The Saab Salomon 24 hour race was held on June 25-26 in Eastnor Deer Castle Park, in the Malverns.
Simon and I were part of the Bromley Bike / Yeti team, the two other members were another Simon, from up north, who never races but is scarily fast, and Colin who manages the Yeti racing team for Europe, and who is also very fast, both in Cross-Country and Downhill racing. Yeti had another team made up of Martyn, only 18 but faster than any of us, Dan about as fast as him, Luke and anothrer rider who unfortunately stopped after only two laps.
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Our pit-crew, bike mechanic included
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The first of many testing climbs
I went out first which meant I had to do the half-mile run prior to getting on the bike. Standing just two feet behind Tinker Juarez, a cross-country legend from the late eighties / early nineties, and who now has successefuly converted to endurance racing, was very impressive. I wanted to be quick in the run to avoid the traffic jams once on the bike, but hadn't expected it to be so fast, and so long. From about half way into the run I started slowing down, with lots of people overtaking me. Onto the bike at last, maybe in 80th position, I was still out of breath, and would only recover a normal heartrate something like half an hour into the race.
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The start run (I'm on the right, trying to keep my feet dry), photo bikemagic.com
That first lap was altogether the worst thing I have done on a bike, ever. I didn't know the course and it had been severely altered by the storms of the previous day, which meant it was a permanent struggle to stay on the bike, the heavy mud on the singletrack sections making it more akin to piloting your bike, and hoping you wouldn't end up in a tree. I couldn't even get into my small chainring. Lots of people were still overtaking me, I was trying to find my breath. The course, 10.5 miles long, had over 500ft of elevation, and this included some treacherous climbs, a a couple of fast descents. One the first one, about two thirds into the lap, I got a pinch flat puncture, which is not what I needed. Struggling with my muddy tire I changed the tube, and reached for the free CO2 cartridge we got with our entry. I had never used one before (prefering to take a pump with me), but the guy gave us a demo and it looked straightforward, so I didn't take my pump.
I did something wrong and ended up emptying the air not in the tube, but outside of it. So my only choice was now to run for the rest of the course. Again, just what I needed. There were still fast people passing by, so I had to move out of the way when they were approaching. I didn't know how much more to run I had, but there were another couple nasty climbs. I was close to tears, raging against myself for not taking the pump, and worrying that Simon, the next man to go, would have to wait a long time for me.
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Me running and struggling, photo by mrkipling
In the end the run was 2.2 miles, and by the end I was completely exhausted. I think I was also feeling the effects of a heavy drinking night on the Wednesday, and just collapsed into my tent and slept for two hours.
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It's not a serious race for everyone, here Mr Extreme Ironing
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Tinker Juarez, the legend, racing solo
The follow-up, when I have time to write it ...