12.00 - Following a massive full English breakfast (ala Last Supper) we arrived at Catton Park and joined the team in our bright orange court sized gazebo. I spent the next 2 hours nervously fiddling with bikes and prepping Emma on what I might need. The other guys in the team sounded a lot more organised than me and had a much more regimented plan which was beginning to worry me!
13.45 - line up ready for a short run before my 24 hours of destiny and chat to a few other riders
14.00 - Were off! The run wasn’t too bad, I tried to stick near the front but not hurt myself and got to the bike just behind Jason. My plan was to start pretty fast and avoid any bottlenecks so after the first mile or two I eased off and tried to settle into a pace I could maintain. Talking to the other soloists it sounded like I was one of the only 24hour novices in the race, but I was sitting with riders with aims on the top 10 so I was in good company.
20.00 - On the twisty up-and-down section near the end of the lap I passed Corby lying on the ground. It looked like his race was over already which was a bit of a disaster. Early in the next lap I lapped Jason, he seamed to be going OK so I rode with him for a while discussing pit stop strategy. At the end of this lap I stopped briefly to attach my lights. This was mistake number one as I lost a few minutes faffing around velcroing batteries to things, and realising I had forgotten my extention cable so had to bodge a battery to my helmet.
22.00 - Stopped for a bit of hot chillie and rice and change into warmer kit. The thought of hot food had really spurred me on for the last couple of laps and it was a perfect pick-me-up. My back was causing me a bit of greif by now so I also had a nice back rub with some ibuprofen gel to keep me going.
Sunday
02.00 - Stopped for another bite of chillie and took a couple of caffeine filled capsules I am testing for Bikefood. For the next few laps I felt great, and remember feeling I had no right to be feeling that good after 12 hours of riding. Emotionally, the half way point didn’t really register with me because I had split the race into 3X8 hour sections and there was still a hell of a lot of riding to go.
06:00 - next food stop and the hotly anticipated bacon egg and bean butty (or so I thought)! Unfortunately Rosie needs her ears waxed so I got sausage instead of beans, and unfortunately Quaver catering aren’t exactly the most inspiring provider of food, so it didn’t really live up to the hype! That didn’t really bother me because it had done its work by mentally keeping me going through the night
08.00 - Brief stop for my final kit change for the final onslaught. Error number 2 – I forgot my spare shorts so had to go back into my slightly grubby and moist white shorts from Saturday. Just after this pit stop I unlapped myself from Charles Newton-Mason in 3rd. My legs still felt good and he looked like his were empty so I picked up the pace hoping I could catch him before the finish.
10.00 - Corby came out of retirement to knock out a few more laps so I rode with him for 3 laps using him as a pace maker and we quickly took time out of Charles. On my 3rd to last lap I caught him but rather than being tactical and sitting on his wheel for a while to recover from chasing him I tried to go straight past him and pull a gap. Unfortunately he wasn’t as tired as I though and he put in an impressive kick of speed that I couldn’t match. I half expected to catch up with him again on the next lap after his legs had gone but from this point on he pulled away from me.
13.00 – I spent my penultimate lap on my own and what I had nearly achieved began to dawn on me. However, so did the consequence of what I had done and the last stretch dragged a bit, the first time I had felt that in the event. For the final Lap Corby joined me again for one last blast.
14.30 - I put in a final sprint on the last climb away from Corby and then down to the finish line. At this point I still thought I had finished 4th, until the commentator announced I was 3rd! I was in between a state of shock and exhaustion. Once I stopped the pain all over my body really caught up with me and the next day or so was agony!
I’m very happy with the place on the podium as it was much more than I could possibly have expected, especially given the longest ride I have done this year was about 4 hours with a cake stop! I couldn’t have done it without the amazing support from Emma and Rosie, who took it in shifts through the night to keep me fed and watered. Also, thanks to the whole team and my parents who were there, screaming me on for the whole time the sun was up! Finally, thanks to the Sheppard’s and the Rothera’s whose brief cameo was a very welcome one, and really reminded me why I was doing this ridiculous challenge!
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