Day Night Thriller (Sept 2012)



Well, here we go again – the annual ‘Day Night Thriller’ 12 hour Mountainbike event in Taupo, 15 September.

We travelled down to Taupo on Friday, with a lunch time stopover at the Wharepapa South School & camping area. We had vague hopes that Emma would have a run around, some lunch & a snooze (so we could as well), but arriving at the School it was apparent something was on – cars everywhere. The annual District Sports Day – country schools from all round converging on Wharepapa for a day of sports in the sun. Emma immediately wanted to join in....

After a bit of lunch, a bike ride (Emma) & numerous goes on the slide in the playground, we were off again. Supermarket supplies, register, pitch tent at Event Village (more riding for Emma) & Motel check in – all completed with not too much fuss. Emma safely tucked into bed, time for Sandra & I to get cracking on making tomorrow’s major food ingredient – filled rolls.

Race day dawned fine, but cloudy. Rain on the way – just a matter of when. After a bit of sorting out where to park the car so Sandra & Emma could escape later, it was set up & get ready. Emma was already goggle eyed at the number of bikes around, happily watching the various goings on as teams arrived & set up their sites.

Start time of 10am rapidly approached & I took my place in the start line up next to one of the Bike Culture guys, also soloing (a 6 hour, as it turned out). The start loop was a short one & the track massively congested. I tangled quite badly with one rider, nearly going down, before fending her off with a decent shove.

The course was shortened to a paltry 6pointsomething kilometres, the organisers fearing the forecast for rain (and associated mud bogs).I quickly forgot to count my laps. It was massively busy, continuously passing other riders (or being passed). Thankfully after a short while things settled a bit & I was able to get into a nice steady rhythm. Riding past the tent for a second time, Sandra passed me a decent chunk of cookie (which I promptly dropped). Thankfully our pit was part way along one lane of the event village, leaving the return lane free for Sandra to have another shot – success this time.

The next few hours just passed – another lap, another pass by the pits, another chunk of food or some Leppin. Sandra was doing a great job, all I had to do was ride and eat whatever I was given. Easy! I was actually enjoying this – seeing Emma each lap, usually sitting on her bike, was awesome too. I’m sure I heard a “Go Daddy!” a couple of times!

Ginger crunch – the secret anti-nausea weapon did it’s job a couple of times. For some reason on these multi lap events I get motion sick (the 6km lap distance did not help either). Sitting at around 20 minutes a lap, it’s no wonder I was getting dizzy!

40km, 50km, 60km, 70km, I entertained the odd thought of stopping at the pit for a decent feed, but each time round, there was no need. 85km and I had my first actual stop – a quick ‘watering of the trackside flowers’ before continuing. Now it seemed like making it (virtually) non-stop to the 100km mark was going to be possible, something I have never done before in an event like this. A few laps later, there it was, 100km on the odometer. Nice!

I’d been feeling steadily worse – just getting tired and in some ways into “are we there yet?” mode. I decided to ride another couple of laps to get me beyond the 6 hour mark (when everyone in the 6 hour event is ordered off the course). The weather had been steadily deteriorating all afternoon – northerly wind picking up & getting gusty, with the odd light shower coming through.

4.30pm – time for coffee and a big feed. It also conincided nicely with Sandra’s final packup & removal of most of the gear from the tent, so I was able to eat, caffeinate & supervise Emma while Sandra ran the last few items back to the car. The remaining gear would see me through to the finish at 10pm – just the tent, small food box, water bottle, leppin bottle & 2 thermoses (hot choc & coffee) and a small drybag of spare clothes & bike items. While I was stopped a really heavy shower of rain came through – I was thankful not to be caught in it.

Resuming again, it was definitely apparent that the last shower had caused the course to deteriorate. Mentally running through the numbers, I figured that if the weather did not get any worse, then 12 more laps might just be possible. I resolved to have a crack at 4 sets of 3 laps, a short break in between.

