Another shot!

Thanks Nigel Dawson for this one, while I was taking the wrong line on this lap I do remember you yelling out :).

The Unknown National 24 hour Solo's

Leading into this race I had allot of unknowns, I had trained completely different, I had a slightly different nutrition plan that I wanted to try, and it was basically a chance to try out some areas that I did not want to test at Worlds. Well a week out I had another unknown with a sore throat and a head cold. It was nothing that never seemed that bad it was just there and race day came it was only just there and thought it should be OK.

I started off the first lap I settled into a good position dropping riders off my wheel and being dropped off the back of a few others, it was only about 30 sec gap both way's. It was strange to have that 6k's in and for the next 27k's I seemed alone, getting into my own rhythm. By the 4th lap I started to feel something was not quite right, I was on the wrong lines, trying to stay focused and looking ahead. During the 5th lap I knew something was bad I could not ride some of the rocks and my head could only take in what was happening 2 meters in front of me I could not process the track in front and nearly had a huge off. I went off line, off the track and before I knew it my seat was hitting me in the back and riding the front wheel, I somehow managed to hold it together. This was after I slowed the pace down, and dropped 8 minutes from my start lap over the 11k's. With 21 hours to go, 5 laps done, I was done my head just could not focus on a thing, usually what I'm like a 3am not pm.

But like all Easter 24 races there was allot of top efforts out there and the character of the race lives on. Great to see the Mal Adjusted girls having so much fun and even having a little sprint with me made me chuckle. Roz Edmunds 61 years young, out there for the whole race top effort, Dianne Perry worked consistently through with a strong finish. It was great to see the riders having a good go, some just having fun and others at their limits. It was a tough course for the long haul but one worthy for a nationals. Well done all who pushed it through and did it, and great to see Ed up in the top 3 overall freaks with his SS. Kendra was awesome as usual, always keen for the fast transitions. The volunteers were awesome as usual Sarah and Russ quietly behind it all doing a great job. I always love the photographers too getting out amongst it for the fun and posting pictures up.

Photo's by Jason Heddle nice work, so next Jase is riding 6+6 nice one ;).

Mont 24 hour: Radical lights 6 mixed

Leading into this race I was really looking forward to it, but I did have some feelings like, I've only been doing road k's I hope my skills come back, Wow I'm in a great team of riders I hope I don't hold them back, and I got to somehow fit this into training for 24 solo nationals. I should not have been worried at all, it was sooooo much fun.

I arrived early Saturday to the Radical lights cave. This setup would turn out to be the best yet. We had about 12m by 3m with radical lights and frameskins on show, behind was the hammock race prep and general lazing/chatting area, complete with heater. My mixed 6 team was, Brad Morton, Paul Traynor, Kath Bicknell, Dan Mackay, Jason McAvoy and I have to include the Radical man himself as without him this team would not have happened and the support he gave was fantastic. I decided I'd head out for a lap of the course beforehand, scope the track, and find my skills, I really enjoyed it there was a nice pre mont buzz in the air and it was all feeling good and ready to race.

Morto really set the tone of the race with his first lap, I was sitting in the forest eating pizza with Kendra waiting for the first riders come through, Hendo then 2nd was Morto, we were off on a flyer. This effort did not stop we all put in great splits in a fun relaxed kind of way, the team had a great buzz, do your best and hit it hard, but have a load of fun at the same time. We were all super motivated, and everything just worked. We had a team that allowed the flexibility to adapt to each others preferences and needs. We split the night into 2 shifts of 3 riders allowing for some shut eye (although I got no sleep anyway), we all gave notice allowing plenty of time for the other riders to get ready. The radical lights just blew through the dust allowing plenty of sight, it was sooo cool to hit out the night laps just as hard as the day laps. I remember Kath coming in just so stocked having an awesome time, and it was not till I hit the night lap that I knew why she was so excited, it was too much fun to take in. After my 2 night laps I knew I had a good break so it was definitely time to get some more shut eye and I even got so sleep (maybe 15 minutes).

 

Sunday morning and I was up for my 4th lap, we had some light rain and I was very happy to go out on what I thought was going to be a grippy lap, which it was till all of a sudden I had no grip. It was quite different track conditions really I went from nailing each corner to tip toeing the corner waiting for the slide. Once prepared for this I could pick the surface and know what to look for and really started to enjoy it. Half way though the rain came hard, and more and more of the sideways action was happening but I must admit it was getting kinda cool. I finished my lap on yet another high but happy to hand over for a nice little clean up, and try to get some warmth back into my body. I started getting the shivers after that lap so it was warm clothes time and so happy to see Kath with a hot chocolate in her hand just for me, exactly what I needed.

Last lap and last for the team I was so happy when I saw Dan come in with a great lap time, I knew we had a 10-15 min buffer to 3rd so it was so good knowing I can play it safe and go hard when I can. In the ST my aim was to keep to the sides of the track for maximum grip but there was no side of the track left, it was all mud surfing. This was so hard to hold any speed or know which line to take, but half way through I got to enjoy the drifts and went with it. The down hill switchbacks had developed an A line down the middle, but I sticked it to the original corners and stayed on track (somehow), and then the track seemed to get slightly better and I was pinning it with caution. No time to look at the time I just hooked in as hard as I could and stuck it to the finish to find out I was the first rider to officially finish after 24 hours. How cool was that, I could not believe the fun I was having when normally conditions like these just sap the fun factor.

We finished 2nd in mixed and 10th out of nearly 600 teams, and we had a load of fun.

Thanks so much to the organisers, volunteer's, and everyone who was apart of the event I'd find it hard to think of any way of making it any better (other than more spaced out toilets ;)). Huge thanks to the radical team, definitely give me a yell if you need a team mate for another event :).

It was great to also chat to a load of other riders about the radical lights, telling them all the great things about the lights. I soon realised that the radicals are a step up in every way, simple, smart, sexy, performance, reliable, beam pattern, spread every detail is leading the way. Radical has a never ending drive for technology and performance to keep perfecting there fantastic product. They are a long term investment that will not let you down. Until I saw the new units in real life I did not know how cool they look they definitely have the bling status and not just a load of a perfectly spread beam.



Awesome work Robyn and Mumnuts



Robbie riding with style, love it!

Mumnuts also did a great job sticking it out for the whole 24 it was good seeing them out there in my last 2 laps, you got to be proud of yourselves it was a great effort as usual..