XC Racer Blog Post

10th Marin Dusk till Dawn

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BY: JAMES HAMPSHIRE

Published: 5th October, 2010


To all the local riders of Thetford Forest, sorry for trashing your singletrack... Again...! Arriving with tired legs and minds after a seasons racing, if we hadn't been chasing a podium finish I'm certain we'd have followed the sensible riders and called it quits as the rain intensified. Instead, with the rest of the stubborn, the stupid and the sponsored we ravaged "the beast of the east", chewed up the "rabbit run" and dug our own "pits" (East Anglian for bombholes) to climb out of as bikes and bodies dissolved into the muddy morass.


A cosy tent was very tempting

After 9 years of being tucked away in various corners of the forest like an illegal rave, the 10th Dusk till Dawn relocated to the High Lodge visitor centre gaining the event hard standing, more food options, a bike wash and proper toilets at the expense of some atmosphere in the arena because everyone was so spread out. As the light faded the buzzing sound of people on Go Ape zip-wires was replaced by keen racers on turbo trainers hopeful that the weather forecast was wrong and the 12 mile course would stay dry. If you think people get to the start line early at Mountain Mayhem, then a new Guinness world record was set at DtD with people camping out at the start earlier than they would for the opening of a new Apple store. To add to the drama (chaos) of 1000 Mtbers trying to ride in a pack, the start was also delayed by a few minutes just to ensure it was raining as the fireworks went off.


Mudguard for rigid forks (patent pending)

With 4 shirkers making up the xcracer.com/29ers team (me, Niall, Mel and husband Mark) the decision as to who would step up the plate and ride the first lap proved that democracy doesn't work. Thanks guys. As a speccy four eyes, there's nothing I like more than riding in dark, muddy, rainy, humid conditions. Anti-fog lenses my arse. If it wasn't for my bad-ass new Exposure lights I would definitely have wrapped myself around a tree. Instead proving to the doubters on several occasions after clipping a tree that 29ers are the fastest handling bikes out there.


Disc pads: a highly valued resource

At base camp, the ever present threat of mutiny saw several S.A.C.O. moments and that was just for the rigid singlespeed riders of the team. If rhubarb and custard Torq gels, a fresh pair of high top socks and the 900 lumens kicked out by the new Diablo mk.II helmet light doesn't perk you up then nothing will. For many riders though, there was understandably little fun to be had as slippy singletrack turned into sticky dual carriageway and from midnight onwards the road out of the forest was busier than the changeover area as people called it quits and left for home, leaving the course eerily quiet. There were no issues with overtaking this year!

Hopes that the teams around us would follow suit so we could finish early failed to happen (maybe we should have all come to a gentleman's agreement...), but our lead was enough that when Niall came through to finish our 10th lap with 11hrs 49mins on the clock we didn't need to go round again and had all managed to complete the minimum number of laps. Which was lucky, because Mel and Mark were fast asleep!


Podium moment

So title retained for the xcracer.com/29ers with Thetford Mtb Racing 2nd and Dorking Cocks 3rd. Congratulations to Steve Webb (Singular Cycles) for taking the win in the solo category on his 29er and Jay "backside like a Japanese flag" Horton (Team Certini/Macaulay's) riding unsupported and brakeless to 2nd place.

Massive thanks to Trek Bikes, Exposure Lights and Accelerade Nutrition for their support this year. Phil and Matt, you owe us all some disc pads!




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JAMES
 

JAMES HAMPSHIRE

Midlands XC coordinator and black collar racer.

http://midlandsxc.com/

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This blog post was written by a third party and their views do not necessarily reflect the views of XCRacer.com

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