Kona SITS 2005
Another year, another 24hr race goes past. SSMM was avoided like a dose of herpes this year, and a team for Sleepless was only put together at the last minute (relatively speaking). Change of venue - Catton Park instead of Trentham Gardens
After being nagged by Nicky to get a team together at the Wight Diamond, iI in fact didnt. My brother was unable to do it, but Mike still was up for it. Eventually Pete from London-MTB called me and said that there were two of them and two of us, and did we want to tango - so team MTB CustardNinjas was born (neatly sidestepping the fact that none of us were original members)
The date loomed closer, money got tighter, i sold my bikes - clever that! Pete promised me that I could borrow his oh so lovely Santa Cruz Superlight, we were set, Well despite the fact that i had hardly ridden in months, and Mikes bike was basically brand new and unridden.
The journey up was interesting. 170 miles in a my tiny 106, and missing a junction at Stonebridge and nearly ending up in Coventry.
Our first overview of the course was from an eager member of one of the other London-MTB teams, who said it was short and not as tough as Trentham. 6.7 miles - taking it easy would produce a 45min lap - short then - would make the changeover timings quite crucial.
Friday night went nicely - everyone ate their BBQ shish kebabs and bonkers lumps of meat and our fourth man Trevor had his cheese-board and red wine. I had my pastys and orange juice. These posh cockneys, well aprt from Jacob, who told stories of staying awake for a week at a time whilst in the Finnish (i think) army, and taking a gun home at night, Oh and singlespeeding, and running a massive gear... I had my marin with me set up as a rigid shonkospeed running 32:16 - he turned up with 42:18, and then after a bit decided that 36:17 might be a better option - nutter :-) A guy called Andy - known by many as The_Badger turned up and told us how great his lights were. I also managed to lose Jon W's (Samuri's) place in the food queue. oops
Mike turned up on Saturday morning whilst we were getting breakfast, so we were all set to go. All that we had to do was listen to the cricket, and tell Mike the great news that we had decided the night before, that he could do the run. I would takeover from him, then Trevor, then Pete as last man out.
2pm arrived, We lined up and shouted at Mike a bit, and after the usual Top Gun soundtrack had died down, they were off...well kinda. The RAF, Army and Scott boys went off like a rocket, sprinting round the half mile Le Mans style start. Everyone else jogged along, and then the soloists got up, and started to wander off. I wandered off to mark where Mikes bike was and found that he'd put it next to Samuri and Jon B's bikes. The leaders started to grab their bikes. About this time The_Badger legged it down the start/finish straight to do his run - he must have been charging his lights :-)
Mikes first lap went well - 51 mins including the run which aint bad going. I took over from him, deciding to take the Marin out to see how it fared - quickly but uncomfortably was the answer. Singlespeed wasnt really too much of an issue but the stutter bumps were.
The track was a mixture of bits - a lot of open trails, some steep climbs, some nice downhill bits, but with little height change overall. It wasnt really very technical, which did become a bit boring after a few laps, but it was entertaining enough though, and the short lap times made it a bit more sociable and race-like, which was nice.
The first lap was 37mins and 37 secs whoih I was happy with. But after nearly removing my wrists on a particulary harsh step, and finding pedalling into the stutter bumps on the uphills a chore it was time to try and find some zip ties and change to the Superlight.
We each did 2 single laps each until it was dusk and then out came the lights and the double laps. my legs failed on my 2nd lap of the 1st double, and i limped round impressivley slowly, then tried to get some sleep whilst Trevor and Pete turned in some nice times. Mike went out again for two more, but i failed to complete the double, returning after one lap to find Trevor ready to takeover about 40 mins early.
I tried to crash in tent- Crying babies and barking dogs kept me awake, and then it was time for the sunday day laps. These went without a hitch, and i went out again just before 2pm to bring my tally up to 8, to make up for my gay night contribution.
Nice T shirts this year as well :-)
Drive home was fun - wired on redbull, lucozade, fairy cakes and sweat
being back at work sucks
After being nagged by Nicky to get a team together at the Wight Diamond, iI in fact didnt. My brother was unable to do it, but Mike still was up for it. Eventually Pete from London-MTB called me and said that there were two of them and two of us, and did we want to tango - so team MTB CustardNinjas was born (neatly sidestepping the fact that none of us were original members)
The date loomed closer, money got tighter, i sold my bikes - clever that! Pete promised me that I could borrow his oh so lovely Santa Cruz Superlight, we were set, Well despite the fact that i had hardly ridden in months, and Mikes bike was basically brand new and unridden.
The journey up was interesting. 170 miles in a my tiny 106, and missing a junction at Stonebridge and nearly ending up in Coventry.
Our first overview of the course was from an eager member of one of the other London-MTB teams, who said it was short and not as tough as Trentham. 6.7 miles - taking it easy would produce a 45min lap - short then - would make the changeover timings quite crucial.
Friday night went nicely - everyone ate their BBQ shish kebabs and bonkers lumps of meat and our fourth man Trevor had his cheese-board and red wine. I had my pastys and orange juice. These posh cockneys, well aprt from Jacob, who told stories of staying awake for a week at a time whilst in the Finnish (i think) army, and taking a gun home at night, Oh and singlespeeding, and running a massive gear... I had my marin with me set up as a rigid shonkospeed running 32:16 - he turned up with 42:18, and then after a bit decided that 36:17 might be a better option - nutter :-) A guy called Andy - known by many as The_Badger turned up and told us how great his lights were. I also managed to lose Jon W's (Samuri's) place in the food queue. oops
Mike turned up on Saturday morning whilst we were getting breakfast, so we were all set to go. All that we had to do was listen to the cricket, and tell Mike the great news that we had decided the night before, that he could do the run. I would takeover from him, then Trevor, then Pete as last man out.
2pm arrived, We lined up and shouted at Mike a bit, and after the usual Top Gun soundtrack had died down, they were off...well kinda. The RAF, Army and Scott boys went off like a rocket, sprinting round the half mile Le Mans style start. Everyone else jogged along, and then the soloists got up, and started to wander off. I wandered off to mark where Mikes bike was and found that he'd put it next to Samuri and Jon B's bikes. The leaders started to grab their bikes. About this time The_Badger legged it down the start/finish straight to do his run - he must have been charging his lights :-)
Mikes first lap went well - 51 mins including the run which aint bad going. I took over from him, deciding to take the Marin out to see how it fared - quickly but uncomfortably was the answer. Singlespeed wasnt really too much of an issue but the stutter bumps were.
The track was a mixture of bits - a lot of open trails, some steep climbs, some nice downhill bits, but with little height change overall. It wasnt really very technical, which did become a bit boring after a few laps, but it was entertaining enough though, and the short lap times made it a bit more sociable and race-like, which was nice.
The first lap was 37mins and 37 secs whoih I was happy with. But after nearly removing my wrists on a particulary harsh step, and finding pedalling into the stutter bumps on the uphills a chore it was time to try and find some zip ties and change to the Superlight.
We each did 2 single laps each until it was dusk and then out came the lights and the double laps. my legs failed on my 2nd lap of the 1st double, and i limped round impressivley slowly, then tried to get some sleep whilst Trevor and Pete turned in some nice times. Mike went out again for two more, but i failed to complete the double, returning after one lap to find Trevor ready to takeover about 40 mins early.
I tried to crash in tent- Crying babies and barking dogs kept me awake, and then it was time for the sunday day laps. These went without a hitch, and i went out again just before 2pm to bring my tally up to 8, to make up for my gay night contribution.
Nice T shirts this year as well :-)
Drive home was fun - wired on redbull, lucozade, fairy cakes and sweat
being back at work sucks
