Paul Petch

Mcleans Island 12hr 2009

Take what seems 24+ hrs of solid rain and a team of three to ride for 12hrs and there you have our plan. Brent arrived at 8am and I was still in my dressing gown- while Spencer running more than 30mins late rocks up outside beeping his horn. As you can tell, our hearts were not in it already..haha. Did I mention the snow, rain and freezing winds?

We had organised this event weeks back with a team of 5 in mind- and now we were down to three- with a long day ahead of us. Arriving late at the camp site we managed to score a reasonably sweet spot considering our lack of care :) With our kit organised, Spencer lined up for the first lap in the largest gathering of mountain bikers that I’ve ever seen at a start line! And they were off- so I headed towards the coffee tent and then onto some mingling.

BikeHQ’s team tent were right next to us and they were busy warming up on the rollers all day.  Hamish was in for the 12hr solo which was a manic effort (who pulled out at the 6hr mark due to a knee injury- so heal up fast Hamish!) while the other team were chasing the 6 hr spot. After not speaking to Mike Crawford for more than a year- it was great to catch up. I have a lot of time for Mike- he is a really nice bloke….and bloody fast too! So much so, the BikeHQ 6 hour team took away the first prize…again (nice one fellas!).

Spencer opted for a double lap on his single speed and then before we knew it- Brent was off. With lap times of about 28- 30 mins,  11km’s and challenging in parts due to the slop – I looked forward to my turn. Due to the terrible weather this week and “pools” of water on the course I opted for the knee high Seal Skinz…..as well as a few more toasty items. I was also officially “breaking in” a new pair of riding shoes too – a pair of Pearl Izumi X-Alp Enduro… By the time I had got my gear together and talked more “bike” with the teams around us- it was time for me to head off.

I’ll never tire of how much the Marin Wolf just feels so so dialed- regardless of the trails. By the time I had crossed the paddock and onto the first muddy fire road- I knew it was going to be a cool couple of laps. The loop consisted of a grassy start with fire road that lead into the windy single track. The new section was then upon us which always had a punishing head wind being out in the open. There was some more single track and a long rocky stretch on top of the dam? a small mix of more fireroad, single track and the finishing grassy and ball breaking straight into the wind then lead back to camp.

After two laps, the guys were not at the transition point- so I did a third. By this stage I needed food and had forgot to put the gel in my gilet pocket. After much messing about I managed to get it out of my pack….and I was good to go. By the third lap- I was fairly spent and to be honest a tad over the trail. My legs and feet were super toasty and dry though!

Due to my marathon training of late- I then got back to the camp- swapped over my SPD’s for my runners- had a stretch to then take off for a run. As much as I wanted to stay at camp- my training is getting close to peaking so I had to add onto the riding time. Anyway, 2.5 hrs later  I was back at the camp……and a tad more spent than I was earlier. The guys were laid back in their chairs chilling. The sun was now well and truly out and the vibe was a relaxed one….maybe a little to relaxed :D “It’s your turn next Paul” Spence said. “No worries- let me take a break and get some food and then I’ll head out” I replied. Thirty minutes and a Gourmet pizza later I was more interested in kicking back than kitting back up……I had done all I could do…..and anymore riding would have surly caused my lunch to come backup…..based clearly on the size of my full belly!

I was happy to head out next loop though- but the guys were also pretty much over the course….and had similar thoughts…..to just relax and head off early. We kicked it in the sun for a while and had a good look around the site- Brent got a massage- and we packed up for home.

It was really clear that things were not the same out there without our other team mates, Ben and Craig who were mad for it at the last Hamner 12hr. I wouldn’t say that we were disappointed with the day over all- or the course and our lap times- but we should have opted for a 6hr team and maybe gave a fu$k….hahah. Personally, I did not think much of the event compared to the Hamner one.

One thing I did promise to do is give a shout out to the Mule Bars New Zealand team…who kindly donated a few bars to me to taste. They made it as far as the race site- so I can tell you now that they tasted really nice…..nomnomnom.

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Related posts:

1. Mountain biking weekend. Porthills & Mcleans Island
2. Mcleans Island mountain biking
3. Night riding at Mcleans Island in Christchurch
4. Mcleans Island – Christchurch
5. Hanmer 12hr 2009 video

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 11th, 2009 at 6:43 am and is filed under Cycling and tagged with brent, Events, mcleans island, single speed, spencer, Trails & Rides. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.