Gravity 2012

The move of the Gravity 12hr from it's original location of Rosewhite to the new venue of the caravan park centrally located in Bright was a smart move by the organisers, Finish Line Events. It worked so well that many wondered why someone hadn't done this earlier.

This change of venue, comfortable weather (some thought it was a bit hot) and a really excellent track made for a great race and despite the pain and suffering I went through f0r 12hrs as an under-trained, over-rested solo rider, I'll be back next year for sure!

My recent work commitments have made training difficult and a 12hr solo race is not the type of race to compete in at the drop of a hat but I've never had the opportunity to defend a 'crown' so I couldn't pass up racing in this popular event that I won back in late 2010. At about 7hrs into the race, I was wishing I had passed-up on this opportunity.

Gravity 2012 attracted a pretty impressive line up in all categories this year from the high paced male and mixed pairs tearing up the course to the male and female solo riders who battle it out all day. I had my time at the pointy end of the solo field sitting in 4th for a few laps and even felt pretty good out there but I couldn't keep up the pace and was soon back in 5th. Never really threatened was Andy Hall who took out the solo male on 16 laps, one up on an insane single speed effort by Ed McDonald. Impressive.

My laps times were slowly and reasonably stretching out until my lap times started including pit-stops that went for much longer than the desired less-than-a-minute..

Then came my horror lap.

Picture your worst day on a bike. You've bonked, you know you've got a long time to go, you're talking yourself down, you've got chafe on both thighs, your ass hurts, molten-salt sweat stings your eyes like capsicum spray, all your mates are passing you while you're stopped on the track.

I had this for 15kms. And then I knew I'd have to deal with it for another lap.

I'd made the decision to complete this lap and stop there.

Which brings me back to the very well designed track. The last 2-3kms was flat, fast and fun singletrack along a river in the shade so even though you'd been hurting for the last 12km by the time you're back in pits you actually feel ok and have forgotten the pain of the pinchers and kilometres of brutally hot, exposed fire road.

I kept getting back to my pit crew (who were AWESOME!) wondering how I could have felt so bad only a few k's ago. My decision to stop was reversed by some proper food (pasta, a welcome change from smashing gels and energy drink all afternoon), great support from my parents and mechanic, Dean Barter and a desire to Just Bloody Finish.

So one more lap and believe it or not I enjoyed it and was glad to finish on a high.

12hrs is a long time to ride a bike essentially non-stop. On average would you say most MTB training/social rides are 1-2hrs? And in those rides I'd say it's likely that you'd have some sort of mechanical 'event', not necessarily anything major, maybe even just a dropped chain. Which makes it remarkable, I think, that I can ride for so long and have absolutely NOTHING go wrong with my bike. Having Ross check it over in the work stand at iRide was part of it and my new wheels (Easton EA90XC) which are light, strong and dependable is another while finally having my mate Dean there to check that all was lubed and ready to roll capped it off. Thanks to my wrench Deano, bike shop owner extraordinaire Ross and Simon from Adventure Brands for the Rocky Mountain Vertex.

Righto, I have to get some well earned rest before another 9 day camping stint starting tomorrow. No photos up that I can find yet so here's one my Dad took of me quite clearly having a rough day. Ride hard y'all!

Zigga