24hrs of Exposure (or ‘How to spend Easter hurting your legs’)

Pyro / 09.04.2012

Over the past few years, the endurance mountain bike scene in the UK has been expanding at a fairly high rate of knots. From the beginnings at Mountain Mayhem and the other team endurance events, a class of riders has emerged who are generally looked upon by the Team riders as a little bit unhinged - the Soloists.

The 12 & 24hrs of Exposure event is, therefore, an entirely Solo race, and doubles as both the UK and European Solo MTB Championships. At the same time, the race aims to be a good start point for those contemplating their first solo endurance event by giving separate Rookie category prizes for those having their first race attempt at either of the specified time limits. The organisers, SIP Events, offer loads of training tips and advice on the event website for the nervous and new, Torq Fitness provide free energy drink in the pit area, the caterers provide free hot drinks for racers, sponsors Bike Seven and Juice Lube provide neutral tech support and a bike wash… the list goes on, and those little details add up to what appears to be a very Rookie-friendly event.

For this particular Rookie, the day started early, leaving Carlisle at 7am to get over to Newcastleton, get registered, get my camping/pit area set up and get my head round what I was supposed to be doing. The slightly bewildering tape system had to be explained to me twice - wraps of tape on the seatpost or saddle rails to allow riders and marshals to identify your category: Red for 12hr, no tape for 24hr, Blue for Rookie, Yellow for Veteran. Soon my seatpost looked like a maypole and yet I was still none the wiser, so I continued with my prep. Gears tweaked, chain lubed, cables adjusted, and still that niggling knowledge in the back of my head that I’d not really ridden my bike seriously since about September. Oops …

Once all the normal pre-event registration faff was dealt with and I was fed and watered satisfactorily, the racer briefing by Sara Randle from SIP Events started, so it seemed like a good idea to pay attention. Another cup of tea, and a quick brief with my pit crew (thanks Dad) and I started feeling like I had some vague idea of what was going on at last. At that point, it was time to head down from the race arena at the Rock UK outdoors centre into the centre of Newcastleton for the formalities to commence.

We all assembled outside the Grapes Hotel to sign on on the official race sign on board (‘so that’s what it’s for!’), have a final short briefing, and then be lead out by the Copshaw Common Riders and a piper - ah yes, we’re in Scotland, aren’t we? - and then suddenly we’re rolling along the road, back towards the arena and then off to the right and … we appear to be racing. How did that happen?!

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