I was drafted in to race the Bontrager 24/12 by my mates at the Joyriders camp. It meant wearing a black and orange jersey with white, pink and blue shorts, but I dealt with it. I felt a little guilty for ruining the style of Whytie, but he dealt with it too. I was the second rider to go out for our mixed team of 4. I hadn’t seen the course but I’d heard great stuff. Sure enough, I was thrust over a bridge and onto some off-camber single track the moment I set off. I’m pretty unfit, as I’ve been in the Alps riding downhill and getting ski lifts back up, my arms are pumped but my legs have forgotten how to pedal. I asked Whytie to do all some more work and we did alright, we got to the top of a long fire road, and ignored the free ice cream on offer, spying some woods coming up.

I was surprised, but happy, about how rocky the course was. Most of the course was out-the-saddle work, with the melon-sized boulders and slippy roots crossing the path making it necessary to keep shifting my weight around. After my time away I felt uber-confident on the downhill sections and put Whytie to the test, pushing his limits to ensure that no-one overtook us on those bits. He held up pretty good, but crashing was inevitable, I wanted to go too fast and everything was so slippy, but it was all harmless yet embarrassing types of crashes. I saw loads of people wearing knee and shin guards, and I was wondering if this was a response to the gnarly course, or simply a new trend that I haven’t noticed yet.

The course went through the campsite at roughly the midway point, giving the riders a grateful second opportunity to experience civilization and cheering, clapping nutters that appeared to stand on the track side all day and all night. The whole course was rideable, but with a few steep inclines, that tended to bottle-neck and force you off the bike. Finally we descended along a grassy track that developed serious braking bumps throughout the day.

We were a fun team, with one rider being picked up on the day. Fastest girls of the night were getting around 41 minutes, so I was pleased with my fastest lap time of 47 mins. Err, happy enough to think I need to get fit again and treating every lap like back-to-back cyclo-cross training. 50 minutes guns blazing, love it! 3 hours off, then another 50 minutes, it was pretty sweet.

Yet again though, the rains came, and I have come to associate enduro mountain bike racing with misery and demoralisation. Everything I owned was soaked, and after my final dark, muddy lap, I was so desperate to get into a (wonderfully warm-thank you Bontrager) shower, that I didn’t close my tent properly and it got flooded. It still makes me feel tearful to think about it now, I was so tired and not being able to sleep because everything is damp is just a really, irrationally sad situation. I do wonder what a warm, dry 12 hour event would be like, and I bet it’d be loads nicer.

Anna Glowinski