XC Racer Blog Post

Dusk Til Dawn.

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BY: Richard Jones

Published: 9th October, 2012


So it was that time again, a time to get cold, muddy and miserable for a night of fun filled racing around Thetford best trails. That can only mean one thing, Dusk Till Dawn! However this year it wasn't quite so wet or miserable but was categorically cold. 


Dusk Till Dawn has become a yearly pilgrimage for myself as it's reasonably close and always ends up being good fun. In past years I have road in male teams and even successfully completed a solo stint.


Last year Big Ring Racing was formed, a mixed team of four including myself and girlfriend Hollie, Hollies dad Lloyd and local friend and young gun whippet rider James Hyde. We set out at first as a group looking to finish the season on a high and after 12 hours of diabolical conditions last year we came away as the clear winners. So this year we reformed and were back for more. 


From the start of the week it began to become clear that we weren't going to have a night of monsoon like conditions but with recent rain levels we where expecting a moist, muddy course. Saturdays afternoon prelap showed that in fact the course was holding up a lot better than expected, the organizes had done a fantastic job of creating a weather proof course that still remained fun. 


Before we knew it the nights darkness had fallen. My exposure lights where donned to my bars and helmet and I was standing on the front row on the 2012 Dusk Till Dawn start. My knees chattering with the already plummeting temperatures but thankfully the atmosphere in the arena was anything but cold. It's a pleasing change to be standing on the starting row in a relaxed atmosphere chatting to fellow racers with little worry of the following race ahead of you. At the end of the day its October so that's clearly time for fun racing! 


As you can guess by now I was chosen to race the opening lap, with George Budd, Local whippet James Ashby and many more familiar faces lined up beside me it was clear it was going to be a quick opening lap. With a lead out at first by a quad, the pace remained comfortable but within the seconds in which the quad pulled away into the distance, the racing begin. Following it was George Budd, he looked like the next Mark Cavendish as he sprinted clear into the distance leaving most the field to pick up the pieces. We all had to dig deep to claw him back but with every turn and twist George just kept on charging the pace. 


I realized his motive soon on and it was clear he wanted to whittle down the group so not to aid others around the first lap so made sure I remained on his wheel. A quarter of a lap in, his efforts had paid off, as it was just myself, George and James remaining. Throughout the rest of the lap we maintained our lead and came into the arena with roughly a minute over the chasing groups. This had also gained my team a 5-minute advantage over our competitors. 


I handed over to Hollie, where I must say just the day before she came down with a dreadful cold and chest infection but this was not to faze her as she was keen to play her part in the team, something she did indeed do fantastically well. 

 

As with most endurance team events it all then began to settle down into a rhythm for the night. 


  • Smash lap
  • Get back to the van, jump in and get changed into warm clothes
  • Make tea whilst warming hands over gas flame
  • Drink team and eat cereal bar.
  • Sit and rest - feel the cold 
  • Walk to the timing tent to stand and stare at timings. 
  • Walk back to the van to get changed into kit. 
  • Check bike, clean mud from chain, re-lube chain. 
  • Get into transition and shiver until Lloyd turned up 
  • Repeat. 


Thankfully I am pleased to say there was no real drama's through out the night, Hollie decided to skip one of her laps which we all decided was a very wise choice as it was clear that the nights cold damp air was only worsening her chest problems. 


By my 4th lap the course had almost completely dried out, which had quickly left a brilliant fast flowing course with many brilliant sections of trails. The freezing night had left sections with a deep crispy white ground frost and other sections with a freezing thick fog. All of this added to a fantastically earey feel whilst out on course. 


As quickly as the darkness had drawn in, it began to lift and by 6 O'clock it was starting to become lighter and with it the arena began to regain life. The food van was becoming full of weary eyed racers in need of a caffeine fix and some warm food and the ground frost was lifting.  


We had calculated that I would be lucky enough to cram in one more extra lap before the 8-hour cut off mark. At 7.45 Lloyd handed over to me and I headed out onto my 5th and final lap. By this point there was no need for lights and the course was just about completely dry, the past twelve hours of racing had cut all the fastest lines into the course and I was feeling surprisingly strong for somebody who had now been awake for a little over 24hours. I pushed as hard as I could on every piece of open trail and I ensured I was maintaining as much speed as I possible through the tight twist singletrack. 


By the half way mark I knew I was onto a good lap and with the thought of completing the final lap I pushed too keep increasing the pace. I hit the final piece of wide-open trail and banked left into the finishing straight. I had just managed to record my quickest lap time of the race with a ride time of 40.41 for the 10-mile lap. 


With the fantastic laps times from all of the team we had secured the win by a whole lap. We were all very pleased especially as we had retained the title but at the same time extremely tired. 


The podium was only a short wait and it proved to be worthwhile as we received a stash of prizes from many of the key sponsors as well as a trophy for each of us.


A fantastic way to spend the night and yet again the Thetford organizers had done a fantastic job of organizing and running a brilliant event. 


And of course a huge thanks to the Big Ring Racing Team: James Hyde, Hollie Bettles and Lloyd Bettles as they all rode fantastically and kept on putting out consistent quick laps. 


A few days rest until myself and Hollie head to Bristol Octoberfest to try our hand at racing a pair's event for the first time, more to come on how this goes next week. GULP! 


Richard Jones. 

XCRacer.com. 

Accelrade. 

MTZoom. 





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