18 laps, 225km, 4680m of climbing.
It doesn’t seem like much when written in stats, but the truth is that my first win of 2008 was far from easy! After 12 hours of intense racing it was the closest race that I have ever done.

The event promised a lot, an excellent course, great facilities and a quality field of riders. We arrived on Thursday night which gave us the whole of Friday to relax and the chance for me to do a practice lap… and what a lap! It was fast, fun and varied. The kind of lap you looked forward to riding and where the descending seemed to outnumber the climbing.

I was lucky enough to have a brilliant pit crew for the event as well, my girlfriend Nia and Ben who works at Wiggle. Nia has been supporting me for as long as I’ve been racing and knows exactly what to do and often knows me better than I know myself. Ben has also joined us this year giving mechanical support and is already proving to be invaluable. Far from being ‘just a mechanic’ Ben has to be one of the nicest guys I know and a great friend to have at events. Every time I swap a bike or get a problem it is always sorted and I have been able to start each lap of every race so far with a perfectly working bike. I really couldn’t do my thing without the support of my team.

Coming into the race I had a race plan, it was the opposite of the previous race at Brighton. I was going to start at a steady pace and try to stay as consistent as possible. Right from the start I knew who my main rival was, someone who I have raced against several times before, James Lister. I also knew that he would start off quickly and that’s exactly what he did. I didn’t panic and I was not going to try and match his initial pace.

My very first lap was a nightmare! Somehow the front mech on the Raven Pro had twisted slightly which meant that every single gear was rubbing the cage. There was nothing I could do myself, so kept going until I past my pit at the end of the lap and swapped for my Focus First, letting Ben know what the problem was. This was to be a stroke of luck as I usually race on my Raven Pro hardtail; I felt the slightly heavier full suspension First was a little slower. But on this course, which was pretty bumpy I was told I was quicker on the First so I made the decision to ride it as much as possible.

In the opening few laps I wasn’t sure of my position, it wasn’t important to me at that point. After roughly 4 - 5 hours I was told I was in 3rd with 2nd only 30 seconds ahead. I made a point of catching 2nd quickly and got past him. He hung onto my wheel for a lap, but drifted off soon after. Now I had my sights on James and had plenty of time to catch him. Over the first 8 - 10 laps James was consistently quick and was pulling out an average of roughly a minute per lap. It was going to be a big ask but I was feeling great, I had loads of energy and was flying on the singletrack.
Throughout the lap I was getting great support from friends around the course and often split times to James. On one lap I was told that I had pulled back a little time, which really felt good and I kept pressing on. Over the next lap or two I was pulling it back slowly. I had it in my mind that I wanted to catch him around the 8-10 hour mark and it was looking like this would be the case.

To my amazement when I thought I was 6 minutes behind I passed him as he stopped for a long pit stop. I think this caught him out as much as me. Nia and Ben let me know what was going on, it was the lap when lights were needed, so I changed bikes and helmets and kept going. James came flying past me on the Start/Finish section but I knew exactly what I needed to do. I dug deep over the next lap and stuck on his wheel. Over the lap I was able to see how he was doing and where he was quick and where he was slower. On the steep climbs he would put a little time into me, but on the flat sections and especially the descents I was quicker. We stayed very close for a few laps as we traded places a few times. Then on a rough downhill which was followed by some fast singletrack I managed to get a small gap. With 1 hour, 25 min to go I knew it was going to be really close call to weather I did 2 or 3 more laps, I wasn’t sure of how much of a lead I had so just kept up the pace. If I said I was cruising I would be lying, but I wasn’t going flat out. If James caught me I knew I had a big kick left. Although it would have been great to finish a lap clear, I had one eye on my 24hr race in 2 weeks and to my relief I came into the pit area with 1 minute to the finish. I eased right up for the last hundred metres and crossed the line at 12hrs 00 min 30sec. In the end I had a margin of just 5 minutes, which over 12 hours is pretty damn close! But that’s how I planned it, and everything just came together brilliantly.
A massive thanks to Nia, Ben and everyone at Wiggle for their support so far this year. Next stop, Catton Park in 2 weeks time for the ‘Sleepless in Saddle’ 24 hours. I just hope I am able to recover in time.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 30th, 2008 at 3:51 pm and is filed under Athlete Diaries, Matthew Page. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.