Alrighty, here it is..............
I arrived down there on Satuday afternoon at about 4ish, pitched the tent. Got everything ready, put the lights on the bike and helmet batteries in my pack (I rode with a 15W on my helmet and a 10W on the bars), got dressed. My team mates (I rode in a team of 3 guys called the UNSW night probers) were all sitting around watching the spectical of me trying to put on my bib and brace nicks. By now the time is about 5:50 and the race starts at 6:00 so I'm rushing like a crazy man to get to the start area. Make it to the start area and realise that its a "Le Mans" style start, which means everyone started further down the road and had to run back to their bikes. I start running towards the start line (I got to about 5m away) and then the gun goes!! So I wait for the first people to pass me then start making my way to my bike. I didn't get the chance to warm up so the run to my bike (about 100m) was all I got.
The first lap I went out as hard as I could. This was not only my first night race, but also my first enduro and XC race. The only type of competition I'd been in on a bike before was at Mt Beauty in the Trials comp (which I came 2nd in
) So something I learnt from my first lap is that you have to pace yourself!! So after returning 35mins later from the first lap absolutly exhausted. I went and ate copious amounts of pasta and a couple of bananas to re-fuel. My two team mates went out and did 2 laps each getting under 30mins for both of them.
The track started out with a
really tech single track section and which I heard someone liken it resembled riding around someones intestine. It wrapped back on itself time and time again and went up and over lots and lots of fallen trees/branches. The race was set in a state forest so there were lots of fallen branches etc to jump/roll/walk over. When you finally found your way out of the "intestine" there was a short climb up a bit of firetrail to the top of the downhill section. hehe now this bit was fun!! It snaked down a hill over two dirt jumps then swept round a corner to the next bit of tight single track. Similar to the last but this time it was also hilly as all hell. Right at the end of this section was a big arse log pile, which most people got off to ride over. When I got to this the first time I though "hey I can do this!! I ride trials!!", I had a shot at it, got over the first pile and smacked my left bicep into another fallen branch that was sticking out on the other side which gave me a dead arm for the next hour! :shock: OUCH! This big log pile also marked the end of the single track, and the start of a seamingly never ending hill on fire road. There were a couple of great fast downhill sections in this which were really sketchy at the begining as there were little marble sized rocks littering the space between the car tyre tracks. By about midnight though they were cleared out so you could rail those corners at full pace. After the last downhill section there was a really tight lefthander which led to a seeeeeeeriously steeeeeeep hill about 2oom long up to a water tank which had a equally steep hill leading
down from it!! This stretch of fireroad was crazy crazy fun, I hit 58.7k/h flying down it!! Which at night, only being able to see about 5m infront of you feels like you're doing about 150!! After this crazy speed section was a little north-shore style section that was right at the transition area so everyone could watch when people fell off! There was a chicken line that some people took, but the northshore section was only about 40cm off the ground so it wasn't like you were going to die when you fell off, just make an ass of yourself infront of the crowd! At the transition you had a barcode that you had to scan to register you lap which was great for being able to moniter who was winning etc.
For the bext lap I paced myself a little better, and pulled my lap time down to 28 and 29 mins which was better but I knew I could do better. So before I went out on my third set of laps I had an energy bar just before I left and manage to nail the hilly section and came up with a 24.23min lap!! The best lap of the night though was 17.49min lap, the guy who set that also held 4 of the top 5 laps! Up until abuot 11pm though, third place was held by one of my mates at 19.47, but this dude was in a team of three guys all riding single speeds!! Which if you saw some of the hills, was a seriously big effort. There were a few funny teams put together too. There were a bunch of guys that rode in suits and afro wigs, another mixed group that rode in kids pyjamas.
On the drive on the way down there were dribs and drabs and rain which could have made the race misirable, instead the clouds cleared completely and it was bitterly cold instead!! The temperature got down to the negatives overnight, with un-attended water bottles freezing. The temperature also paid a toll on peopls bikes with the oil in most peoples forks turning the consitancy of Golden Syrup and some people even complained of grease in bearins freezing up :shock: The only way I made it throght the night was wearing full length winter nicks, leg warmers over the top, a full length winter jersey with a windproof vest as well as arm warms and a beanie thing under my helmet!! And I was still cold!!
Finally after having completed 24 laps in the 12 hours we had come 10th out of about 20, 3 man teams (the overall winners completed about 34) we were stuffed so decide that after breaky and the Award presentation we would hit the sack and then contemplate the drive back to Sydney afterwards. The prizes for coming first in your divsion was.......wait for it.......... A spray painted light globe!!! And absolutly no product!! Which I thought was a bit shite considering the $115 entry fee and the event was sponsored by the likes of Sram! The only product there was, was then thrown out to the crowd like they were giving away candy!
Overall the weekend was an incredable amount of fun, a great track and well organised race. I would highly recomend it to anyone in the future. Infact I'm already looking at putting a team together for the Mont 24!