Red Bull SSM 24 Hour Race results...

Results just up .....


http://tinyurl.com/2u6rm

Sport Category (252 teams)

Position Laps Time Team
160 12 24:04:43 Unicycle.Com - No Gears

203 10 24:04:48 Unicycle.Com - No Handlebars

Mixed Category (116 teams)

Position Laps Time Team
107 8 24:04:46 Unicycle.Com - No Brakes


Leo


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leow wrote:
*Results just up .....

*


If my reckoning is correct, checking across the categories:

No Gears beat 139 bike teams (including 4 elite).
No Handlebars beat 79 bike teams (including 2 elite).
No Brakes beat 26 bike teams.

7 bike teams beat No Gears only because of a quicker dash across the
finish after lurking.

The Magura Factory Team beat No Handlebars by 8 seconds. Grr. :-)

Regards,
Mark.


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Then those are either amazingly good unicyclists, or very weak
bicyclists. I prefer the former hypothesis.

Well done, folks.


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not sure what team phil was on but he is a damn fast rider on a 24" god
only knows what he is like on a 29er super sonic probli!
Ben


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That was hard!

The course was fantastic for us, which is one reason for the good times,
it was suitably hill (there is a GMS map on the net somewhere). Along
with the weather conditions....

Let me explain. Torrential rain at the start of the first lat (that is
the one with the run). This gave conditions that were so slippy you
would go in to a corner and your wheel would just slide (I will let Alan
explain about his problem). It then gradually got better with less
heavy rain into the night (giving misty conditions which you could then
not see through) which made it super claggy. Hence when you tried to
turn ride, you hit a bad bit and you did a face plant! On the Sunday it
dried out more giving all but the landrover section a really nice
feel.

If you go to the link that Leo has posted you can click on the teams so
you can see what time we were all doing, you will get some idea of the
changing conditions. For me, I did Coker on first lap (good move),
Second lap was in the dark and I took the 29" thinking that the problem
was going to be like the first grip... but got caught with clagging and
then my lights failed for the last 3 miles. 3rd lap I was late... I was
asleep and got woke up a little bit late so my lap was actually another
1 hour 30 (ish) done on the 29" which again had clagging problems....
4th lap back to Coker and :-) what fun, with still only the Landrover
track being a problem.

I would like to thank our support team who were fantastic! Wendy has the
most amazing unicycle flags, Sue was just smiling and being supportive
and Geoff Faraghan was amazing... he just looked after us all!

We have loads of photos and will get some of the up sometime soon....
need to recover a bit.

Roger


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What fun that was!!

Starting the first lap was a mixture of fear, excitement (and buzzing on
too much redbull and go-gel). The run passed in a blur, and I was so
pleased not to UPD in the first few hundred metres with all the
spectators. The rain meant most of the course had degenerated into 3"
deep sludge by the time I got to it, making the steep climbs out of my
league, the flats hard work, and the downs treacherous but so much fun.
I had no idea where I was in terms of distance, and was thinking I had
another couple of miles to go when a marshall told me to get off and
walk for the last 10 yards. I phoned in a panic, causing Debbie to have
to rush over to start her lap.

Waking up for lap 2 when Chris rang at 2:15 am, my first thought was
that I'd have to put my soggy mudball trainers back on. I was feeling
quite down walking to the changeover, but once riding it was magical.
Yes the mud was even deeper and more slippy, it was dark and raining and
foggy, and I had to carry for at least half the way, but i was still
smiling. Riding out of a misty, sticky woodland onto an open flat
hilltop, just as the dawn became brighter than my lights, was such a
special moment. The lap just improved from there on in, and I finished
on a high, ranting about how great it had been.

Having done the 2 laps I set out to do, I had a shower, washed down my
muni and relaxed. After visiting the sports massage tent, and getting my
legs mended, I started having ideas about a third lap

Despite thinking I'd bitten off more than I could manage, I set off on
lap 3 in actual sunshine! Even better it stayed sunny all the way round,
enough to get slightly burned (I'd refused to put on suncream or take my
shades, for fear of taunting the rain gods).

This was the icing on the cake. The course had all but dried out, and I
rode nearly all of the sections that had treated me so cruelly on the
previous laps. The descents were more predictable, and I could take them
faster and enjoy them.

I met Nathan and Phil near the home straight, whilst lurking to avoid
another lap, and we all rode in to cross the line together, exhausted
but elated.

It was moment that will stay with me for life.

The spectators and other riders were so supportive and appreciative,
they really added to the feeling.

Thanks to everyone who came to ride and support us, its the best fun
I've had in ages.

Special thanks to the rest of my team, there are now 26 bike teams that
know better than to mess with the likes of us!


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Now you lot are making me wish I'd been able to race this year. I was
working saturday night however so it wasn't to be. Not sorry to mis
the rain and mud, but getting nostalgic for that
elated/knackered/pleased with yourself feeling you get when its over.

