BRISTOL BIKEFEST 2010

The team were out in force at the Bristol Bikefest last weekend with Jon and myself entered in the men's 12-hour pairs, Andrew and Mark in the men's 12-hour pairs singlespeed, and Scott and Zoe racing in the mixed 12-hour pairs.

First off, a huge congratulations to Mark and Andrew for finishing on the podium again in 3rd place with 24 laps! Apparently, the course didn't really suit singlespeeding this year (so I'm told), what with the relatively short sharp climbs and long pedally sections. On top of that the ground was hard and unforgiving with roots and rocks and allsorts. They both did it with rigid forks as well as only one gear. I prefer gears and suspension myself, far more sensible.

They beat us in 2009 by 10 minutes, but thankfully Jon and I were a lap up on them this year with 25 laps. Heh heh heh, sorry, had to get that in somewhere, not that there's any competitiveness within the team, honest.

Scott and Zoe came in 7th in their category with 22 laps, and Jon and myself finished 11th in our category with 25 laps.

This year was a tough event, a shorter but much faster course than the previous year and in hot, dry and dusty conditions. Jon and I put in a good effort to stay in the top 10 pairs from the start and we were doing really well and looking comfortable until I came back from one of my laps about 4 hours in to find Jon was missing!

Unfortunately he'd punctured and had problems with his brake pistons so while they frantically tried repairing it all at Team HQ, I had to go out for what I thought would be a few laps on my own. Luckily I only had to do an extra lap before Jon was up and running (or rather, riding) again, but we'd lost a fair bit of time, in what was already a very close contest for top 10.

Annoyingly on my next lap I punctured twice, so it lost us even more time. However, we battled on and fought our way back to 11th, and we finished just 20 seconds behind 10th.

There was a great turnout of friends this year racing in the solo, pairs and team categories, so there was a great atmosphere all around the course and plenty of people to talk to and encourage. On top of that the weather was great, which made the event one to remember.

As I've mentioned many times before, this was another "training ride" for me, albeit a rather intense one, and another opportunity to tweak my bike setup, drinks, nutrition etc in preparation for my 24-hour solo attempt at the Bontrager Twentyfour12 in July. Overall I was happy with everything. I seemed to be drinking enough fluid and getting enough energy gels and solids down me between laps, with very little ill effects.

I was even happy for the whole event, something which doesn't always happen. I had a surprised comment from Jo, Mrs Dave Buchanan, when I went to say hello between one of my laps, "What's wrong with you? You're happy!". Thanks Jo. And thanks for the mouthful of peanuts I had off you, I was still chewing them half way around that lap. Kept the cramp off though. But seriously, we're always grateful for the support and encouragement you give us at the events, top stuff.

Look out for us at the Original Source Mountain Mayhem at Eastnor Castle where we'll be racing in the Men's 24-hour Team category.