Another good result for Mixed Nuts

The mixed nuts team of Gazza and Martine, Steve01 and myself decided some time back, to do the 12 hr, as kind of a warm up to the Scott24 later in the year. So after much preparation, we headed out to Yarramundee on Friday night to set up camp with Carl Groover & Gavin and Vanina. Groover had gone down to the track on Thursday night and marked out a good area for the NobMob crew, so we had a perfect trackside position to transition from, and watch the race go by. I set up my tarp & light set, and it was all very civilised!

Friday night Steve01 was still recovering from a lurgy and on antibiotics, when he called to say he might not make it for the race. Come Saturday morning he still wasn't good and we were without our 'fast man'. It could happen to anyone this time of year, with so many bugs around, and we told him not to worry, we'd give it our best shot.

So we did. Three in the the mixed fours category, open class this time rather than our usual 40+ masters class. The start was amazing, John Gav and I were on the front of the grid on a narrow fire trail - more good luck than anything else, but a bit of a case (for me) of what the hell am I doing here among the elites and A grade contenders. An uphill start then after 200m we were into the single track. I pinned the heart rate at about 95% for the first 10 minutes, and held pretty good position, but was unsettled going so hard physically, and took a while to get into the flow and feeling pressured at trying not to hold back the really fast guys. Gav took off (and finished the lap in 5th place overall btw!), John put his local track knowledge to good use and went past - an amazing sight for a solo rider going out that hard, and I kept up my best pace and came in with a really good (relative) position in the field. Martine was able to make good use of the still-clear track and did a great lap, followed by Gazza. We kept up the pace during the day, all doing our best, and consolidated into 3rd position for most of the day (in our class). Martine did really well all day - the 'Mosman hill training' was really showing in her consistent lap times!

Late in the day another team in our category started coming through the field from 6th or 7th. They must have had some good riders but had a bad start. We went down to 4th, at one point 30 odd minutes behind 3rd, but kept up the pace and got within 16 minutes. Gazza got in on the last lap about 5 minutes before cutoff, so I headed out and put in a final one 'just in case' to see if we could crack 3rd. It wasn't to be, but we tried hard, felt satisfied and happy that as a bunch of three masters in the open mixed fours we could do that well.

While we were having our race, Gav and Vanina were blitzing the mixed pairs, holding first place all day for a well deserved first place finish. John did an excellent race - as he does solo so often. Funny to hear him refer to the 12 hours of riding as a 'sprint' (comparing to the 24's that he usually does). He didn't quite get first, bringing in a well deserved second place. It great how he is so open in sharing his experience and hard earned knowledge with others around the pits aspiring to work up to the solo efforts.

The pit area was a real community, Linco and his mate?, Craig, Jay, Another guy and his enthusiastic kids, Rangie dropped by to lend some of his prototype lights, and others that I can't remember the names.

The highlight was probably sipping on a couple of nice bottles of red wine round midnight after the race on Saturday night, as we cooked up a feast of sausages, mushrooms and tomatoes, and wrapped them up in some of John's homemade bread, and chatting away as only you can do after an amazing effort all round.

The track was amazing. Hard work and technical in places, wickedly fast and flowing in others. Just the right mix of climbing, and a good length.

W.