When I heard that Heath from St James Mountain Sports Events was going to organise a 24-hour mountain bike race, I was in immediately. I have done lots of 6,10 and 12HR races but never 24 hrs, so I was keen to give it a go.
Having done plenty of long endurance Ultra cycling over the years I was not really anxious about taking this on , I was however curious. I wondered how mentally challenging it would be to repeat the same lap for 24 hrs. I have ridden my bike with minimal stopping for 18 to 24 hrs and more many times, but always through everchanging terrain, so I was excited to see how this challenge would pan out.
Halloween weekend, 30th Oct 2021 in Hanmer Springs, my hometown of 13 years was the setting utilising some of our amazing single track network. Laps were just under 12 km in length and with over 250 meters climb each lap I was close to an Everest after finishing my 32 laps to take the win.
The evening before I set up my Gazebo in the transition area with my friend Mike who was going to be my Pit crew man. The next morning we started at 9 am in perfect weather conditions. Unfortunately, it was a relatively small field of racers, made up of solos and teams doing either 12 or 24 hours, again a consequence of uncertain Covid times. I was delighted that it was going ahead as I had trained well for it and was keen to get a race in after the long winter.
The hours went by and everything was going well, I didn’t need to stop as Mike passed me water bottles and food. As the light was fading in the evening it was nice to get the lights on to change things up a bit, and the next hours were fun ripping through the trails.
My toughest times in the whole race were either side of midnight, I was starting to feel the fatigue and I had to work on my mental focus. I knew it would pass, it always does. After a little rain somewhere around 1 am, I pulled into the pit stop and changed into some fresh gear and had some food. This was my longest stop, maybe 20 minutes. The rain stopped and I was feeling much better and fresher. A few more hours went by and then the first light of a new day was visible in the sky, this coincided with hundreds of birds coming to life with amazing birdsong. This was so motivating, a perfect start to a new day and knowing that I just had less than 4 hours to finish this race.
I felt so good that the final laps were as fast as the ones from earlier in the race. It was great to have my wife and some friends at the finish as I rolled in for the final time. Another challenge completed another new experience.
Massive Thanks to Mike Dobby for supporting me all the way. Mike had his endurance test, not sleeping at all and continually supplying me with everything I needed.
Thanks to Heath from St James Mountain Sports Events for putting on this event and others locally. See you next time
