Sleepless in the Saddle 24 hour
Catton Park: 11-12/08/07
By Lorraine Staley
A race of contrasts in every way...
Sleepless in the Saddle is touted as the more laid back brother to Mountain Mayhem, however for all those riders out there grappling for a good position laid back is the last word you would use to describe the event.
The weather looked to be sunny and dry...for once, and it put a huge smile on everyone's face when coming in from Friday night's practice lap. The course was much like last year's but with a few additional inserts of twisty singletrack which to me gave the illusion of a hugely different course from the previous year. I felt it flowed well for me with a little bit of everything for everyone.
After the disappointment of Mountain Mayhem I went into this race with determination not to have a repeat performance. All I wanted to do was complete the race without stopping. Positions, although important wouldn't feature until Sunday.
The race started in it's usual Le Mans style run, which seemed longer than usual to me, and saw me back around to the start and off in the middle of the bunch. The sun shone and temperatures rose during the afternoon as I made a concerted effort to keep eating and drinking as this proved my downfall at Mayhem. I took my first stop after 4 laps. A quick camelbak change, a sandwhich grabbed and off out again.
This time I was racing unsupported though I had plenty of offers of help from friends also racing, along with familiar faces in the solo tent supporting their riders. I must say I was pleased to get into my night laps with darkness falling around 8.45pm, it marked the first part of the race 'done' and made for a welcome relief from the intensity of the day's heat.
My night laps were the most enjoyable for me, I felt strong, alert and most importantly truly enjoyed the riding, even when at 2.30am a persistent drizzle set in for a few hours, causing a dusty course to turn greasy. I was riding with a borrowed helmet light (Light & Motion HID) and my trusty Exposure Enduro which (after a visit to Rory's Exposure Lights stand) convinced me to upgrade to their new and improved range of lights as no wires and new click on/off bracket will mean easy, faffless riding as a soloist.
A few falls on descents and one off camber section later, sense of humour intact, dawn approached bringing with her another dry, sunny day and a faster, more compacted course due to the nighttime rain. One of the lead girls dropped out around 7.30am and was ferried off to hospital due to dehydration and lack of 'proper' food (I believe) which meant we all got bumped up a place, moving me from 4th to 3rd. And this is where it went from being a fun, personnel effort to a "What's my place? Who's in 4th? How much time up am I?" kinda race.... :o/
My final two laps led me to believe I had 20mins up on 4th place and I admittedly tried to enjoy these laps, chatted with other solo riders, and eased off slightly to enjoy the camaraderie the final lap brings. However, my paranoia looming I was questioning times and made sure no other solo girls passed me whom I didn't know and if I didn't know them, I asked. Sorry, bad etiquette I know...which considering the final time gap between myself and 4th place (36 seconds) was just as well!
[pic: courtesy of Rory Hitchens/USE]
Lessons learnt: spin...always, try to keep a sense of humour, eat and drink aplenty even if you have to force yourself and end up be a wee bit sickie piggy, easing off...don't, as you never know, and lastly, every race is different, from how you ride, how you feel, to what works last time not working this time.
Thank you's to friends who filled camelbaks, made fresh sarnies and the 2.30am tea angel! Apologies to the startled campers as I chucked my empty gel wrappers in their camp site track side and asked them to please put in the bin....sorry I didn't have energy left to faff trying to get them in my pocket.
Now, home again, recovery time! Which means gentle spins, trough loads of food and new books to read...but only for a short while whilst the ride dragon within lies sleeping, suitably engorged on a good, happy ride.