07/12/07

Gravity 12hr 2007

The 18th-19th Nov was the Gravity 12hr, held in Rosewhite in North East country Victoria. I was riding in a team with my trusty co-riders Ian, Carli and Rusty, team '6 Nuts and a Beaver'. We 'raced' last year and won, so we were returning as defending champions!!
We all arrived up there on Friday afternoon and spent a good few hours setting up camp.

Home sweet home

Well, some of us spent a few hours setting up camp........

Saturday was race day and we were all really excited about the days riding. I was a bit worried, because the past 2 years I have suffered from really bad cramps in my legs, and i wasn't looking forward to having them again. So, to try to stop the cramps I was using some energy drink, which had stuff in it to stop cramps.

So, Rusty did the first lap, then Carli, then Ian and then finally me. I did a pretty good first lap, along with the rest of the team. When i got back to transition, I was super pooped.  I got back to camp and just sat down, totally exhausted. I couldn't move. I wasn't feeling too good either. I was sitting under the Gazebo, then a wave of 'Oh my God I'm gunna hurl chunks' came over me. Ian and Carli were sitting down, so i just casually stood up and gracefully, yet swiftly, walked to the other side of the van and blew chunks. But it wasn't chunks, it was all the energy drink I'd just drank during my lap. I felt soo crook before I chundered, then after I felt a million bucks!!

Anyway, the day went on and we all took our turns to ride. I don't know what it was, but we all seemed a little unenthusiastic. There was a running tally of results throughout the day, and i think by the time we'd realised that we had 3rd in the bag, we sort of just switched off and rode just like it was a ride. Rusty was still riding like a 'Bat outta hell' and keeping our times good, but me, Carli and Ian were like just cruisin round.  The course was super nice and flowy. My bike was feeling really good and I was nailing everything. I was still worried that I was going to cramp, if i rode too hard, and sure enough, on my last lap, i began to cramp towards the end. Speaking of my last lap, there was some crazy weather during it. During the first half, it pissed with rain. Not just rain, but FAT rain. P. H. A. T. Huge drops. It pissed for like 3mins, and I was totally soaked to the bone, then it was uber windy, then the sun came out. Talk about Melbourne weather in the country!!!

Anyway, by the time the race had finished, we were in 3rd and very happy with the result. 1st and 2nd place had done 3 more laps than us, so we had no chance of catching them. They were pro teams, so we were happy to be the first 'nuffy' team!! Check out the results here.

 Sunday was packup. I woke up felling a bit shit. I had a runny nose and i thought it was just Hayfeaver, but 2 weeks of flu it was to be.

Later Dudes!!!

Oh, the funniest thing happened on the way home. We'd all stopped in Myrtleford on the way home, for a bite to eat. Ian and Carli had walked off somewhere, so, Rusty grabbed 2 cans of Silly String and totally covered their car with it!! Was piss funny. Then we jumped back into the van the spend off into the distance before Ian and Carli caught us.!! Priceless.  We get to the servo at Wang, and as we are filling up, Ian and Carli arrive in their Silly String car!! So, as it turns out, the Silly String had baked onto their material Ute tray cover and wasn't coming off.....whoops!!  So, I've gone in and paid for the fuel, to see Ian driving off with him dangling the keys to the van out his window. I had visions of him just driving off and leaving us stranded at the servo. Anyway, Rusty chased them down and got the keys back....phew!!!