http://www.planet-x-warehouse.co.uk/?p=1813#more-1813[quote]Cammish :: Win at the National 12hr!
So okay I wasn’t riding a Planet X bike to win the National 12 but I didn’t really expect to finish the event let alone get as far as a photographer! Bearing in mind how close a finish it was (less than a minute ahead of Carl Ruebotham) I wish I’d taken it a bit more seriously now because the Stealth would have been worth at least another mph wouldn’t it?
It probably wouldn’t have made the event any easier though, because I’d still have to have sat on the damned thing for twelve hours which is the thing I’ve always found hard to come to grips with. In set distance events, the faster you go the sooner you finish…but in the twelve hour no matter how fast (or slow) you go you’ve got to do it for twelve hours…..which is why (IMO) anyone who finishes a twelve is a winner. So, 29 years after winning my first National Championship…..and 19 years after winning my last….all of a sudden I’m an expert on the subject!!!
What made the difference this time around then? Having Mr Dawson not enter helped - as did the fact that Nik Bowdler decided not to start! Joe Public says anybody who is any good must be in Beijing….so what’s the big deal? To me…..just that I’ve achieved something I’ve never done before. I’m a 51 year old grey haired clapped out tester (edited by Dave – Planet X boss - somewhere along the way there) and thought I had a bit of decent form this year…..I’ve won other Nationals and broken a few records over the years but have taken such batterings in the majority of twelves I’ve ridden that I honestly never thought I’d see the day I’d win the National. OK….certain riders weren’t there (Dr Hutch taking time out to hand bottles up to Mr Platts), Paul Smith content enough with his Breckland ride….the list goes on….but this was the National and, as they say, you have to be in it to win it and I was well pleased with HOW I did it too! No battering this time around…no bad patches….just a good sound, controlled, steady ride with a race on the finishing circuit when I could see how everyone else was going.
The last hour really was good! (I NEVER thought I’d EVER be able to say that about a 12!) as it was spent racing against Carl (we crossed each other twice each time on the finishing circuit). After spending most of the day keeping relaxed, eating, drinking, conserving energy by using small gears etc I was now actually racing using the 12 and 13 sprockets “giving it some†– I finished at the time keeper just the other side of Little Chesterford and had a little more than 5 minutes to wait to know I’d scraped it!
OK..it’s only the National 12…but me being “made up†would be a gross mis-use of the English language.
Thanks all!