Wednesday 27 June 2012

24 Hours of Summer Solstice 2012

This past weekend we had the pleasure of competing in the annual 24 Hours of Summer Solstice.  What a fantastic event this is, we have a blast every time we do this race.  It's run by Chico Racing who are a well oiled machine when it come to running these events.  It's a chance to get outside, be active and see friends.

The more we race at these type of events, the more people we get to know.  This year we were able to secure 2 sites close together for 3 - 5 person teams to share.  On one site we set up the pop up shelters and had that for the cooking/hang out area and on the other site we put the tents for sleeping.  It worked out great.  With 3 teams on the go there was always someone to chat with between laps.


There were 2000+ riders at the race Saturday.



The course was 17km long and had a large amount of double track which was great for passing although I do love the challenge of singletrack.  I remember the first year we raced a 24 hour at Albion, that first hill seemed so big and I was so out of breath by the time I reached the top.  This year it seemed small... I guess that Moab trip paid off in fitness.

I rode around the mud pit, amid the protests of the spectators.  I was not going to get my bike dirty.    Lol, I was worried about my bike getting dirty when it started to sprinkle a small amount of rain.  There was no way I would deliberately ride into the "e coli laden" mud.


Tim Morrison - 3rd place in the Men's Solo 50+ category and a great friend showing off his winnings.

I improved my lap times from last year by quite a bit.  I did 5 laps and posted lap time of 56, 57, 1:02(night lap), 59 and  59 minutes.
Our team ended up in 6th place.

All in all it was a fantastic time and we will be returning next year for some more fun!