Scott 24 - all over for 2006

After a looooong drive home for all of us, and the other Victorian entrants in the Scott 24 hour, its all over! And as mentioned before, we're stoked to bring home the 3rd place, albeit with no 3rd prize... For all the results, apparently you need to go to the CORC site, rather than the official race site, so have a look here for the complete results.

Lining up for the start of the Scott 24hour is always a bittersweet experience- on one hand you know that you are about to start something immense, and on the other hand you know that you are about to flog yourself 4 ways from sunday during the worlds longest 800m run. And watch blokes in runners heading up the road whilst you feel your hamstrings slowly separate sinew by sinew. Pleasant to say the least. But with a bit of perserverance, Felt racing was second up the first climb and happily in the front of the race, not mired in with the other racers struggling for every square centimeter of track.

So away we went, rolling around the first lap with the pain of the run still fully on board, and into the waiting hands of Jason who charged off for his first of many laps. The day rolled on with nary a problem, consistantly lapping with each rider putting in the occasional flyer to see how they went, but always with the undercurrent of patience knowing full well that the difference was made in the early morning. The day drifted along with all of us choking on the horrendous dust, many riders reduced to using paper dust masks to limit the effects, a smart move considering the coughs that we are suffering now. Later in the day, I suffered a staking in the rear tyre, caused by a sharp stick piercing the casing and was forced to ride the final 2km on the rim to the transition to limit the time losses, and later Paul was forced to do something similar. Some sections required running, and injuries were sustained there as well, so the race wasn't without some hickups.

As the light faded and we broke out the Night Lightning Blaast lights, we discovered how difficult the night was going to be- imagine driving in a snowstorm with the lights on high beam, reflecting back in your eyes. Lights ablaze, we set about passing the Giant team for good, and pushing on with the chase to the leaders. These races are often decided in the darkness, with the wiser heads tapping away long into the night and morning, whilst the young bucks blow up and sleep. And it would appear that something similar happened this time. With no major dramas during the night bar one, and bikes that wouldn't give up regardless of how hard they got smashed around on this exceptionally brutal course, we passed the Giant team, and continued on our merry way.

The injury I refer to was Jack's 4am mishap with a branch that went through his front spokes, depositing him on the ground and unfortunatly onto a large rock, which it appears has given him a massive corkie, but I'll wait for the doctor to confirm that. Regardless, he was given the "out of the game, coach" decision by our massuer Anee-Marie and that was the ball game for him. The decision was a hard one to accept for Jack, knowing the we still had a long way to run, but unavoidable as he couldn't and still can't walk (let alone pedal) with any degree of comfort or speed. One sore fellah indeed, but he'll bounce back in no time!

So we marched on to the finish with 3 riders, keen to either keep our lead or extend it if possible, and it appeared that the latter occured. The time gap back to Giant blew out to over 15 minutes and it was simply a matter of consistantly lapping and looking after our bodies to get it over the line. Looking after our bodies was performed to perfection by our masseur Anne-Marie and team manager Em, keeping us fueled, hydrated and ready to rock. Anyone who gets through this race without feeling the effects needs to go harder, as everyone I've spoken to today has stories to tell!

As the race wound down, it became clear that we would be able to hang on to our hard earned 3rd place overall and in class, ahead of around 160 four man teams, a total of 3000+ riders and the 6 man teams and behind the teams of GU and Scott/Flight centre. After a comment by one of the commentators in relations to some of the Pro Team riders that 'are paid to ride bikes', it should be noted that of the 12 people on the podium, I would dare say that there would be less that a handful that have any form of payment, and most are gainfully employed. Felt racing contains an electritian, a builders labourer, and engineer and a 16 year old school student, so we are far from paid as well, which also adds to the displeasure at recieving nothing at all for our thrid place. A certificate would have even been nice. But those sentiments are for a letter another time, so I won't dwell on that.

Felt Racing must thank the following people for their support, and tireless amazing work. Our manager Emily did a great job keeping us on time every time, and supported us day and night. GVRaceTech performed the greatest of jobs once again for us, with many riders asking if we had not done a lap yet as our bikes were so sparkling clean and lubed each time we reached for them. He was also the most requested mechanic in the pits, fielding work from other riders around the paddock, graciously helping them out when he could regardless of their alliance. His work is nothing short of incredible, and he did it with no sleep. His work extended beyond the bikes as well, constantly fettling our 'house' with improvements to the lighting, the generator, the music, the walls and everything associated with the team resources. The work ethic is absolutly amazing, nothing short of incredible, and we can never thank him enough for all the work he puts in at every one of our races. But we do try to, so thanks again Gerald! To Anne-Marie our masseur for the weekend, her skilles were amazing, fixing every ache and pain we bought home, regardless of how much we tried to slide off the table under her thumbs! This was the first time we had the services of a masseur and it was well worth it to get that edge that we needed. And finally, thanks to Rich for his support and loan of the laptop for the unsuccessful updates, and to all the other riders and supporters that give us a cheer out there, we really appreciate it and hope that we can return the favour, so come over and say hello when you see us!

Here are a buch of photos of the event, with more to follow later on. Thanks for stopping by, and we'll see you at the next enduro! Roll on the Kona 24!

Jack and Paul goofin it up at the start, with the Felt flag, a concept that seems to have taken off...!

Geez, thats a whole lot of people....!!

Ash, rolling though for the first lap of many, holding a spot in the top 10 after the run.

Paulie, giving us a bit of Ploeg Blue Steel, whilst warming up trackside.

An out of sequence shot, but is that redbull I spy? Like the man said, whatever it takes eh!!




Jack looking a bit shell shocked, or maybe that was just the toilet trucks...


This is kind of what its like at night, but far worse with the Night Lightning lights, the light picking up all the dust that hangs in the air over the entire course. Makes me cough just thinking about it...
Ash warming up in the new Felt windvest, possibly to the displeasure of other campers- we did try to be quiet, and I though we did a good job?!

I think that Paul was getting a little tired of pasta later in the night. Still, the new SPD compatible moccasins worked a treat for him!

Jason banging out another hot lap in the morning sunshine!

GVRaceTechs' Gerald- the man behind the bikes and the spanners. He hates to see his face up here, but he does such a good job with the spanners and shooting photos, that he deserves it! Sorry and thank you at the same time!

More Blue Steel from Paul- this is one funny fellah, he has a comeback for everything, and never feels like he is anything other than one of the team. This bloke can do anything, anytime and often better than anyone! Watch out for him!

"I think I can see $2!!!!"

Felt Racing 2006

We at Felt Racing welcome all, even the team manager of GU Energy/Yeti to our tent- those boys were flying, and Cam here was keeping them all in line, and looking dapper to boot!!