The first set of 3 passed quickly, although it began to lightly rain for the last 2 of those laps. Stopping at the pit, I shed my sodden tops, replacing with a dry set and my jacket – all the while eating & drinking.

Back out again, light rain continuing. Another set of 3 knocked off. Somewhat tired & out of it I pulled in for more food & a battery change. Back out again and it was immediately apparent I was deteriorating rapidly. Legs were very sore and I was very, very tired – the food not having any effect now. 2 very slow laps completed. I kept telling myself “it’s not as bad as the Wharfedale” (my new benchmark for misery & suffering), but after 2 of the planned 3 laps my slow crawl was enough – more coffee needed.

Stopping at the pit for what would be my last stop of the event, I reasoned that if I got a wriggle on, I could nail 2 more laps before the course closed at 10pm. Suitably motivated, out I went into the dark, rain and mud. I don’t know what it was – the coffee or the threat of only doing 1 lap if I was too slow to start another, but the transformation was remarkable. I was buzzing again and the next lap disappeared smartly.

Final lap! Once again the legs began to scream, but I was motivated enough to get round in time that I ignored the pain, just thankful that I wouldn’t have to do any more laps of the now very muddy course. A final run through the downhill section, a couple of pinch climbs, then back to the event village again and the finish line. Woohoo! I had no idea how many laps I had done or where I had finished.

Back in the tent again, two priorities – add another dry layer underneath my muddy jacket to keep the shivers at bay and eat as much as I dared. The plan from here was to load everything (including tent) into my big tramping pack, catch prizegiving, then ride back to the Motel with all the gear on my back. Good plan, but for the first 10 minutes all I seemed to do was move things from one side of the tent to the other – brain a little fried, I think.

I emerged from the tent into the next heavy downpour – yuck. Thankfully the neighbouring site had abandoned their big Ezy-Up canopy thing and I was able to store my bike & gear under it and out of the weather. The tent came apart better than I thought it would and in no time I had a large pile of gear sitting next to my tramping pack under the canopy.  Loading the pack was reasonably intuitive- things went where I thought they would go, even though I had no idea if everything would fit! Think I startled a couple of people as my groan in lifting the pack onto my back was pretty loud! About 20 odd kilos, I reckon – all the water from the tent adding to the weight. Harness secured, it actually wasn’t too bad. I made it to the prizegiving area just as things were ending – a whole bunch of sodden people standing in the rain, hoping their number would come up for the final big spot pize.

The next challenge was the ride back to the Motel – fortunately I was able to get onto the bike okay with the huge pack on and the ride passed quickly. At the Motel, Sandra helped me off-load the pack and had the perfect idea of using a banana box for the wet and muddy clothes I was wearing. After performing an impromptu and decidedly un-erotic stripshow outside the Motel unit door, I disappeared inside and straight to the shower. Done!

27 laps, 175km and 10^th male solo. Pretty happy with that!



Cateye Moonride (May 2012)

Well, another Moonride done & dusted! Also a milestone – this was my 5^th 24 hour solo race.

Change of venue this year – the tracks where the event is usually held at Waipa forest have recently been logged and are in the process of reinstatement. The event organisers announced a new & exciting venue – Tui Ridge Park, out at the ‘back of beyond’ Ngongotaha end of town.

Having never ridden at Tui Ridge before, I was a little apprehensive as to what to expect. All I knew was that the track would most likely be benign (this is an event for the masses, not just the experienced) and that the venue had proper camp ground style toilet blocks, some cabin style accommodation and a hall to use as race HQ. My only hopes were that the tracks would be ‘mountain bike’ standard, not ‘dual use’ tracks (there is a big difference in terms of layout & flow) and that we would get decent weather – to make the elusive 300km dream possible (previous best 250km in 24 hours).

The week leading up to the event and the weather looked shaky – sure enough, the Rotorua raino’meter recorded 42mm of rain over one day, 3 days prior to the event – oh dear. Mentally, I changed gear – the words ‘mud’ and ‘moonride’ always seem to be in the same sentence!

