Samuri, thanks fer that! I was a LOT older after I'd finished.
I notice Mrs Flash has very diplomatically omitted to mention the bit where Terra managed to ram into the back of her and knock her off!!
The lads with the cow bells and the shouts of encouragement were very welcome so well done, lads.
Right now I can't see me doing another 24 in the near future - that was ****in' tough. Kieder 100 (probably), Ruthin Merida, 3 peaks cx and Dusk til Dawn and that will do me for a looooong time, thankyouverymuch.
Massive respec' to all who took part or who supported.
it was only ****in' tough because you gave it a full can of beans and didn't mess about 😉
Christ, my memory must be going - I can't even remember beans. I did have a sausage at one point... 🙂
PS You did reasonably well too... Looking forward to reading the blog and seeing all richpips pics.
I had tinned ravioli. Your Will watched me in utter disbelief as I ate a full can in 6.8 seconds. With your fork.
Oggles and co...you were all fantastic!
I was the manic woman running up and down that climb shouting for "Paul..no. 2"!!!
Oh, and those who managed to wheelie and bunnyhop at the top made my little lad's day!! 8)
Also, well done to MrsF!
Can you autograph it?
Woo - Podium photos!
26 laps and a win on my first ever 24hr solo, and what an experience. Truly bonkers. I'd never even done a 12hr solo before (although I did do the South Downs Double a month ago).
I did, however, have what must be the world's greatest pit, and the podium was a direct result of their endless enthusiasm, encouragement, energy and just outright bullying to keep me on the bike and taping out the laps after a ferocious first 6hrs to the race. I never would have finished, let alone got to the podium without them. So it's a victory to Ian Leitch of Indepedent Fabrications who headed up the team of the USE/Exposure crew (including Trevor Allen 3rd 24/12 solo) who were amazing in their support and endless energy, with additional nicer, more softly spoken (but still bullying!) night time encouragement from Jenn from Minx. All of the energy from these amazing people made the day happen for me, and they were the machine that masterminded the victory, I was just a passenger.
Special mention to all the other soloists, I think I swappded a few words with most of them at some point, if only a quick exchange of "go on solo" in mutual encouragement.
A brutally sticky course was offset by some of the most enthusiastic and cheery marshalling I've ever seen at a race (or maybe it was just pity when they saw the state i was in by the look of pain on my face).
Hope to see you all at the BrightonBigDog next weekend, presented by Morvélo who designed the beautiful and very fast kit that powered me to victory, for what promises to be the best race course of the year.
Rob
Ha! Good work Oggles & co - let's hope you apply to be marshalls next year... and they accept you this time!
Congrats again Rob, a well deserved victory!
well done Rob.
SITS heroic award must go to [b]Trevor from USE Exposure[/b]
He filled in (for a couple of laps) for our team when one of our riders couldn't start after slicing his quad on his disc brake rotor at Afan (don't ask.... I still can't work out the dynamics)
A great event, and the weather was perfect (almost.....)
Oggles - You were brilliant! the "put it in big ring" chants were great. I always felt great once i got to that position, almost enjoyed it 😆
Who was the kid at the top of the muddy decent chanting 'go left' audibly. Even though I knew full well the good line was down the right all the way, for some reason his hypnosis worked once and I almost came a cropper legging it down the left hand side. Cheeky little scamp was just wanting a pile-up I reckon.
I fell for that too...Literally!
Yeah, forgot to mention the guys with the cowbells etc, they were great!
Also have to say, GF was a brilliant support crew. I went out too fast in my first 3 laps and half way round the 3rd was feeling awful and panicky. He gave me a proper talking to and sorted my head out and I wouldn't have finished it without him.
Lee, that was me with the gold tassles, I remember your pompom!
MrSparkle, he apologised so nicely on the next lap I managed to forgive him 😉
well done Rob! Excellent result.
Cheers mrsflash. I can take none of the credit though, it's all support crew derived, USE/Exposure and Ian Leitch from Independent Fabrications did all the hard work and seemed to put in more energy to my pits than I could muster through a good chunk of the night!