Well done to Chris and Damian who finished 1st and 2nd respectively in their categories last weekend -
A great result for both riders, considering Chris had a mechanical in the race and Damian broke a few ribs two months ago!
Sorry about the bad phone pictures, its all I can get.
After 24solo I made the decision to enter another 24hour race but to ensure I had time off work to recover. That way I had no excuse not to push myself. SITS was my first choice as it was my first ever 24hour and the two times I have raced there I have enjoyed it. I made the decision to race gears this time and Chris kindly lent me his bike, I am now converted and I am going to get my own lovely geared bike.
All too quick I was on the start line just before 2pm on saturday and we were off. The run was hard and I spent the whole time being overtaken, but at least it was over with in under 4 minutes. Onto the bike and there was some congestion at the singletrack but it wasn’t too bad, I didn’t want to go too fast as I wanted to get my heart rate down. The first four laps were relatively straight forward, Ali and my sister did a fantastic job as my Pit Crew and I built up a reasonable lead.
I had a brief stop and started to tire, the lap times had gone up and I was concentrating on getting to the night. Midnight came and I realised I wasn’t even halfway through, suddenly a 24 hour solo seemed a silly idea. I got myself through to dawn and I thought that was the hard bit done. But no I started falling asleep on my bike. I had my worst lap then when I had to walk loads, thanks to everyone who asked me if I was okay. Ali fed me loads and sent me back out telling me I had a four lap lead so I just had to keep going. Which is what I did, plod, plod, plod. Out at 12noon for my last lap content to lurk as I didn’t need an extra lap. It was nice to have time to thank all the marshalls who had kept me going in the night and chat to people on my way round the course. It also meant I had time for a shower before the podium.
So I finished on 20laps at just a few seconds over the 24hours. First place on the podium and very sore hands, wrists, legs and back.
Will I do it again? Maybe!
For my last “training” ride before SITS Chris and I headed out into the hills north of Bury straight after the shop closed. I had decided to ride my geared bike since I am racing gears at SITS. We start off flying along until the road goes uphill where Chris does his mountain goat impression and I go backwards. This continued as we did a magical mystery tour round the edge of Bury and up onto Owl Betts Road. I think Chris was trying to get me lost but we kept popping out on roads I recognised. Every hill he was reminding me to stay in middle ring, it was really hurting! Up onto Scout Moor and then down a new descent to me. Here I had to add a layer and a scramble in my bag found a cereal bar. In hindsight I should have brought more food with me. Up over onto Holcolme Moor, at this point it was too much and I dropped into my granny gear. It was a lovely evening and up here we bumped into the only other riders we saw all night. Down and over the firing range before weaving round near the Strawbury Duck and down the Witton Weavers Way.
It was at this point Chris pointed at Winter Hill and asked if we were going up it, he was actually joking. But me being me, even though I was already struggling, decided it was a good idea. So over we went and UP the Belmont descent. It was a long plod for me and I was struggling to follow the line I wanted leading to a few dead end ruts being followed. At the top Chris fed me some Cliff Shot Bloks and the burst of energy was enough to get me home. Back the easiest way, we split on the outskirts of Bolton and it was straight home, food, bed, shower for me.
46miles and 1247m of climbing and one very dead Amy
The Hit the North team had organised an 8hour enduro this summer. Since the race/event took place just down the road from the shop and we were providing energy drinks, mechanical support and prizes it was only right that we got a team together. In the end there was a trio in the mixed category, two solo males and a solo female showing off the lovely Cooksons Cycles Kit.
As always the boys had ordered the weather, lovely sunshine had given way to rain on Wednesday and then it rained and rained and rained. Saturday morning came and it was still raining. I was meant to have been racing in the solo female category but despite my best efforts of eating lots of fruit, drinking lots of water and resting loads since getting ill on Wednesday I still wasn’t well enough to race. So Ali offered to take my place. It meant I was pit bunny for the day, a job I was a little nervous about taking on as Ali has always done such a good job I had a lot to live up.
The race started with our solo boys, Shaun and Dave, out near the front, Mike came through well up for the mixed team and Ali wasn’t far behind. I think all of them were glad to get the run out of the way. First lap done and Shaun came through in first, working harder than I do in races being chased by twinklydave who looked comfortable, Dave wasn’t too far behind the two of them. Ali was next through saying it was fun and she was going to do another lap, followed quickly by Mike who sent Paul out.
Ali headed out on her third lap with Shaun (now in second) following her out. Just as he was catching her she decided to fall off a cliff into a stream, completely submerging herself and killing a few trees. Fortunately Shaun was there to fish her out!
After four Laps Ali decided she wasn’t having fun and it was time to stop. But after Martin sorted her gears, some dry shorts, pointing out she was in first place and me leaving her with no choice she got back out there and the smile came back.
The race continued with rain, sun, rain, sun before the sun eventually won and the course started to dry out.
By this point Dave was comfortably in third and starting to catch Shaun, this seemed to motivate both of them and the lap times were dropping. Ali kept plodding away keeping her lead at about 10minutes and chatting to everyone she saw on the course.
