An intrepid bunch set off on Friday to tackle the 12 hour Bristol Bike Fest , Justin, Dan, Jason and Paul made up the ratpack team of four looking to defend last years 7th place in the charmingly titled Old Gits category , whilst Jan and Lucy were entered in the womens pairs.
In usual VC Melyd style Friday evenings carbo loading went well.. that was until those in the neighbouring tents complained about the singing at 1 am!
Saturday was forcast to be pretty grim and the torrential rain certainly added spice to an already slippy 6 mile parkland XC course. The Le Mans start suited jason our designated first lap man and we were off to a flier.
Lucy had a cleat issue and had to ride unclipped for her first lap. Progress went well after that. Transitions generally went well apart from a no show from jJse…. eventually hunting him down. Llucy missed Jan – Teading to Jan riding three laps at one point!
The day went on with fairly consistent lap times in weather that ranged from monsoon to tropical sunshine, by the time the twelve hours were up we were all keen to find out how we’d done. Jan and Lucy stormed to an impressive victory in the womens pairs two laps ahead of their nearest rivals. We managed to maintain the status quo with a most respectable 7th (again) out of 35 teams.
ABOVE: Queens of the Mountain
ABOVE: Justin
ABOVE: Dan
ABOVE: Paul
ABOVE: Jason