It’s been 3 years since I last stood on the start line of an
ultra marathon. The mentality is completely different to any other race I have
done. Very few can start fast, finish fast and ride all night for 12 hours. My
plan was simple; start steady, keep motivated and hope that come 4am I was in
contention for a podium and try to pick up the pace. The longest ride I had
done in the build up to the race was a 60 mile road ride and about 3 hours off
road. I had tried to fit in some hill intervals in the last few weeks to make
up for the lack of real time on the bike. However, 12 hours was always going to
be a big step up, especially when played out in complete darkness (8pm-8am).
One thing I did have going for me was the equipment. I chose
to ride the Giant Anthem 29er over my usual superlight XTC Advanced SL because
I wanted to make the most of the plush suspension for some added comfort. The
additional stability of the anthem was also a plus throughout the race with the
risk of losing concentration at some stage. I also had a dedicated pit crew
comprising of my fiancé Emma, who owed me a favour, working along side the part
time but very valuable assistance of Andrew Riley, pro mechanic and bike
cleaner! With this A-team of motivation and expertise behind me, all I had to
do was keep pedalling!
From the start, the pre-race favourite, George Budd, shot
off with the leading teams. He said afterwards he wanted to break his
competition early on. I probably owe him for this as a few of the solos went
with him but couldn’t sustain the effort and dropped back throughout the race.
I stuck to my game plan and tried to settle into my pace, coming through the
first lap in 12th. I spent the first 4 or 5 laps riding with former team mate
Rob Bradley but I was aware I was still going harder than I would have liked.
When he stopped at the pits I took the opportunity to drop my pace back to
something more comfortable. Emma was
asleep at times until 4am so I had no idea what position I was in or what time
it was. It turns out, no-one else really knew their positions either as the
timing system had gone down for the majority of the night. This at least meant
I could concentrate on keeping my pace steady and not get distracted by racing
too early on. I was lapped by George at about 4am and it was he who informed me
of my position and the time. By this point it was still pitch black and I was
starting to think the sun was never coming back up. From here on I put in a
couple of faster laps then backed off for a couple before pushing as hard as I
dared for the final lap. It is a difficult task to master because you have to
work out how many laps you have time for, how many you are capable of and not
push too hard and risk blowing up. All of this after 8+ hours on the bike, in
the dark and with limited information!
I came home in 2nd place with a 13minute lead
over 3rd. I felt the race had gone to plan, no major mechanicals,
only 1 minor crash and I had paced myself perfectly. My lap times were all
between 38 and 46 minutes. I was however, in quite a lot of pain from just
about every muscle and joint in my body and needed help getting changed after
getting off the bike! I am in no rush to do another of these races solo but the
pain is forgotten quickly and the temptation will probably be back by next
year!
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