The event started off with some bad news for the team. Mike had to pull out after suffering from a chest infection for a few weeks leading up to the event, and without an immediate replacement we were suddenly faced with competing with a man down.
Despite the near freezing temperatures, the weather was surprisingly good on the Friday while we set up camp, and indeed Saturday morning brought dry and sunny skies, a most welcome surprise from the wet summer events we'd had in 2008!
The Strathpuffer 24 course offers, in my opinion, one of the most enjoyable, possibly most challenging courses of all the 24-hour mountain biking events in the UK at least. This year, the course was approximately 10km in length with nearly 300m of ascent per lap. The course provides a mix of technical, rocky, and fast, flowing descents, with long climbs, sometimes very steep, but very little opportunity of recovery between the descents and ascents, making it a tough course when combined with the weather and course conditions.
The event started at 10am, with David riding the first lap for the team. He put in a blistering lap time of 35 minutes, which was followed by 2 very fast laps by myself and Jon (37 minutes and 42 minutes respectively). We then moved onto riding double laps in order for us to have some rest between laps.
The fast course times continued and we found ourselves well within the top 10 teams for the opening hours of the event. We continued the pace for several hours but once darkness fell, being a rider down in the team took its toll and we began to tire from trying to keep the pace up against the full teams of 4. The lap times increased and the weather finally began to deteriorate during the night, bringing colder temperatures, stronger winds, and snow.
I found myself riding 3 laps in almost blizzard conditions around 2am. David took over in the early hours for another 3 laps and Jon did his final lap during daybreak. With just over an hour to go, I went out for the team's final lap. I was dreading the conditions but to my surprise the course and surrounding area was covered with a thick layer of snow, making my final lap one of the most enjoyable and scenic laps I've ridden at an event.
I crossed the line for the team just after the 10am finish time, completing the event with 25 laps, finishing in 32nd place. Considering we were only a team of 3, we are pleased, however looking back at the results, if we'd had Mike with us, we would have finished well within the top 15, possibly top 10 teams. With that in mind, a return in 2010 will be in order to prove a point!
A big thanks to Jon and David for being great team mates and for putting in such a big effort. And get well soon Mike, and a huge thanks for supporting us at the event despite not being well.
Full results can be found on the Sportident Website
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