Team Milton Keynes Mountain Bikers 'Storm' Dusk Till Dawn
With myself and Ceri winning the female pairs, the 3 man team coming 2nd and Lee and Paul coming 20th in the men’s pairs, Team Milton Keynes had a great showing at this years Dusk till Dawn despite horrific conditions.
The race runs from 8pm until 8am round a 12.3 mile lap through Thetford forest made up of great single track, bomb holes and some soul sapping climbs. Without poor weather it’s a challenge but this year with the rain it became the toughest one ever.
As the race unfolded the drama of the racing was almost overshadowed by the increasingly worsening conditions: light rain was replaced by heavy rain, which in turn was replaced by torrential rain. Occasionally the rain would stop and we thought at last but then the rain would return with a vengeance. There was not one dry lap during the whole race and lap times grew by about 30 mins as the night wore on.
Ceri and I found it tough but with the fantastic support of the two Alan’s we kept going, we were racing primarily against the Activ Trek team who had won in previous years, we both dug in and took the lead in the 4th lap it started as a 35sec lead and finally after 13 hours and 22 mins we won by 22 minutes. A superb result.
From the British Cycling web site
‘Finally there was a shake up in the women's pairs as the usual dominant 2 Activ Trek Birds had to settle for an unfamiliar 2nd spot as a new set of victors took the honours. After the lengthy battle, constantly looking over their shoulders it was Team Milton Keynes who took the top step. The Cambirds claimed 3rd.’
The Mens team of 3 also performed superbly with Niall Frost (aka tree hugger caused by light failure), Paul Londres (nightwatchman steady and in control) and Stuart Pryce (the ginger badger!?) coming 2nd to Fat Birds Cycling club. Lee Goodman and Paul came 20th in the men’s pairs which was a great result considering it was Paul’s first ever 12 hour pairs race and what a one he picked.
It was bizarrely enjoyable, the result certainly helped but I am not sure Ceri & I will be back there next year to defend our result.
