Recently I competed in the Scott24 hour mountain bike race, as part of the CSC team. It was a great event and I had awesome time. My times were by no means record breaking but they were competitive. The first lap 1hr 22 mins, catching my changeover partner by surprise as they were sure I'd be another 25 odd mins! This earned me the new nickname of the 'Tele Tubbie powerful little legs". The night lap was 1hr 45mins which I thought was good because I started the lap @ 0115 in the morning :-) My final lap was 1hr 25mins, which surprised me because it felt like I stopped a lot more often than the previous laps... It was great to finish with my Girls waiting with "Go Daddy" signs at the finish line.
Around the track there was a mix of automated cameras and photographers so I thought I'd share a few of my favourite shots....
The final Lap, close to the top of the course. I liked this photo because in the background you can see Canberra City.
The Night Lap... I really like the ghost style image which still manages to capture the intense look on my face. Night riding on the side of a mountain certainly had my blood pumping. The quiet stillness of the middle of the night is so peaceful. Though I did come very close to crashing as I came down the last section of mountain I lost concentration for a split second and hit a rut which bounced me out of the seat, and also meant my feet came of the pedals. The bike fish tailed for what felt like 100 mtrs and the fellow behind me as calling out "hold on mate, hold on" and somehow I managed too - phew! The fellow went past and said, predictably "that was close, your a lucky fella!" It was only about a 500 meters to bed from that point :-)
Lap 1 - If I recall correctly this photo was the first photo station and I almost came off because on top of the automatic camera a photographer jumped out from behind a tree to take another couple of snaps...
