Day Night Thriller 2009

Two weeks out from the DNT I was fairly happy with my build up to the event. Plenty of riding, making good use of my lights and warm winter clothes! I’d survived the first race of the PNP series – even scoring a third placing, thanks to the long climbs and to Catherine and Charlotte not racing. The masters women’s courses for this year are longer and more technical, so just completing the event was a big step forward for me.

Then – my father passed away in the early hours of Wednesday morning. Although he had been seriously ill, his death was an unexpected shock. 3 days later I picked up the stomach virus that’s been going around – which knocked me flat for 2 days and took 2 weeks to fully recover from. Needless to say, I was emotionally and physically drained.

2 days before the event I was managing to eat (relatively) normally again, so Lisa, Shane and I headed up to Taupo early on Friday morning. I hadn’t managed my usual week of obsessive planning and list writing so, although everything was organized I felt a little out of control. My main goal for this event was to test out our plan for the 24hr – and to allow Lisa to indulge her inner geek with a mass of spreadsheets! We were greeted by rain and clouds – lucky I’m waterproof! I went for an easy lap of the track to check out the new section – 1.5km of easy rolling and twisting trail. The course seemed to be riding pretty well and was nice and dry despite the rain. Time to head back to the motel for pizza and the 2 hour Australian Idol special!

I started slowly, as usual, and for some reason it didn’t occur to me that the weeks leading up may have sapped some of my top end speed and I began to doubt myself – however I’m learning to deal with this kind of thing a lot better and managed to carry on without getting too low. We’d planned a feed stop 3 hours in to the event but Lisa, from watching me and my lap times, made the call to feed me earlier than expected. This was the first step forward for me – had she not pulled me in when she did there’s a pretty good chance that I wouldn’t have finished the event. I was light-headed, sweating despite the cold, shaking and had had a few near-falls due to brain fade… probably due to the after-effects of the virus and lack of food. A pikelet and jam later I was ready to go – and felt progressively better as the lap continued. Talk about sugar rush – I was singing, chatting, babbling and generally feeling really good about life! Continued feeds ensured that, although the sugar rush wore off, I stayed steady and strong for the rest of the race. I saw Charlotte ahead of me several times at the point where the track crossed – about 15 minutes ahead. I’d abandoned any hope of winning the event this year – I decided to focus on staying strong and sticking to my game plan for the whole 12 hours. As it started to get darker I finally settled into my familiar rhythm – the feeling of being tired, sore, strong and focused all at once. Once I’m in this zone if feels like I could stay there forever – and I did for the rest of the race. I’d been instructed to finish my bottles every lap, as Lisa had precisely measured the amount that I needed to take on, so there were some humorous moments as she watched me desperately gulp down the last few mouthfuls before throwing my bottle away – I didn’t want to get told off!

In this case strong and steady finally won the race – I was pleased to have won and relieved that my body had held up for the 12 hours. The prizegiving was a let-down – with the third place finisher being awarded the first prize medal, bumping Charlotte and I down a place. It was eventually (after the ceremony) sorted out… but I was really disappointed not to get the chance to thank my support crew and sponsors for helping me to win the event 2 years in a row.

So- providing Kanye West is not around – I’ve got a lot of people to thank. As I’ve said before, a solo event requires much more teamwork than any ‘team’ race.

Charlotte – for riding and training with me… and pushing me to my limits on the day.

Gav – for his thorough and meticulous preparation of my bikes.

Shane – for support, encouragement and the hundreds of little things that add up to allow me to do what I do.

Robyn - for coaching and beyond...

Lisa – for bringing a whole new meaning to the role of supporter. This is our third event together and she just keeps setting the bar higher. I’m incredibly lucky to have someone who understands what I’m trying to do, what I need to be able to do it – and who can interpret my ramblings and body language to work out what’s actually going on… and graphs it all for later viewing!

Sponsors: Porirua Cycle and Mower Centre, Jamis Bicycles, Sram, Continental Tyres, Foxshox, CrankBrothers, Tifosi Optics.