Sarah


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Yes, it really was muddy - but fun!

I think my team beat 2 bike teams last year. So, beating 79 is a
slight
improvement!
Do you think it's partly due to the hillier course and partly the bad
weather? Or are we just super fit kind of guys. Whatever the reason,
all
teams did exceptionally well. To think Roger's team beat 139 bike teams
is
phenomenal. A really BIG well done to everyone.

Thanks Gemma, Sue & Wendy for supporting us riders. Thanks Michael &
Rachael
for your patience with Tio. He really enjoyed playing with the two of
you.

Thanks also to Roger for dragging us all there, and of course the
t-shirts.
They're really good, and a vast improvement on last year's. Thanks
Roger.

BTW, Roger's collecting everyone's photos taken over the weekend. He'll
be
putting them all onto one CD, then copying them for distribution to all
who
took part. I hope that's OK with everyone.

See most of you soon.
Steve


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steve.colligan
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Scot Cooper and I made it home last night after a great trip to the UK
for this race. I can't really believe that we beat 139 bike teams...I
guess the horrendous conditions the first day hurt them more than us.

The race was great, but meeting so many great UK riders was the best
part of the trip. One thing about this race that's different from all
the others I've done is that there are SO many families and friends out
supporting the riders. It wasn't just at our campsite either - bike
teams all over had many many non-riders present all or at least part of
the weekend. With something like 2000 racers, plus who knows how many in
support, it was quite a scene - a HUGE campsite.

Scot and I stayed with Leo White and family Thursday night and made it
to the race venue by 11am Friday. We staked out a large area near the
showers and not too far from the start/finish. It ended up being big
enough for about 10 cars plus 10 tents plus Roger's two HUGE (and vital)
outdoor tent-buildings. Each one is about 10x20' so the two together are
400 square feet of haven from the wind and rain. With the stoves cooking
pasta and other foods all the time - very nice.

After Scot and I returned from lunch at a nearby pub, people arrived all
afternoon, and Friday evening many of us went for a test ride of a bit
over half of the course. It was great and I was kicking myself for
bringing the 29er instead of my Hunter36 - little did I know. One thing
was a little scary on that test ride though - no one knew when we
started, but we finished at 9:30 and it felt like we had ridden for way
over an hour...and we had only done half the course (10.2 miles total).
Lots of climbing and not much of it is easy cruising.

The race started at 2pm Saturday which gave the rain just enough time to
reduce a huge part of the course to an absolute quagmire of mud. So much
was unrideable. I was the last rider on our team and started around 8pm.
By then, the first 2 miles was ok, but the next 3 miles or so was a
joke. Imagine riding on wet ice. When you fall (sometimes straight onto
your bum), you don't stop - you keep sliding. Dismounts onto your feet
often leave you skiing through the mud desperate to not fall. But the
second half of the course was better. Still I found myself WALKING on
some downhills. Can you imagine that? It was so slippery that it was
actually better for me to walk than ride and crash again and again. The
steep sections were not even thinkable - bikes too.

My second lap started around 5am and was about the same - no drying out
had occured. By eating many of those great power gel things, I was able
to keep strong throughout the course and ride a lot of the uphills, and
I was getting better at the surfing style of riding required on the
moderate downhill sections.

My last lap started a bit after noon and was totally different. There
was still a 2 mile "Landrover test track" section that was a slog
through DEEP and disgusting mud, but the rest of the course was not only
rideable, but actually FUN and fast. It was so great riding all the hard
parts that weren't even a remote possibility before for me.

I had the option of crossing the line before 2pm which would allow (and
require) someone else to do another lap, but a call to Roger told me not
to do that. Instead, I hung out for a while before the line (this is
called lurking) and crossing together with Phil and Joe which was
awesome. Doing a 24 hour race with only a 4 person team is a bit harder
than the more usual 5 person team. And in conditions like this, with a
difficult course...I think we were all glad when it was over.

Many Thanks to Leo and family for hosting us and feeding us, Roger for
bringing the tents and his great cheer, Des for being such a great
teammate (Des and Roger are Coker Kings if you didn't know), Scot for
going all the way over with me and toughing out a very difficult 2am
lap, Geoff Faraghan for SO much help and support, and all the other
unicyclists and family/friends who made it a fantastic trip.

Plan for next year: let's get as many riders as possible to go so we can
have even more teams. And maybe we could assemble the ultimate 24 hour
Coker team: Roger, Des, Ken Looi and Christian Hoverath!

Photos later...but attached is a quick scan of one taken by one of the
photographers there.

---Nathan


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nathan wrote:
*.................... And maybe we could assemble the ultimate 24 hour
Coker team: Roger, Des, Ken Looi and Christian Hoverath!
---Nathan *


Yes I had forgotton about that! It would be such a cool "dream team!" It
would I think put up another 100 places. :-)


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