Sandra & Emma were going to do a day support for me on the Saturday, so after a massive BBQ’d T Bone steak for lunch on Friday, it was into my loaded car & off to Rotorua. Registration, then race start 9pm.

Arriving at Tui Ridge, it didn’t look so bad – just a stiff south westerly making it rather cold. Registration done and (dry) pit site found, I quickly set up my pit, organised food and bike and wolfed down a couple of yummy filled rolls. I had time for a quick recce of the park, before changing & heading over to Race Briefing, which was a remarkably chilled out affair (the main organiser can sometimes be a tad flustered by the time briefing rolls round).

Taking my place in the front half of the pack of 24hour team & solo riders, the countdown to the gun, then off! I was riding Mojo, gears & suspension helping me ease into the course. Off the road & into the track proper, I was surprised with the quality of the track – 4WD width, smooth, with great flow & no nasty bits. There was a flat bit leading to a nice downhill (exposed to the teeth of the wind), more flat/downhill, then a shallow climb, which turned into a steep pinch climb at the end. Across a clearing, up a rise, then into a fantastically flowy downhill to flat section, which turned onto a small climb another flat section, then climbing up towards the main entry/exit road. Across the road at the controlled point, before a rough but fast blast down one side of the gravel road, then up & into the forest again. Short flat section, leading to a bridge (nowhere as dangerous as the briefing suggested it was), then a climb onto a plateau – straight along until a series of short tracks that climbed up to drop us back at the start of the huge park area. Ride around the perimeter, cross the timing mats, 6.5km total.  Slow going, though – I was being pretty cautious and already there were definitely boggy bits of track to avoid.

Lap 2 and I had the distinct feeling gears would be a disadvantage, lap 3 and decision made. Stopping at the toilet block at the far end of the camp area, I spied the firehose – applied this to my already very muddy drivetrain (I had the good fortune to be the first rider to discover this particular firehose). Back at my pit, I locked Mojo to the car & grabbed my singlespeed bike – the Tranny (trust me – that’s what Ibis Cycles named it – it has a clever frame design that allows the bike to either run gears or as a singlespeed, without using a chain tensioner device, hence its ability to ‘transform’ i.e. Tranny). As it will be my future Brevet bike (in geared mode), I was actually looking forward to spending an extended period of time riding it. In the past it has always been the ‘backup’ bike – so not wanting to trash my only just rebuilt (and still paying for) Mojo drivetrain gave the Tranny the opportunity to shine.

Fun! That’s the only word to describe the next couple of laps. Having only 1 gear instead of 27 and being slightly over-geared for the conditions (I was running a 34/18 setup, probably should have been 32/18) meant that any pedalling was propelling me forward at much greater speed than on Mojo as I sought to get on top of the gear. No rear suspension meant that all the power was being used to propel me forwards. The track was deteriorating more and with the larger gearing it meant I had to run/walk sections that I was riding on Mojo.

12.30am, time for the midnight feast and battery change. Rather discouraged at the already very muddy track, I got out of the cold into the car with a thermos of coffee and a decent amount of food. The novelty of riding the Tranny had worn off – this was now no fun – just a slog in the dark, trying not to go base over apex in the mud. I seriously considered giving up at this point. I came here to ride, dammit, not walk with my bike! Other solo riders I had spoken to on course felt the same, the Tui Ridge dirt over clay surface holding water far more effectively than the Waipa dirt. For a lot of us, the track was down to 2/3rds rideable – what would happen in the morning, when the 12 and 6 hour events started on the same course?

The coffee and that voice in my head both got me up and moving again though, took half a lap to warm up. Second half of each lap was where the worst mud was, the unrideable section and number of walkers growing by the hour.

Food, ride, push, ride – pretty much the pattern for the next few hours. At 5.30am I stopped with the intention of a quick but decent feed, then riding through the dawn. I felt pretty out of it and queasy and as I jumped off the bike at my pit nausea overcame me. Thankfully only a short bout of dry retching. Feeling pretty rotten I jumped into the car (it was definitely warmer in there than in the 4 degree pre-dawn), with my friends Coffee and Food. After consuming my friends with less than rabid enthusiasm, I lay back on the seat, eyes closed, helmet still on, willing myself to carry on. Slowly, life returned as my friends Coffee and Food worked their magic and at 7am I jumped back on the bike.

