Jez @Trek.

Jon @ Scimitar.

Mud Dock Cycleworks

Cycleaid

Oh and Matt Carr, although my helmet does still smell of beer...

And many more that i have doubtless forgotten (And in some cases remembered ...) but you know who you are :-)

UK/European 24hr Champs

Last Thursday saw our journey up to Newcastleton begin with a drive up to Newcastle for a brief stop en route and a meal out at the Metrocentre to celebrate my stepsons's 16th birthday. Ideally, he has quite a appetite, like myself, so this doubled up as a carbo loading session at the Big Luke's All You Can Eat @ the Metrocentre. A few post meal drinks, some bowling and amusements with the kids finished off the evening.

The next morning we left our Travelodge and headed off the Newcastleton which was about another 2hrs drive. On arrival we unpacked and Lily was straight off on her bike enjoying the beautiful surroundings of the Rock UK centre.

I went off for a reccie lap that afternoon of the 12.5 mile course which at the time was very dry compared to previous rides. The rain started in the last 30 mins of the lap, but not too heavy.

Back to camp to get Lily ready for her first ever MTB race, the "12 Mins of Exposure", for the under 8's.

I was chuffed to see Lily racing and given that she has only ridden her bike about 3 times, she gave it all she could and looked quite worse for wear at the end. She was given a medal for her efforts and it didn't leave her neck for the rest of the weekend.

A early night for me pursued as I wanted a decent amount of kip for the next day. One of the funniest and painful moments of the weekend came when I decided to put mine and Becky's beds together to make a double but on turning the light off I forgot I had done this and dived onto the space where the bed was and landed on my hip on the wooden floor. (This is still hurting 4 days later!)

So, up saturday morning, showered and changed into the kit and milled around contemplating the next 24hrs of riding.

My form was not going to be great, as I had come down with a cold 3 weeks previous and it was still lingering around. I had considered changing to the 12hr but thought I would still give the 24hr a go and take it easy.

Met with Mark and we both were told separately that we didn't have our timing chips on! That could have been interesting if we had forget!!!!! Thanks Rob.

We headed down the the village centre of Newcastleton, met our families and enjoyed the locals support at the start. 12pm came and the usual following of the piper began.

Mark decided to head off further to the front as he was in the 12hr event and every minute counted.

We got about a mile into the course, just up the first climb and about to enter the first singletrack section, when I couldnt believe my eyes, seeing Mark walking his bike back down the course. Mark will explain this further in his blog, I'm sure.

So off we went, lap after lap with most of my early laps spent chatting the Jamie Willetts and enjoying the club run pace. I lost him on the climbs and he dropped me on the descents and this continued for a few hours. I got to about 6:30pm and had been thinking about the benefits of picking up my Exposure Sixpack and Joystick lights from the pits but forgot!! As it got dark about 7:30pm and my laps taking about 90mins this lap entailed a fair amount of riding using only "the force" to guide me. I was thinking at this point if there really was any benefit of eating more carrots and was wishing I had.

As I rode the final descent in the dark into the arena I heard a couple of familar voices and it was was local Norfolk riders Ollie and Alex who had came up for a look whilst camping at Kielder.

They followed me to the kitchen where I had a brief chat while stuffing my face with Becky's lovely chilli she had made that evening.

I went and changed into suitable night kit and headed back out out for another couple of laps. After this I hit a bad patch and decided to have a sleep for a hour and head back out. This didnt really happened due to a combo of kids and and energy gels and I keep extending the hour!!!

Got showered and changed into fresh kit, then got back on the bike with revised energy and proceeded to get my groove on and ride about 7 laps with minimal stops right up until a very painful last lap at 9:30am.

Rolling in about 11am with no time for another lap and a lovely greeting by my family - my 24hrs was over.

21st position was a lot down on my first ever 24hr and last years event with 16th. A combination of fitness levels, a lot less training and a far too slow pace and too many breaks contributed to this but still another 24 under the belt.

Not my best result but this was the most battered my body had ever felt with my lower back going into spasm on the final two laps.

I headed back to the cabin for a coffee and full English, then proceeded to lay flat on the bed for the next 20hrs.

Movement in my body is not much better 4 days later.

Given all this, will I be back next year?..........you bet your life I will ;)

A big thanks to our sponsors Cycleaid for funding this madness and I will ensure my continued efforts and a attempt for a top ten position next year.

A special mention need to be made to the Hope Race X2 brakes which we are riding this season as I fitted a pair of the sintered to my bike before the Strathpuffer 24hr solo rode that and then two 4hr enduros and various long training rides. Checked before this event and decided to run the same pads and unbelievely they lasted the full 24hrs!! And this event required a fair amount of braking.........Hope, you rock!