Saturday 29th of November was the start date of 24 hours of pain to be concluded on the 30th, luckily for me it actually didn't involve any pain, considering it is the longest enduro I have been involved in that was quite surprising.
So Saturday morning Andrew Liu comes to collect me and my bike and 24 hours of food supplies and we head off for the sleepy town known as Forrest, arrive there and it is all very relaxed, had a chat to a few people before getting ready to ride and make our decision as to who in our team of would go first, Andrew myself and Caleb all decided Brenton should go first and considering he was not there to defend the decision it was locked in and he was to do the first lap, adding another kilometer or so to the distance of the first lap, I was second in line, I took off up the short climb at the start line and made it about half way before having to get off to walk, it became the challenge of the weekend for everyone to try and get up it without having to walk it, so the second lap I took off hard at the start to gt a good run up and change gears as I got to the steep part, well I was in too high a gear and went to change gears and a bit of chain suck ruined my effort and came to an embarrassing end on the first corner of the climb, if front of all the riders lining up at transition and the small crowd that had gathered there to watch.
So anyway the day laps went smoothly and I was feeling good, time for the night laps, this was my first time really riding at night, the only other time was when Andrew and I did a short night ride along a bike trail, hardly the same as riding the tight singletrack at Forrest, so I took off for my lap and went ok for the first part of the track that I had previously ridden in my day laps but quickly started losing confidence as I was veering all over the track, the lap seemed to take me a long time, I had no idea how long I had been out there for but it seemed like hours, I made it out on to the fire trail and was going along for a little while and accidently took a wrong turn as only I could do, anyway luckily a few riders came past and I noticed their lights going in the opposite direction to me so I turned around and got back on track, I reallyy had the sooks at this stage, I didnt like riding in the dark and the lap seemed to be taking ages, I was going along again on my own for a while and thought I had taken another wrong turn so just stopped and waited, a minute or so later I saw a light heading towards me so knew I was on the right track still so took of for the home stretch and made it to the finish about 10 minutes later, pulled in to transition and was not a happy camper, Andrew Wade and Brenton were there to welcome me back, I didnt say too much, just that I didint like it and I took off back to the tent, turns out it was an hour twenty lap so not quite as long as I thought it had taken me but still a long time out there in the dark. Caleb had pulled out and I knew there would be a few more night laps ahead for me, got back to the tent and had already decided I didnt want to do any more night laps but was still going to go ahead with it, once Brenton came back in, he had told me that Andrew's knee was not feeling too good so thought I might be in with a chance that we might pull the pin on the night laps, once Andrew came in I said I was not too keen to do another night lap and he was the same, so off to bed for me, bed being the back of Andrew's car that is, froze my butt off just walking from the tent which actually had the luxury of a heater in it, grabbed my trackies and headed straight to the showers, usually I would be a bit shy about nuding up in front of other people but there was no room for modesty in these showers so had to walk out of the shower starkers and there was another chick in there who started up a casual convo with me about random stuff with me, had a bit of a chat then headed for the comfort of the 35 buck sleeping bag purchased in a mad rush the night before and the back seat of an Alfa Romeo, was laying there wide awake and wondering whether I should go back to the tent and enjoy the atmosphere that comes with 24 hour racing, mmmm nah, the sleeping bag is nice and warm and all clean now, I will just get up early I tell myself, so try to get some sleep, just not going to happen, break out the mobile to play some solitaire and hopefully that will get me tired enough to sleep, still no go, so just layed there until I eventually fell asleep, i reckon it was 4.55 am when I finally managed to fall asleep and it was 5.01 when I woke up again! I was pretty excited about the day laps today as Marriners run was among the tracks used for today so got out and put my gear on, went and grabbed a toasted sandwich and a coffee, (the best coffee ever by the way) not the best pre race food but filled the hole anyway. Got to the tent and unlocked my bike and took it upon myself to nominate myself for the first morning lap, no arguments there, Marriners run was awesome as to be expected seemed to be a long lap again, turned out it was, I was really taking my time on this lap, after the last climb I headed back in to transition one hour and 40 minutes after I took off, Brenton took off for his lap followed by Andrew, I was hoping Andrew would not get back in till after 11am then I wouldn't go out for another, still an hour before cut off but that was crazy mixed up rule I had, a few of the other riders around were hounding me to go out and I told them my cut off time and that if Andrew didn't come in before that I would not go out, I was waiting with nervous anticipation and staring at my watch every 2 seconds, well, 10.28, 2 minutes before my suggested 'cut off time' Andrew rolls in to transition, to delay it even more I rode via the toilets for a quick pit stop and to decide whether I really wanted to go out for one more lap, yep just go for it, so took off for my final lap and got back in with 2 minutes to spare so the annoucers were hounding me to go out for one more lap, no amount of convincing would get me out there again, had really had enough, ended up 20 minutes quicker than my first lap, passed a solo rider that had ridden right through, as if that is not tough enough he was on a singlespeed, he really looked like was doing it tough, pretty inspirational really, when you take my 5 laps for the whole 24 hours and look at what he had put his body through it certainly doesnt make you feel like you have acheived much that's for sure, ut for my first 24 hour race I was pretty happy with my performance and apart from the night lap I think I did ok.
