Mont 24hr - 5 Nobs and a Luddite

Team events are so much fun. If only they didn't hurt so much.

Brian organised a team of 6 a while ago consisting of himself, Dicko, Matt_B, Craked, garyinoz and me. While we didn't have any great expectations most of the boys had been training really hard lately. I turned up on the morning of the event to find an organised campsite and the guys ready to rock. Dicko started and put in a good effort to be about 30th in the run and then 53rd after the first lap. I was expecting us to go backwards from there however we stayed in the 50's overall all afternoon and after a full rotation were still holding our position.

As usual Craked was quickest of the team in the day laps and we settled into the night laps and through consistent riding slowly moved up the overall positions. I did my first night lap shortly after 4am and after some trash talking from Ants while waiting in transition I was expecting him to fly past on one of the climbs. Seems I have a buckled wheel from Ants team mate to thank for the headstart and allowing me to do the lap without being overtaken by anyone. For that hour I had a ball and actually thought I was quick.

Was back on track an hour later and got to watch the sun come up. Punctured the front tyre on a rock with about 6k to go and was listening to the hiss every time the wheel went round. After about 30 seconds the hiss stopped and I thought it must have sealed. I passed a guy and turned into an off camber dusty corner to have the front wash out and him say that he caught the crash on video and did I want a copy. Thanks but no thanks.
Could see on the next fire trail that the hiss had only stopped when the tyre got down to about 5psi so was puzzled why a hole though the tread hadn't sealed. Stopped and decided to use one of the gas cartridges to pump the tyre up and get back to the transition without loosing the time it takes to put a tube in. The strategy worked and while I had to nurse the deflating tyre down the beer garden it was only 2 minutes slower than my earlier lap. Back at camp I found out that the tyre had holed down at the rim so worked some sealant into that spot and decided to run it like that for the last lap.

With 3 hours and 12 minutes to go we had to fit in 3 laps so Gary could get out for his fourth lap. It was nervous times for a while and we eventually started our last lap with 45 seconds to spare.

I love the team side of these events. Also the organisation was excellent and the track challenging enough to keep things interesting for everyone. Would have loved to have been fitter so it didn't hurt so much but great track, company and event was enough for a memorable weekend of racing.

Oh yeah, got to mention that out of our team of 2 youngsters, 2 masters and 2 old blokes the old blokes were quickest in the day laps AND the night laps (Matt, your excluded from criticism here cause you were stuck in 1st gear all weekend).