Ryan and i started our race prep the night before in what is becoming typical style.
Sunday morning rolled around all too quickly and with the usual daylight savings stuff up we managed to get to the race site with time to spare and set up.
Lap times had been a hot topic all week and the quoted times ranged from 17 out to 45 mins. A quick word with some locals had it pinned around 20mins for the fast guys, it was gonna be a tough 6 hours. Constantly swapping out, minimal rest time, on the rivet for 6 hours. Who would crack!
Ryan and i had decided earlier in the week that the ASR5 would be our weapons of choice. Pine forest single track can be rough and with both of us still listing shoulder injuries in the excuse book it would make the day a little nicer toward the end.
6 hours in a skin suit, Ryan 'threading the needle' on a double jump into a rut.
No skinsuit for me. Climbing one of the only steep sections of the course.
Laps were indeed fast. The lead pack were doing 18-19 mins. Ryan was cranking out the 19s, shaking the night before off like a pro, i was still attempting to see through beer goggles and consistently in the 20s. No time for wandering around. In, food, drink, jacket on, jacket off, GO...
Heaps of fun.
The fast group were smashing it, at the 3 hour mark there was a split where one Paul Van decided to up tempo and cracked out a 17min lap, then another. This split the 4 teams up and from then it was just a matter of who could hold it together and not lose a place.
In our race we had settled into a comfortable 10th place in elite. Doing some jostling early with Brad Davies and Brett Kellet(who were in the 40+ damn them) and the CBD Cycles team of Paul Randell and Grant Lebbink.
Eventually the 40+ guys left us behind and we left the CBD guys behind. As we both started to hit the wall it was one lap to go and Ryan took the last lap honours. Finally even-ing up the lap score from the Kona 24 hour in 2009.
Great day and a great course. Super quick laps made for some exciting times with everyone pretty shelled at the end.
Bring on the Short Track Enduro format!
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