What a tough day for 12 hours of racing! It took me less than 10 miles of the 25 this morning to be VERY glad that I wasn't riding the 12 hour, but Ray and Brian were settled in for a day of it. Ray started 6 minutes behind Brian and obviously he started faster than Brian did as they had covered not far short of 90 miles when we caught up with them, and Ray was in front of Brian on the road by this point.
Ray looked settled in for a day's steady ride as we took over as his support team from his step-son & wife, Brian on the other hand did not look comfortable and his support team reported that he was not feeling well.
On the return from the Poynings/Henfield leg both the riders stopped for the inevitable call of nature and a chance to munch rice pud. Brian seemed to have a shorter stop than Ray and when we saw them again about 10 miles further down the road Brian could just about see Ray ahead on the long straights of the A24 and was slowly gaining on him with a determined look on his face. The northwood leg up the A24 appeared to have a reasonable tailwind as the riders were getting up a good head of steam and, looking at the faces, some were enjoying the respite for a while.
As we set off North to the next lay-by it looked as if Brian had been stopped by the West Grinstead traffic lights and that Ray had pulled away from him slightly again. As both our riders were amongst the last on the road it was almost certain that they would miss out the leg up to Crawley and sure enough they were turned back South from Farthings Hill RAB. An expected cricket match at Henfield had encouraged the organisers to turn the event short of Henfield on the second time down there and I underestimated the time for the riders to return. As they were both so close together all I could do was watch them go by.
I cut across to Partridge Green and Brian had finally hauled Ray back in and was a quarter mile ahead of him on the road. Brian seemed to have settled in at last and was beginning to look as if he was almost enjoying himself, but Ray looked to be grovelling up all the hills as he headed down to the A283. By this time we were beginning to get worried about Ray as he seemed to be tiring very dramatically, yet he wasn't interested in the food he had listed in advance for handing up. We knew that he was finding the energy bars heavy going and he was complaining that the isotonic drink in his bottle was upsetting his stomach. So we weren't quite sure where he was actually getting his energy from. Pete went off down the road to hand him up some melon, and scrabbling about in the car I found some fruit and nut chocolate and thought we'd try him on that.
By this time our riders had done roughly 175 miles and were about 2-3 miles short of the first timekeeper on the sanctuary of the finishing circuit. Once past that first timekeeper any rider is guaranteed to be given a distance whatever happens. I thought maybe some tea would go down well with Ray and dived into the headquarters to get some for him.
By now, of course, there were some very tired bodies trundling round: the four Addiscombe lads were continuing bravely - I know some of them were riding their first 12 and Marina Bloom was going like a train toward an eventual total of 248 and 4th place - wow!
Brian had given ground to Ray again, with another stop shortly before the finishing cicuit and he ploughed steadily on, catching Ray once they were on the circuit and trying to claim that 6 minute advantage back before the time ran out. Ray's main target was to better the 207.45 mile record for his age (75) and when he started on the finishing cicuit it was certainly not out of the question. He had a bad lap and then perked up a bit to complete almost 3 and a half laps of the circuit. The last time around I followed him in the car ready to scoop him up when he finished. He got past the 3rd timekeeper and I could see that he had about 2 minutes left, he desperately wanted to stop, but they waved him on - fortunately - as there was nowhere there to park the car there. At the next junction I waited in a layby. I could tell from the way he was asking the marshall where the next timekeeper was that he had really had enough - but although the 12 hours was up he needed to keep going to that next timekeeper. Fortunately there was somewhere to park at the next timekeeper and I leapt out to encourage him over the last few yards. The timekeeper flagged him down and Joe and I helped him off his bike.
After 12 hours of racing Ray and Brian had both finished at the same timekeeper: after 215+ miles they were finishing just a few hundred yards apart.
Ray's provisional distance is far enough above the record that he will almost certainly have beaten it after all the calculations have been done, and Brian, almost exactly half Ray's age should turn out to be the winner of the Club's 12 hour trophy - just.
Congratulations to both of them, they earned every one of those miles on a hard day. |