On the run up to the Summer Enduro the weather had been very dry, but the night before it had rained pretty hard. I had some tyre choice concerns but stuck with my Racing Ralfs which ended up being a good decision as, if anything, the course could have done with more rain and was tyre deep with dusty earth in loads of places!
This time I had entered in the 10hr pairs race with my mate Stu, after a quick chat we decided I'd go off first and we'd alternate laps from there on. Stu claimed he'd not had chance to get as much training in as he'd have liked, but he certainly seemed quick enough to me :-)
- Lap 1 - I got a good start from the 2nd row and managed not to be overtaken too much.
- Lap 3 - I'm not sure why but this lap contained many silly mistakes, including overshooting corners and in one case missing an arrow and going about 50yards off the course! Despite this I still managed a decent enough time.
- Lap 5 - There were fewer silly mistakes this time, however halfway around the course I clipped a root while overtaking someone and I hit the ground pretty hard. I jumped back on the bike and pretended I wasn't hurting as much as I was. Shortly afterwards I was caught by my mate Winger who was soloing and he "beasted" me back to the changeover with cries of "Come on ya faggot, get a move on" which helped get another good time in :-D
- Lap 7 - This went OK but a bit slower, the pain in my side was starting to surface.
- Lap 9 - Can only be summed up by the word agony. It was clear I'd hurt a rib in my fall (as well as scraping the skin off my hip) and the adrenaline (or whatever had kept me going that long) had worn off... At the change-over I told Stu that this would probably be my last lap.
- Lap 1 - I got a good start from the 2nd row and managed not to be overtaken too much.
- Lap 3 - I'm not sure why but this lap contained many silly mistakes, including overshooting corners and in one case missing an arrow and going about 50yards off the course! Despite this I still managed a decent enough time.
- Lap 5 - There were fewer silly mistakes this time, however halfway around the course I clipped a root while overtaking someone and I hit the ground pretty hard. I jumped back on the bike and pretended I wasn't hurting as much as I was. Shortly afterwards I was caught by my mate Winger who was soloing and he "beasted" me back to the changeover with cries of "Come on ya faggot, get a move on" which helped get another good time in :-D
- Lap 7 - This went OK but a bit slower, the pain in my side was starting to surface.
- Lap 9 - Can only be summed up by the word agony. It was clear I'd hurt a rib in my fall (as well as scraping the skin off my hip) and the adrenaline (or whatever had kept me going that long) had worn off... At the change-over I told Stu that this would probably be my last lap.
After talking with the other GRT guys I visited the first-aiders and got doped up with pain-killers and ice-packs and was advised to retire, which I fully planned to do, until... Just before Stu was due back in, the pain-killers kicked in so I thought I'd see how another lap went...
Lap 11 - Unsurprisingly I was off the pace of the previous laps but only by a few mins and the pain was bearable.
Lap 13 - Pretty much a copy of lap 11...
Stu got in another lap, but it was clear another one wouldn't quite be within the cut-off time limit (I'd already decided I'd done myself enough damage and had got changed) so we called it a day at 14 laps.
Until Lap 6 we were battling for 6th/7th place but the lost time left us in 10th which, all things considered, I'm very happy with
Mike and Paddy got a cracking 3rd place in the same cat, and the various GRT teams were pretty much all over the rest of the podium with very convincing wins for Lewis, Wingnut and Ady and Carl in their cats.
Many thanks to the GRT boys and girls for their help, banter, support and pain killers...
All in all a "cracking" day...
TimeLaps results linked here;
http://www.timelaps.co.uk/assets/uploads/Thetford%20Summer%20Enduro%202013.pdf
http://www.timelaps.co.uk/assets/uploads/Thetford%20Summer%20Enduro%202013.pdf