So Saturday morning Andrew Liu comes to collect me and my bike and 24 hours of food supplies and we head off for the sleepy town known as Forrest, arrive there and it is all very relaxed, had a chat to a few people before getting ready to ride and make our decision as to who in our team of would go first, Andrew myself and Caleb all decided Brenton should go first and considering he was not there to defend the decision it was locked in and he was to do the first lap, adding another kilometer or so to the distance of the first lap, I was second in line, I took off up the short climb at the start line and made it about half way before having to get off to walk, it became the challenge of the weekend for everyone to try and get up it without having to walk it, so the second lap I took off hard at the start to gt a good run up and change gears as I got to the steep part, well I was in too high a gear and went to change gears and a bit of chain suck ruined my effort and came to an embarrassing end on the first corner of the climb, if front of all the riders lining up at transition and the small crowd that had gathered there to watch.
So anyway the day laps went smoothly and I was feeling good, time for the night laps, this was my first time really riding at night, the only other time was when Andrew and I did a short night ride along a bike trail, hardly the same as riding the tight singletrack at Forrest, so I took off for my lap and went ok for the first part of the track that I had previously ridden in my day laps but quickly started losing confidence as I was veering all over the track, the lap seemed to take me a long time, I had no idea how long I had been out there for but it seemed like hours, I made it out on to the fire trail and was going along for a little while and accidently took a wrong turn as only I could do, anyway luckily a few riders came past and I noticed their lights going in the opposite direction to me so I turned around and got back on track, I reallyy had the sooks at this stage, I didnt like riding in the dark and the lap seemed to be taking ages, I was going along again on my own for a while and thought I had taken another wrong turn so just stopped and waited, a minute or so later I saw a light heading towards me so knew I was on the right track still so took of for the home stretch and made it to the finish about 10 minutes later, pulled in to transition and was not a happy camper, Andrew Wade and Brenton were there to welcome me back, I didnt say too much, just that I didint like it and I took off back to the tent, turns out it was an hour twenty lap so not quite as long as I thought it had taken me but still a long time out there in the dark. Caleb had pulled out and I knew there would be a few more night laps ahead for me, got back to the tent and had already decided I didnt want to do any more night laps but was still going to go ahead with it, once Brenton came back in, he had told me that Andrew's knee was not feeling too good so thought I might be in with a chance that we might pull the pin on the night laps, once Andrew came in I said I was not too keen to do another night lap and he was the same, so off to bed for me, bed being the back of Andrew's car that is, froze my butt off just walking from the tent which actually had the luxury of a heater in it, grabbed my trackies and headed straight to the showers, usually I would be a bit shy about nuding up in front of other people but there was no room for modesty in these showers so had to walk out of the shower starkers and there was another chick in there who started up a casual convo with me about random stuff with me, had a bit of a chat then headed for the comfort of the 35 buck sleeping bag purchased in a mad rush the night before and the back seat of an Alfa Romeo, was laying there wide awake and wondering whether I should go back to the tent and enjoy the atmosphere that comes with 24 hour racing, mmmm nah, the sleeping bag is nice and warm and all clean now, I will just get up early I tell myself, so try to get some sleep, just not going to happen, break out the mobile to play some solitaire and hopefully that will get me tired enough to sleep, still no go, so just layed there until I eventually fell asleep, i reckon it was 4.55 am when I finally managed to fall asleep and it was 5.01 when I woke up again! I was pretty excited about the day laps today as Marriners run was among the tracks used for today so got out and put my gear on, went and grabbed a toasted sandwich and a coffee, (the best coffee ever by the way) not the best pre race food but filled the hole anyway. Got to the tent and unlocked my bike and took it upon myself to nominate myself for the first morning lap, no arguments there, Marriners run was awesome as to be expected seemed to be a long lap again, turned out it was, I was really taking my time on this lap, after the last climb I headed back in to transition one hour and 40 minutes after I took off, Brenton took off for his lap followed by Andrew, I was hoping Andrew would not get back in till after 11am then I wouldn't go out for another, still an hour before cut off but that was crazy mixed up rule I had, a few of the other riders around were hounding me to go out and I told them my cut off time and that if Andrew didn't come in before that I would not go out, I was waiting with nervous anticipation and staring at my watch every 2 seconds, well, 10.28, 2 minutes before my suggested 'cut off time' Andrew rolls in to transition, to delay it even more I rode via the toilets for a quick pit stop and to decide whether I really wanted to go out for one more lap, yep just go for it, so took off for my final lap and got back in with 2 minutes to spare so the annoucers were hounding me to go out for one more lap, no amount of convincing would get me out there again, had really had enough, ended up 20 minutes quicker than my first lap, passed a solo rider that had ridden right through, as if that is not tough enough he was on a singlespeed, he really looked like was doing it tough, pretty inspirational really, when you take my 5 laps for the whole 24 hours and look at what he had put his body through it certainly doesnt make you feel like you have acheived much that's for sure, ut for my first 24 hour race I was pretty happy with my performance and apart from the night lap I think I did ok.
So the question is now, will I do another and the answer, well I dont know that yet, ask me next year.
I did have a great weekend though and was actually pretty relaxing, the atmosphere there is fantastic and had great company for the weekend.
Thank yous for the weekend
Thanks to my race pals, Andrew, Caleb and Brenton, race competiton and tent buddies Marissa, Ben Andrew and Stephen, official photographer Sandy and all the race goers there that offered encouragement throughout the weekend.
As always Croydon Cycleworks for their continued support.
Until next time happy biking!
Kat
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