24 hours is a long time. Perhaps not in the context of a lifetime or even a year, but try and do one thing for a whole day solidly and time seems to drift by much slower than usual as if your in slow-motion.

For the last few years I have been training hard for a single goal. To become a top class 24hr solo racer. All the hours spent as a courier, all the training I have done since moving back to Llandovery, all the sacrifices I have made but especially the sacrifices other people have made to help me achieve my goal. It is now, after this race that everything has paid off and made it all worth the effort.

After a tough 12 hour race only 2 weeks before my preparation was less than ideal! I had no chance to test my body out before racing, so I was just hoping that I had been able to recover quickly enough. I did however organise and plan everything in the same meticulous way I approach every event. My bikes were all working perfectly, we arrived on site early enough to get an excellent pit-area spot and I had a team around me that were prepared to sacrifice their time to helping me out.

The conditions on the build up to the event were OK, the course was pretty dry but the forecast for the event was not good. Heavy and consistent rain was due on Saturday with showers forecast to continue through Sunday. The forecast proved to be accurate and mid-morning Saturday the rain started coming down.

The race got underway with the familiar Le-mans style run, I paced it well and arrived in the arena at the same time as my main competitors. The first lap on the bike went to plan, the mud was very wet and I had no problems riding through it. At the end of the first lap my bike was wet but not muddy, at this point I had quite wide intermediate tyres on and although I knew mud tyres would be needed later I continued onto lap 2 with the same tyres…..

This was to be my first and perhaps only mistake of the race. Immediately the mud was stickier and made the going much tougher. The twisty singletrack that took up most of the first half was a nightmare! The mud instantly clogged up my tyres making the bike extremely heavy and jammed the tyres making pushing the bike a real struggle. That second lap seemed to take forever, but I finally finished it, 20 minutes slower than the first lap.

From the third lap onwards skinny mud tyres were in place and it made riding rather than walking a possibility on most of the course. I had to swap bikes each lap, as although I was able to ride the bike it was still collecting mud and becoming hard to pedal. I was able to pick up the pace and slowly claw back the time I had lost. By the start of the 4th lap I was leading and starting to feel really good. My pacing was quick enough, but also as consistent as was possible in the ever changing conditions.
In the pit area everyone was having a really busy time, when I finished a lap my bike had to be cleaned, checked over and any alterations or repairs carried out. Although I couldn’t see the work they were doing, Nia tells me that it was taking over an hour to sort each bike out and at that was only just enough time before I came through again and they started the process again.
To be honest much of the race is a blur, I remember things that happened, but I have no idea when they happened or in what order. One thing I do remember is just before dusk the course was starting to dry out slightly, a line was starting to appear which made things a little faster, but then an impromptu shower came down and turned the course back into a real sticky mess. With no daylight or warmth to dry it out I knew that it would be like this all night.

Through the night I just kept plodding on, trying to keep my spirits up. I did things like play games with myself and chat with other riders… anything to take my mind off the mud under my wheels. Everyone in my pit was keeping me going; there was no way I was going to let them down. After all everyone else riding was in the same boat; we were all riding the same course in the same conditions. I think it was at some point during the night that I caught and lapped 2nd place. We rode (and walked where riding was impossible) around together for a while. On a section of sticky but rideable singletrack I pulled clear to be 1 lap ahead. This was a huge mental booster, to have that cushion there just in case anything bad should happen.

A few mechanical issues did happen, but luckily I was able to limit my time lost. On one lap the spring on the front mech had broken. The sheer weight of the mud which it was trying to move caused it to fail. The very next lap, roughly 2 miles from the end of the lap I snapped the rear mech and rear mech hanger. Again mud was the cause, the chain tightened and pulled it clean off. I had a long walk/jog/run back to the arena and to my amazement the lap was quicker than the previous where I was able to ride far more!

As dawn broke and the sun started to rise it was a huge relief. I knew I still had over 8 hours left to ride, but the end always feels much nearer when the sun comes out. Somehow during the morning I was able to up my pace, I had found energy I didn’t know I had. I was digging deep, but with 5-6 hours to go I felt like I could keep my speed up. The course was still muddy, although it had been mostly dry through the night so it was getting a little faster. I lapped 2nd place again at some point in the morning. I could see he was tired and after 20 hours on this course you would expect it, but somehow I felt great. At this point I knew I had won. I could have finished that lap and rested for a few hours, but I didn’t. I had nothing extra to gain than a bigger winning margin, but that was enough motivation for me.

My final lap seemed like it lasted forever! Every section I got through and every turn of the pedals I was that little bit closer. As I neared the finish people were lining the course and cheering everyone on and then the moment I had waited for. I crossed the timing line after completing 20 laps in 24hrs, 44min and 53 seconds beating 2nd place by 3 laps. I had a short ride along the start/finish straight to shake Pat Adams hand where my team were all waiting for me. All I had left to do was thank everyone for keeping me going, which was a very tough job. Nia, Ben, my Mum and James all gave it everything in order to keep me riding. Bikes were being washed, fixed and adjusted almost constantly; I swapped bikes for 16 of my 20 laps. They also had to keep track of what I was eating and drinking, keep me motivated, keep track on other competitors and keep themselves awake. Given the choice between riding or supporting for 24hrs I know what I would rather do!

Thank you to my team, to everyone who cheered me on during the event and to Wiggle for their support this season. A solo 24hr is never truly a solo experience.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 13th, 2008 at 1:10 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.