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Sleepless in the Saddle (SITS) 2004 This is the first 24hr race I've done in a few years and my God, what a difference to the last one (Red Bull Mountain Mayhem 2001). First of all, it was wet. Secondly, it was pretty damn technical and thirdly, bloody relentless! OK, I admit that it wasn't technical on the scale that say, Chamonix is, but there were descents that my chest was on my saddle and climbs where line selection was pretty paramount, and after several laps that gets pretty wearing. Then there was the mud. A good 3/4 of the course was gloop thanks to the pretty continuous rain leading up to the event. It started to dry toward the end of the first day, only to get even worse overnight as a heavy dew kicked in. Hard going? I would say so. And the other Banditos prevented me from Crud Guarding up by hiding it before we left base-station Bandito -- this will not be forgotten! Add to that very few long recovery fireroads and you get a pretty hard 24hr race, albeit on a pretty tasty course. I say this, but at least I had the option of gears on my bike, unlike Rudy who did the whole event as a soloist on a fixed, rigid singlespeed! Nuttier than a fruitcake. Thankfully my endurance was OK due to work, but I know that the Duke and Woja had done no training whatsoever. However, this still didn't stop me feeling like crap for the first day and three laps. Was it the warm-up lap? Or the two crashes? Losing my trusty Smiths? Who knows. Not to worry. After one very hard going night lap I was blessed with a few hours kip which restored all things back to goodness. Add that to a few jelly babies, the odd breakfast bar and some maltloaf and I was ready to rock my two night (or early morning by now) laps. Whoo-hoo! We stylin'! After that it was firing on most cylinders and sub-hour laps were the norm, finishing with a double at the end just to get that all-important Bandito lap count up. I also got to ride the course without annoying twats trying to pass on impassable spots without so much as an 'on your left' to give me a warning. It ALSO meant that I could ride the downhills in that almost nirvana state of being totally knackered, so everything is totally relaxed and things flow. In an 'on the edge' kind of way. Like my last descent through the quarry; I swear I spent half of it in the air... So what can I say? despite all the swearing I made (and I made an awful lot...) it was a spot-on event. I'm glad I didn't singlespeed it but wish I could have been on semis instead of my skinniest, knobbliest knobblies! It was great to do another 24hr -- the feeling is great and nightriding is still such a buzz. Especially when dropping wet, rooty singletrack or trying to pick invisible lines to get maximum momentum to propel you up the other side of a quarry. My real issue at the end was I returned to work in Croatia after a week off more knackered than when I left! I'm sure there's something amiss there. I would like to express my gratitude to the guys and gals in the massage tent -- once again you guys were absolute stars! Praise be! You were fantastic keeping my legs going after my graveyard shift runs! Thank you! |
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Pimp strains with a butt-breaking one. 
Barone rails the bend. 
Hello Dukey! All photos pinched from singletrackworld.com |
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