Out on their last laps, there was some confusion as to where the trio were placed with Mike having had a disaster of a lap after puncturing and failing to get the sealant to seal the tyre he had to walk nearly a whole lap. But they were smiling and still keeping the changeovers slick. Ali went out saying this was definitely her last lap and Shaun came through to be told he had less than a minute on Dave, Dave didn’t even stop as he grabbed his water bottle and set off in pursuit.
7pm came and Ali crossed the line, she had stopped to chat to the last marshall to ensure she didn’t have to do another lap. Mike finished with a smile for the trio and Shaun stumbled across the line cramping, turns out he had spotted Dave and so sprinted round the lap! Dave wasn’t too far behind him in third and they both avoided being lapped by the overall winner.
Prize giving time and everyone was on the podium with the trio getting third in their category (next time carry a tube Mike!), Shaun 2nd, Dave 3rd and Ali 1st.
This is the 1st time I’ve raced up at Lee Quarry and I don’t tend to do shorter races so my speed isn’t great and something that needs to improve so no better way than racing.
a few photos show how great the course is..
the course was great today, nothing like any other course I’ve raced on with berms and technical bits! I think I finished around 8th, results will be out in the next few days to confirm!
Our pitch for mayhem 2010!
Good luck to all racers.
Racers around 7am
Graham just got out of bed and looking ready to go!
Dave carb loading Sunday morning!
Cracking weekend with excellent weather for a change.. I hope we finished around 10th, not checked the results and too tired to look now..
great result from Amy, here is her race report!
Another weekend and another race. This time the shop was represented by me and Chris. He went up the night before and set the Gazebo up before camping. Since I only entered on Friday the evening was spent fixing punctures, buying food and packing. So at 5:30am I set off for Gisburn Forest, the day was already getting warm and I hoped I had enough bottles of magic juice with me.
Getting there I soon had my stuff in the Gazebo, my kit on and my bike ready. Down to the pub for race briefing and it was off on a half mile run back to the bikes. I’m not good at running anyway but it bike shoes it feels impossible. I didn’t want to kill my legs off from a short run as I had twelve hours of riding ahead. I kept in touch with Chris on the run, getting to my bike just as he was leaving. This was the last I was to see of him for a while.
I hadn’t pre-ridden the course so had no idea what to expect, as it turned out it was a really nice course. I was losing time on the fireroad descents (riding singlespeed not ideal here) but the singletrack was really enjoyable and the technical down we had been warned about great fun! After a few laps I found out I was the only one in my category (turns out other girls are too sensible to ride solo) so I needed a target to keep me going, 100miles was what I decided in my head. The next lap was spent trying to work out if this would be 13 or 14 laps.
Lap five and Chris lapped me, he was sitting in 3rd at this point and looking strong, he pulled away on a fireroad climb and left me wondering if gears is the future? As it was hot by this point I was riding with a camelbak and a bottle, this also meant I didn’t have to stop and switch bottles every lap which saves a bit of time when you are riding self-supported. Chris passed me again on lap 5, said he was finding it hard now but he was still in 3rd. By this point I was walking the last hill but due to a nice low gear I was finding everything else ridable.
Lap thirteen and I was expecting to see Chris but there was no sign, I cam back into the start/finish to be told time for another lap. I had my 100miles but headed out again. This was my slowest lap but I was determined to get round. The last hill felt so long pushing up it, but the cheers at the finish made it worthwhile.
All that was left was to get everything back to my car then up to the pub for the presentation, I missed the free food so will have to try harder next year. I finished in first, unsuprisingly, and Chris ended up in 5th.
A great event and just up the road! Results are online here: http://www.epicevents.org/downloads/MTBEnduro2010Results.pdf
It was my first attempt at a 24hour race and I chose the inaugural national championships, to say I was nervous was an understatement. My bike had been checked over in the shop and Shaun and Chris shared their horror stories from previous races. I still had a last minute rush to get things sorted but we arrived at Newcastleton with plenty of daylight to set up our tent and I tried to get some sleep. Morning came quickly and I got the bike ready and my box of stuff for my pit crew and wandered over to briefing, there were a lot of very fit looking people there. I wondered if it was too late to change my mind. But no I had to get down to the Town for the official sign-on and then a neutral start; it was almost like being a pro!
Up the hill and round the first lap, the sun was out and I was chatting. Second lap and things were fine, third lap and the wheels came off, how could it happen so early? I dragged myself out for a fourth but I’d had enough, I announced I was retiring and on finding out a lot of the elite men had as well I felt justified, it was just too hot. I had forgotten all about my instructions to Ali and although she let me stop, once it cooled down she sent me out again, I really didn’t want to. But I started working out how many laps I could do, I came up with a figure of 10 – double figures sounded good! So I had to keep going. Through the night was actually quite enjoyable although I could tell I was getting tired the previous flowing singletrack now seemed like a bunch of sharp corners I could barely get round.
The dawn lap was stunning and I was thinking of eleven laps, maybe even twelve. Coming in for the last longish stop after a faster lap I realised that thirteen might just be a possibility if I pushed. So change of clothes and out I went. Back with 1hr 50mins left for the last lap, should be fine, but I was slowing again with the heat. In the end I finished with at least 15minutes to spare. I was now a 24hour soloist.
I finished 34th overall, 5th Open Female, 6th Singlespeeder and 1st Female Singlespeeder. Oh and yes I want to do another one!
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Hit The North Press Release 2010
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