Torq 12:12

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BY: Louise Robinson

Published: 28th August, 2012

Do you "Torq in your sleep"? Well I know my hubby snores after a few beers but this is something entirely different. The fifth year of Gorrick's 12 hour enduro, sponsored by Torq was held this weekend at Minley Manor in Hampshire.

 

After wet races at Mountain Mayhem, Bontrager 24:12 and Sleepless in the Saddle the idea of another wet enduro sounded as appealing as a  pair of cycling gloves you forgot to wash after the hot all day ride and have now just found lurking on a shelf in the garage. But the man on the BBC seemed almost gleeful as he forecast more doom and gloom that he could have ever imagined.  However we live fairly local to Minley and in the run up to race day the course was dry and dusty. In fact, too dry. The loamy soil turns to energy sapping dust bowl without a regular wetting so the course organisers were eagerly awaiting the rain shower. They were awaiting a shower. What they got was a biblical torrent. As we sat in the tent on Saturday evening, the kids were watching the DVD player and complaining they couldn't hear it because of the noise of the rain. Flashbacks to all the other enduro's of the summer hit me and I really was not looking forward to the race.

 

This year I was part of a four man mixed team. In previous years I have soloed and ridden as a ladies and mixed pair and was hoping the team option would be a bit of light relief at the end of a busy summer of racing. However, riding with three good friends who are uber competitive (bragging rights for the fastest lap times will last all year) I was never going to get an easy ride.

 

Sunday morning dawned bright and sunny with no sign of the night's immense rainfall. I must apologise at this point for the lack of photos in this blog but my usual photographer took the day off. Well, when I say off, I mean he was racing as well. In fact I technically had the day off as he was soloing and I was merely riding in a mixed team - or this is what he has been telling all day as I have unpacked the camping stuff and done countless loads of washing.

 

So to the race. 12 noon and we were off. A short rolling chicane around the camping field and it was straight into the single-track. There was the inevitable bunch up but our first man out, Paul Wellicome, and my hubby Jason got good starts and avoided most of the traffic. The course used all the best bits of single-track from previous year's races but put together slightly differently. The loamy soil soaked up almost all the torrential rain from Saturday night and left just a layer of surface splash on the trails but this quickly dried leaving a fast, flowy and most of all fun 8 mile lap. A minor disaster a few weeks ago (mainly that the usual main arena/camping field was flooded) was swiftly turned into an advantage by the Gorrick team and the alternative location meant masses of trackside camping and close proximity to the event arena for all.

 

Jason looking very relaxed with a mere 11hours and 10 minutes to go!

 

 Our big rivals in the mixed team race were the Gore team and by the time I went out for my first (our fourth) lap we had a healthy lead of 8 minutes but by this time we had also had one mechanical and one puncture. You could either take that as a good omen that we were still ahead despite two mishaps, or a bad omen of what was to come. As it turned out we weren't the only ones with puncture issues as the ground seemed particularly sharp and pointy in places.

 

Just getting started

The boys (Paul plus Roki Read and Simon Hawken) continued to put in blinding laps and by lap 10 we had a comfortable lead of over 12 minutes until the Gore team put in two blistering laps, and pulled our lead down to almost half that. Now the pressure was on, but as it got dark the Four4th advantage kicked in and by the end of the race we had extended our lead to over 16 minutes.

 

There was a great atmosphere on the course and in the event centre. The warm sunny weather and fabulous single track obviously help but there were other touches that made the event great too.  Glow in the dark sections through the single track and a resident DJ under the "bridge to nowhere" really livened up the night laps. Timelaps provided their usual high quality service for time keeping and continual race commentary on riders and their positions made all the difference to racers and supporters alike. The soloists in particular found continual commentary really useful. Oh yeah, and free recovery drink (beer) from Longdog Brewery at the end of the race was just the icing on the cake.

 

It's hard work this solo business (Dave Carr takes the weight off his unmentionables for a few minutes)

 

Some great prizes were up for grabs and the majority of these given away as a prize draw from all entrants' number boards. This is a great way to give away high value prizes as everyone is in with a chance of winning. Nice touch.

 

There were some notable performances in all the race categories but particularly  the Mountain Trax Oranges mens team and the  Get the Salsa Wiggle on mens pair who both clocked up a massive 20 laps and passed me like I wasn't moving (and believe me I wasn't hanging around!).Also the Banjo cycles boys who I bumped into repeatedly and were always chirpy.  My dutiful husband/camera man/ mechanic completed 15 laps to finish 4th in the mens solo race. He reliably informs me this was a damn sight easier than pitting for an emotional ladies team in a wet 24 hour race!

 
A mention also for Gayle Wells, who finished 4th in the ladies solo category and managed a fabulous 8 laps. Now this may not sound that notable but I am sure she won't mind me telling you that only just over a year ago she was lying critically ill in hospital having developed full blown eclampsia during the end of her pregnancy.  So man up boys, you have no excuses for next year!

 

Go Gayle

 Louise Robinson

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