The next few laps were good – the track steadily packing down as the dew lifted. The 6 & 12 hour riders stared at 9am (I was in the forest & could hear the PA getting louder & more frantic as their start loomed. Following in their wake, I picked off a few back markers – who were already struggling on the (now deteriorating again) trails.

Breakfast at 9.30am – a call to Sandra (I was thinking of cutting the event short – but would ride until they got there) and another lap – and another – and another – and another. Hmm, track back to a lot of walking again, but for some reason it was easier in daylight and I began to enjoy myself. It was helped by the 2 downhill parts to the track that were not full of mud – they were just pure fun to ride and I was learning the art of very subtle bike control to hold my lines and not veer off into mud bogs.

Sandra & Emma appeared just as I had started another lap – this gave me a good boost and soon I joined them at my pit for lunch. Sandra primed Emma into cheerleader mode and off I rode, another lap down, then another, another and another. I might just keep riding & see what happens....

Dinner at 5pm heralded the arrival of my full cheerleading squad – Brother in law Graham, wife & family. Hello, ra-ra, see you tomorrow, another couple of laps done. Sandra & Emma departed around this time – back on my own again to ride (maybe) a couple more laps, then an early finish.

2 laps turned into 3. Suddenly a realisation that if I got cracking, I could get another 2 laps in, instead of the 1 lap planned. The course by now was a ride/push/ride/push/ride/looong push mix, 50% rideable. What seemed to make it enjoyable out there were the other riders around me – a mix of 12 & 24 hour riders, who were very friendly. I received many compliments for riding solo – especially once the person I was talking to realised that it was 24 hour solo and on a singlespeed! (the ‘solo’ helmet cover given to all soloists clearly identifies us as nutcases). This all made a very nice change from the usual aggressive atmosphere of past Moonrides, where people get impatient and want track space.

My last 2 laps were ‘splash & dash’ style. Refuelled with just enough food, I was on a mission to make the last lap count (any lap completed  after 2400 doesn’t count). I even ran through some of the worst mud bog!

Done! 20 minutes to spare – not enough time for another lap (my last few were at the 40 minute mark), but enough time to start the eat/drink/escape from wet & muddy gear/pack up process, before cold & fatigue took their toll.

150km done, 130km of it on the Tranny. Oddly, it’s a bike that I’ve never seriously thought I’d ride in a 24 solo - yet it was brilliant. Super comfy & a heap of fun to ride! No trashed drive train, either!

Filled rolls, a lukewarm hot chocolate and water sufficed for dinner, consumed in the large gymnasium during prizegiving. Extremely nice to be able to sit in a warm, well lit building – instead of standing about in the cold or rain, willing the organiser to ‘get it over with’.

Finish packing, then a naughty drive to the campground in Nogngotaha where Sandra & Emma had grabbed a cabin. I’d packed a tent to stay at the event village afterwards, but the fact that my pit had turned into a mud bog (thanks to excessive bikewashing just over the way, meaning water straight into my pit area and onto the track), so the idea of pitching camp was less than appealing. The noise of the many generators used by various teams makes sleep difficult to come by anyway.

Sandra was quick to orientate me at the campground and I did an extremely good job of quietly (it was midnight) getting lost. For some reason the toilets were in a separate building to the showers and sinks, meaning a trip to 2 buildings for a loo and toothbrush. Emerging out of the shower building I confidently headed off in the wrong direction. This ended near a fence. Changing tack, I had another go. Nup. Just when I was wondering how on earth I could be so lost 100 metres from the cabin (the campground isn’t very big, either), I figured it out, arrived back at the cabin and fell onto the bed. 41 hours without sleep – Moonride 2012 was over.