Me, Dave and damian all travelled the long 7 hour journey to fochabers together in daves car friday daytime arriving there just in time to get a good camping spot right next to the track. We set our tents up and headed of to the local garden center where registration was, we sat down and had our free pre riders meal provided by the cafe there which turned out to very filling.
We managed to get a early night around 10.30pm and i slept right though till 7.30am which was good for me. After spending the next hour faffing around i was ready to race, i was really looking forward to it and really wanted to complete the full 10 hours of racing due to last year having a major mechanical and pulling out after 7 laps. I had choose to race my trek top fuel knowing that it would give me a bit of comfort on the long rooty decents they have. All 3 of us managed to get lined up on the front row so we could get a good start. As soon as the race started the pace was fast with Dave just slightly in front of me, i caught him up and was glad to see that he was pushing hard cause i was knackered. I managed to control my self and get my self in a nice rhythm and was fairly converdent i was near the front. The weather was hot and i started to dyhdrate straight away, i was taking 1 bottle with me each 10 mile lap and this wasnt enough i had nearly drunk my whole bottle by the top of the first climb 3 miles in, i new this was going to be a problem and sure enough by lap 4 i was really dhydrated. Things started to go down hill after this and lots of people were overtaking me i was sure Dave was going to fly past me any second, but turns out Dave was having the same problems. I managed to lap Damian at the end of my 5th lap so stopped with him for 5 mins at the tent and drank over a litre of water. This rest and water helped me lots and i seemed to start riding faster again over taking people and making time up until disaster hit me on lap 7, half way up the first climb i went to change gear and my rear gear cable snapped causing the rear mech to drop down into the highest gear i couldnt go back i would of lost to many places so had to do pretty much all lap 7 in a big gear,it was a hard lap and i could feel my legs hurting from pushing a big gear up the climbs, i new i had lost time on this lap and needed to get my bike sorted. Alpine bikes had a mechanic on duty and he managed to fit me a gear cable while i was having my first bottle of high 5 xtreme, i had lost another 10 mins while the mechanic fitted the cable but the caffine drink i had just had gave me massive amounts of energy. Dave had just pulled out of the race due to him not feeling great which is quite understandable as it was a really hot day and a hard course, from now till the end i had dave in my pit making me drinks and handing me gels.
I didnt know where i was in the race i thought i was quite far behind due the mechanical i had, but turns out i was in third. I flew out on lap 8 feeling really strong the temperture had dropped a bit and the wind picked up which suited me fine. I made it up into 2nd place and dave was saying i was catching first, lapping 3 minutes faster than him per lap. I managed to keep my cool and play it steady, on lap 10 i caught sight of 1st place on the last climb. I used all my energy to fly past him as fast i could, i think he new he had just dropped to 2nd as his paced increased, i managed to stay in front and made time on him on the last decent. I grabbed a bottle off dave and set off on lap 11 knowing this would be my last lap. I gave it every last bit of energy i had to keep myself in first. On the last decent i caught up the guy in 2nd place in the vet catorgory, (2 vets had been in front of me all the time but i was racing seniors). I couldnt find away past him on the decent so when we hit the flat i gave it all i could to the finish line and managed to overtake him beating him by 200th of a second, placing me in 1st senior and 2nd overall in the solo catergy.
Damain had a great race as well completing 9 laps of the course covering over 90 miles and managed to get himself a spot on the podium finshing 2nd in grand vets.
I always finish events and think to myself i could of
tried harder, but i think this is the first time ive finsihed one and actually thought yep i couldnt go any faster. Maybe if i hadnt of had a rest and a mechanical i would of got back in time for another lap and given myself a shot at catching the 1st vet place as well i was certainly lapping faster than him at the end. Really happy with myself for winning anyway, and would recommend this event. No fuss really do have the best courses to race on.
