Timaru 12hour MTB race

Looking for a new challenge I headed up to Timaru on the 31st of October for the ALPINE ENERGY 12 Hour Day/Night Mountain Bike Race (http://www.timaru12hourmtb.co.nz/).

Heading off from Dunedin at 6.30am I was already tried which wasn’t a good sign. Lily and I arrived at the race HQ at Centennial Park and set up camp with next to the Dunedin R&R Sport crew. Having never done a 12 hour race before I fluffed around getting my gear sorted so that I could have easy pit stops to refuel etc throughout the race.
An hour before the start we were allowed to ride the course to get a feel for it. So I set off to find out what I was in for.

All set to go

The course started with some fast walking tracks around the edge of a lake before gradually climbing. Part way up the first climb there were two tight little rock sections were you had to have a bit of momentum and hit the right line, they weren't to hard but they kept you on your toes. A final steep pinch followed before a straight line grassy descent on to an old rail trail. A straight run up the rail trail then it was across a small creek and on to some very nice flowing single track. Another steep climb took us up to another section of single track that was a bit rougher than the previous section but a lot of fun. Following this the course went through a rough bumpy paddock that shock me to pieces by the end of the race. Luckily it was not much longer than 500m as it was very taxing on the body. The final section of the course included a final steep climb then in to a rooty descent through some pine trees to the finish. All in all 8.8km per lap, how hard can it be...........
When the hooter went at mid day everyone raced off at a great rate of knots. I found myself riding with Milan Brodina who is an athlete that I coach and was also doing the 12 hour solo. For the first 5hours or so we rode together changing the lead back and forth. Around the 5 hour mark Milan was riding very strongly and started to pull away from me. I set to work keeping my pace steady as I felt myself slowly starting to go into a low spot. With a quick stop in the pits to clean my chain and stretch my lower back that was getting quite sore I came out of my low spot and my lap time started to pick up. I focused on riding smoothly, keeping the fuel going in. I started to make up time on Milan who had put a bit of a gap on me and was ahead in second place.

Coming through the pits early on in the day

Riding hard out on one of the single track sections

Out in the darkness

At 8.30pm I had a quick stop to put my lights on. Needless to say I was feeling a bit weary after 8 ½ hours or riding under the belt. Heading off into the darkness the laps ticked by a I could feel myself getting slower and slower. My body was pretty hammered by this stage, especially my hands, wrists, arms and shoulders from the rough rocky sections. I would have done anything to transition in the kayak or head out for a run, just something that wasn't biking. At the ten hour mark I was forced to take a prolonged pit stop at a port-a-loo suffering from server stomach pains which was the lowest part of my race. After hanging out in the port-a-loo for 15min I felt great and headed off of the remainder of the race to ride some of my best laps and feel great all the way to the finish.

Coming into the finish
I reached the end of my 25th lap at 11.48pm in 3rd place and that was the end of that. 220km on the bike, 10 Leppin Squeezes, 6 bottles of Leppin Enduro Booster, 6 bottles of water, 3 bananas, 2 croissants, 2 ham and avocado buns, 6 mini rice balls, 4 mince savories, a couple of handfuls of lollies and some chips. I had unbelievably sore hands, wrists, shoulders, back, feet and not to mention my legs were a little tired. I slowly hobbled off my trusty steed, crawled into my sleeping bag and pasted out.
I had come to Timaru looking for a challenge and that is exactly what I got. Over the past 12hours I had been mentally and physically pushed and I loved every minute of it. So much so I am going to focus on getting to Rotarua at the beginning of 2010 for the 24hour N-Duro and/or the 24hour Moonride.