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 10th male solo. Pretty happy with that!
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