Bit late with the report but the body still hasn’t recovered. Still can’t walk without the quads killing me.
Packed up the ute last Friday and Blue and I headed to Batemans for the 12 hour. Luckily for us we had a local, Dave, along as driver and support crew. Went to Blayney Friday night and then on Saturday headed down for sign on. Got to Braidwood (30 min to track turn off) only to find the southerners don’t know how to look after their roads and there had been a landslide. End result, a 2 hour detour via Nowra to add to the 10 hour trip.
Got to sign on not long before dark. Sign started at 2.30pm but there was still a queue at 5pm. I think a few others had to take the detour too. Sign on done but wanted to know how the race worked. No scrutineering, and if there was rider briefing we missed it. Anyway headed for tea only to hear we needed to go to the Good Head Beer tent to get our starting time. Our starting delay was 2:50 minutes. So we found out this means 6 bikes on the line at 10 second intervals. So over 100 bikes in front of us at the start or so we thought at the time.
Tea was ordinary (one snag on bread, no butter, no onion) and this pretty much matched the nights sleep I got. Combination of excitement and blokes on the piss seemed to keep me awake.
Next morning up at 5. No announced starting time so we fed and got ready early so we didn’t miss it. It seemed to be daylight for ages before finally the bikes roared into life and the masses converged on the start line. I think we got under way around 7.30-8.00. One poor bloke rode 200m on the circuit to sort the transponders hit a log, did a superman and landed on his head. Never got up again. Not too serious I think but some broken bones. All in front of the pits too of course. His day was done but the good news was that the log was now out of the track.
Did I mention the track was wet. 2wd cars were flat out getting to the track and were getting bogged in the pits. The ground was saturated. Wasn’t raining the day of the race so I thought after a few laps all would be good and it would get tacky. Got that wrong too. That soil down there never dries out.
Blue did the start. I then headed out for the 2nd lap (no sighting laps so it was all new too all). Started off with a winding sandy loam section along the creek. Grippy and fun but I was concerned about the size of the whoops after only one lap. Into the single trail. Even more fun with a couple of small logs. There was a round creek rock section that seemed to worry a few riders. Only 30m long though and not bad. Then the grass track. Man do I need to learn how to power slide. Got slaughtered here. More single track through some open forest and then into the dark very slippery jungle section. Slippery as ice all day. The last section was part of a MX track and some more grass track with a couple of slippery off camber hills just for good measure. 12km loop.
After this we rode stints of two laps each all day. I was doing 24 minute laps and blue started at 24 and ended the day at 22. There was never a time when there wasn’t a bike in front of you or behind you. Most blokes were good at pulling over when you caught them. Was feeling good after the 5 hour mark but the track had some serious whoops and ruts. By the 6 hour mark I was getting concerned. Didn’t feel good and was feeling lethargic and ended up having a few dry heaves before my next stint. Not sure what happened but by the time my 2 laps were done I felt good again and was right from then on. Must have been having trouble digesting lunch I reckon. Had been eating small amounts all day trying to ensure energy levels were good.
Only 2 small stacks towards the end of the day. One in the jungle and one on the grass track. Of course the grass track was in front of the pits wasn’t it and of course Blue and Dave were looking for the first time ever weren’t they.
We were pulled up after 9 hours. The day was good and we were tired but happy. Went for a swim in the creek to clean up. I’m sure there must have been icicles in there. Ended up with 22 laps. 9th in pairs class (out of 24) and 23rd outright (out of just over 100). Happy with that.
Funny thing was I felt like a few beers then but everyone else in my camp was keen for bed so had a few and did the right thing by my body. It’s now 4 days later and my quads are still extremely sore. It hurts just to walk but at least today I can walk normally without feeling like an emu strutting about.
We’ve got some photos but Dave hasn’t sent them too me yet so will post up later. Hopefully will be back. It was good. The funny thing is I think the wet weather helped as it kept the speed down a bit. If it was dry and I did that track at speed for 12 hours it would have been a hell of a lot more tiring. Might be able to let you know next year.
I’ve borrowed a video from a couple of mates on the coast that did it. They came 4th in pairs so it is a lot faster than I was going but it shows the conditions.
http://vimeo.com/40924158
I’m sure I’ve forgotten heaps. Will update as the photos bring it back to me.
and top effort doing the 12 hour ,
