Written by Richard Holmes (Team Cyclesense)

This weekend saw the 5th Bontrager Twentyfour12 take place at Newnham park, Plymouth.  I raced the first Twentyfour12 when it was held at Lodgewood Park, Shropshire, it was a great event but an interesting venue.  A few years ago the event moved to Newnham park which is one of my all time favourite race venues.  In the early 90’s Newnham was the venue for UK rounds of the XC World Cup and more recently its where Mark Spratt and I won the Nightrider12  eventually cracking friends Dom and Rich (Scamp) the closest race I’ve ever been involved in!  I’d wanted to race the event last year but having thought long and hard about it, even as a social team, there was a danger that racing in July was too much too soon for me following my enforced riding sabbatical so I reluctantly gave it a miss.
 
Twentyfour12 was the first event I entered this year, several mates had entered as soon as the entries opened and the feedback from 2009 was great so I pushed the button and committed to my 2nd ever 24 solo.  As the name suggests, Twentyfour12 consists of several events.  The 24hr race stars at midday Saturday with a 12hr event taking place at the same time.  At midnight, as the daytime 12hr finishes, the Torchbearer starts, another 12hr event running through the night and into the morning.  With teams, pairs and solo’s in each of these events working out who was doing what was challenging at best and when you had been racing for hours and the head had gone, it was very difficult…  It needn’t have been though, it was only a case of looking at peoples number boards – but when you’ve been riding for 20hrs that sort of logical thought is beyond me!
 
I arrived at Newnham park on Friday afternoon to find Huw and co had secured us an ace spot for the event, trackside towards the end of the lap.  I set up base camp for the weekend, registered and gave all 5 bikes a final check over!  unfortunately, but understandably, Rik had been unable to come down to support me for this event.  That combined with the weather had me busy preparing for the event for most of the previous week.  I was expecting the worst of the weather and no support from anyone for throughout the race, if the weather improved any – or anyone could offer some support that would be a bonus.  For me, its that kind of prep and mindset that’s key for an endurance event.  Every negative into a positive and all.  I’d even packed my walking boots and some flat pedals – if it got that bad, at least I’d have some comfortable boots to trudge in!
 
The practice lap I got in on Friday afternoon was great, the course had loads of single track and it was fun.  The climbs were all steady away and great for solo riding and there weren’t any parts of the course that forced you to expend more energy than you wanted to.  The first part of the course was dry, however the second half was muddy already and would obviously get worse if the rain retuned.  As I returned from my practice lap, Anne stopped me and asked if I would like to join them for curry as they had enough for a small army.  Fantastic, I’d already got more support than I’d anticipated so things were looking good.
 
We had some heavy rain overnight but Saturday morning was promising some signs of sun.  I was a little latter than I had hoped in getting to the start line and unfortunately was some way back at the start.  Twentyfour12 starts on the bikes rather than a run which is another thing to be liked about the event.  That said, the first lap was very busy with a few points I got held up in the traffic and had to jump off and run.  I pushed reasonably hard for the first few laps, taking as many opportunities to overtake in the single track and re-gain some of the places I had conceded to the other leading soloists by my late start.  After a few laps race duration things had settled down and I was feeling comfortable with my pace and enjoying the ride.  I even got given a racing Ice cream as I got to the top of the Cliff climb on my second lap.  I’ve never ridden single track trying to eat a MrWhippy before and doubt I ever will again!

 
As night fell so did the rain, the course had been muddy during the day but as the rain persisted the conditions deteriorated.  That said, the course held up to the weather really well.  None of the sections became totally un-rideable, there were a few points where I’d get off and run as it was easier than riding.  I had no idea what position I was in going into the night, but I knew I had put a couple of laps into most of the guys I knew and I had seen one of the race favourites, Rob Dean had been forced to retire with terminal mechanical issues.  I spent huge chunks of the night riding with friend Huw Thomas – thebikemechanic.co.uk.  We had both tried to work out when sun would appear and got it wrong by about 3 laps.  At this point my memory fails me and I can’t remember much of the rest of the race.  I can remember the mist, that made using a headlight difficult so I rode a few laps just on the main beam of my Lupine Betty.  I can remember Huw cleaning the tricky section through the woods at the end of the lap as all I could say is ‘I’m fading,,, I’m fading’  I took his advice and got some solid food onboard at the end of the lap.  Up to that point I’d been riding on bars and gels alone.  Rice pudding and custard saved the day there!
 
The night was very warm and as the sun eventually rose, the rain stopped and the course started to dry out.  As it dried, the mud became thicker and it was harder to ride.  Thankfully George had mucked in after the 12hr race and had been cleaning my bikes for me, I need them all though.  A bike would last a lap before it needed cleaning and I was even using the stream mid lap at some points as the bikes weighed a tonne with all the mud.
 
Some point in the morning, Craig Bowels lapped me, as did Rich Rothwell, I was disappointed to be lapped but I knew I was pushing as hard as I could.  On one lap I  came through the campsite and 12hr solo winner Matt Page yelled to me I was running P3.  I think about the same time I found out Huw was in P4 and I knew I was about 2 laps up on him.  As I came to the end of my 23rd lap, I’d convinced myself that there was no point riding any more.  I was 2 laps clear of 4th place and a lap behind P1 and P2.  With 75 minutes racing left there was no way my position would change and I was convinced if I did another lap I was going to break my wrist.  It made sense at the time, it doesn’t now and I’m a bit disappointed I didn’t get another 2 laps in. 
 
Huw finished very strong, getting 2 more laps in un-lap himself and secure a stunning 4th place in his first attempt at a Solo 24.  All of the guys and girls from the VORB club finished the event and were strong throughout.  I doubt there will be many other groups that had as many solo finishers without any dropouts.  My hands were in tatters by the end of the race and I had a degree of tendonitis in my left wrist – I will certainly look at running Ergon grips over the winter as its taken me most of the week to regain full hand mobility.  According to the Polar I burnt 15,000 Kcal during the race and I recorded the highest TRIMP value I have ever seen in Sportracks.  It was a hell of a race and I’m over the moon with my third place finish.  Thanks to all that mucked in and helped me out and to everyone that encouraged me on the course.  For me that’s the best bit about riding solo, whilst your riding alone you’ve got more supporters round the course than any team rider will have.
 

24 Solo:
 
1     26   24:00:17  Craig Bowels
2     26   24:26:27  Rich Rothwell
3     23   23:29:56  Rich Holmes
4     23   24:50:13  Huw Thomas
13   17   23:29:54  Mark Deacon
16   16   22:48:02  Kieran Wingfield
17   16   23:29:54  Al Scott

Friday 6 August 2010 Filed in: General

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