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Twentyfour12 Race Review

This year I had decided very early on that I would enter the two biggest 24hr solo races, the main reason being that they both fill up very quickly and should something have happened at Mountain Mayhem I wanted a back-up. Luckily Mayhem was fantastic and I won my major race, but around a week after I had decided that I’d do Twenyfour12 as well. I’ve never tried to complete two 24hr races so close to each other, so I was a little worried that I wouldn’t recover in time. My main worry was that I had been suffering with a bad lower back after Mayhem, but I had visited a Physio and an Osteopath in the 2 weeks prior to Twenyfour12 and I was no longer suffering any pain, although my longest ride was only 2-3hrs, so I wasn’t sure if it would return or not.

Looking at the entry list prior to the event there were some big names entering, including Ian Leitch, Ian Payne and my nemesis, Ant White. The strange thing about this list is that no one was entering the event totally fresh. Ian Leitch had broken his collar bone earlier in the year, Ian Payne pulled out of Mayhem with knee problems and Ant and I had the epic battle at Mayhem just 5 weeks earlier.

When I arrived at Plymouth I was fairly confident that I had recovered physically, but I didn’t have the same fire in my belly that I did at Mayhem. The weather wasn’t great, with rain on Friday and more rain forecast for Sunday. I pre-rode the course on Friday and I was a little disappointed. I realise the weather affected the length of the route and certain sections had to be pulled out, but compared to the course in 2008 it was no where near as good. I was assured that it would hold up regardless of the weather though, which can’t be said about Mayhem or Sleepless courses.

As the race drew nearer my competitive nature in me changed all that I on the start line I was ready for the long day ahead. The start went well as we did a short start loop to split the field up slightly which I planned to be fairly quick, but not go anaerobic. I was in second place at the start of the main loop, with Ian Leitch slightly ahead. By the end of the first lap Ian had already pulled over 1 minute lead, but I was fairly confident that he would not be able to keep the pace going. Ant was no where to be seen which was unusual for him, as he normally starts quickly!

I was happy with my pacing over the first few laps, but almost straight away I was starting to get an ache in my lower back. I was a little worried as it was really early into the race, but I was hoping that it would go away as the race went on. After a while Ant caught and passed me and I was quite content to let him go ahead, as I knew he was also racing the 12hr and guessed that was his main priority so early into the race. After 4 or 5 laps I heard the commentator announce that I was in 2nd. I wasn’t sure if this was accurate, but later that lap I discovered that Ian Leitch had pulled out, so now I was just chasing Ant. I kept my lap times nice a steady, around 45min laps and apart from my back I was feeling quite comfortable. After 7 hours or so I realised I was catching Ant and eventually caught up with him on the steep “Clif Climb”. As soon as he saw me he picked up the pace and again I let him go, hoping that if I stayed steady he would come back to me. It was around this time that my back started to get worse and at the end of the lap I had to stop for a while and stretch it out and made sure I ate plenty at the same time.

I set off for another lap, but the pain in my back was started to affect my riding as I was unable to move my body properly over the bumpy descents and slick rooty climbs. I eased the pace, hoping that it would somehow stop the pain but it didn’t and I clocked the slowest lap of the race so far at 52 minutes. At the end of the lap I got off the bike and lay down on the ground, which was bliss. I got a time check and heard that I was only 8hrs in, which meant I had another 16hrs to do. I decided not to continue as I obviously have an ongoing problem with my back and I’d be foolish to ignore it. I stayed up for a while, watched the end of the 12hr race, which Ant finished in 2nd place. He continued riding while I got a few hours sleep. In the morning I did one more lap, just to see how my back was after some rest. At the start of the lap it wasn’t too bad, but by the end it was hurting again, so I finished the lap, which was another steady 45min lap and called it a day. Ant kept pedalling on what was a really brutal course with no real chance to recover and finished 1st with 26 laps. Ian Payne finished 2nd a lap down and Trevor Allen finished 3rd in his first ever 24hr solo, a great effort.

I’m a little disappointed, but I’m not getting myself down about it as I am not able to control the situation. My main priority is to get my back looked at again and to get it sorted. I realise that there will be no short term fix, but I am hoping it will be better by the end of August, which is when I will be racing next.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 30th, 2009 at 9:43 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.