So the Mont24 was supposed in be in March, it got rained out
fairly spectacularly which was crap for most people but great for me because it
meant that I didn’t miss out. By the time the rescheduled date came around in
October I was healed and back on the bike, so we had a mixed team of 6 still
despite more member changes than underwear changes since the initial entry.
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| An amazing sunset over the Mont24 camp |
Then Tim entered the Croc Trophy so he was out but
PowerRanger Luke stepped in so back to a 6. Having raced 24 hour races in a
three, and even attempted a pair once, racing in a 6 feels relaxed. Roughly 4
hours of riding over the weekend, sure they are hot laps but that’s less riding
than I do on a given Sunday.
So I rode to work Thursday, then over the course of 20
minutes our team of 6 became 5, and then became 4… I caught the train home!
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| Dusty conditions out on track |
At rego we did a category switch, no longer racing in mixed
6s we were going to be in the more competitive field of mixed 4s. Unfortunately
our prime candidate for first lap (Turbo Stu) was one of the last minute
withdrawal so the boys were debating who got the gig. Big Keith looks the
scariest due to his tats and muscles so we figured he’d get more space in the
mayhem – he was sh*tting himself.
Anyway, a far cry from the first scheduled date it was hot
and dry with temperatures nudging 30 at race start. Fine layers of dust covered
everything and everyone even before we got racing, then finally the race
started to the cacophony of a thousand cow bells.
After the first few laps we were in 4th place,
but everyone knows 24 races are won or lost overnight so we kept cycling
through the team and didn’t really check results. Things ran smoothly, no
missed transitions, no major stacks or mechanicals.
We started doubles about 10pm and had the novel experience
of not even needing arm warmers for the unusually mild night temperatures. The
boys struggled a little overnight but I think that was mental than physical as
the times stayed really consistent despite their stories of woe. Having been on
and off night shift I didn’t really mind the sleep disturbance and my night
double ended smoothly in the early morning predawn light that is magical at the
Mont.
By now we were convincingly in 3rd but 2nd
was also in reach, a podium in mixed 4s is a pretty good result! I was still
feeling strong, something I was happy about considering the year I’ve had.
Eddie found fresh legs when the sun came up and we kept the same rider order
going like clockwork.
Luke was our last lap rider, and it was nail biting stuff –
in the end we missed 2nd place by one minute and 20 seconds! But
that’s 24 racing for you :-)
no regrets as we raced our best and made no mistakes.
