Paul Fielding shares his experience of this year’s Dusk til dawn:
On entering this event I said to myself that I would treat it as a recce for next year’s race. I thought getting a top position this year would be a big ask considering that I had not ridden a Mtb since August 2011, which ended in tears as I fatally cracked my frame. I was also lacking valuable enduro miles having recently lived on a diet of short rides and a few road races.
I picked up the new Anthem X29 on the Friday evening just before Grafham closed. Simon the Mechanic had done a grand job of swapping out my lightweight bit’s from the Wyhte and setting it up. With the race starting the following evening and not having ridden a full susser before, I thought I had better test it out around the water. The first outing was a big hit as I loved the ride and boy was it fast. My Gps showed that I had done the loop in just over 26 mins gaining the loop Strava KOM, (Saddo). Saturday daytime was spent generally ambling about visiting Holme 1940’s weekend with the family, which I must add was a good day out if you like that kind of thing.
On to the race itself – Having rocked up at Thetford with a couple of hours to go until the start I set about sorting out my admin hiring helmet lights etc. It was at this point that I realised that I had forgotten my energy gels (Numb Skull). A quick visit to the Torq stand and I was all sorted with 10 gels for a tenner. This was not enough but hey ho I only had a tenner on me and mobile credit card transactions were not working properly in the forest. On the line I had a chat with Tracey Ibbett who tipped me off about a very deep puddle for which I was very grateful for. When the clock hit 20:00 we were off – The start was more akin to a 2 hour enduro. At the time I thought how could this pace be sustainable. Anyway I pushed on and decided to hit a fast couple of lap to get a gap then kick back and maintain a comfortable pace. My game plan seemed to pay off as I distanced my nearest rivals. What followed next was a complete riding attrition until the end with the cold and the sore lower back that I was experiencing. Luckily I was able to maintain my steady pace with only a couple of dips in performance. I normally stopped twice on each lap, once to shake the snake and twice to change my bottles over. Next time in similar conditions I would drink a little less to negate the excessive stopping. As mentioned before I could have done with some more gels and food as I was a bit hungry towards the end. Throughout the race I think I was lucky with my lighting in that the only problem I had was my own fault in not swapping out the battery of my main bar light at the right time. Luckily for me the Exposure Diablo helmet light got me round to the start area so that I could swap the battery, this resulted in a very slow lap time. On what I thought was going to be my last lap I felt a great sense of happiness that it would soon be over. Not so! As I approached the start/ Finish area the clock read 07:50 hrs, my heart dropped but there was no other option but to head out and crack another lap, as I was not 100% sure of my position. One hour later I was back – I crossed the line and heard the commentator announce my 1st place position.
Is that what they call epic? Apparently not as I was later told about 24h Solo Enduro racing. I have alway’s had a lot of time and respect for Josh Ibbett, but having experienced one of his shorter disciplines my respect for his drive and determination has increased.
