Kona 24
Hello all, yes we're still here, things have just been a bit quiet recently at Felt Racing HQ over the last few weeks as the enduro season rolls to an end for another year.
The last enduro race for the year for us was once again the Kona 24 held in Forest in Victoria. The team list for this years race was quite a bit different to our usual line up. Scott and new recruit Neil were away in QLD for round 2 of the National XC series which left a bit of a hole in our team. Luckily though team manager Jarrod was able to secure a couple of "ring ins" for us.
The team for the weekend was to be a team of "six" which would put less pressure on some tired legs and allow for a more relaxed race for all of us. Regular team riders Paul, Mark and Jack were joined by former multiple XC and DH national champion Rob Eva, James "The Dark Knight" Maebus and Garmin Chipotle/Tour de France rider Trent Lowe. Not a bad list of names to have in the team for the weekend!
Racing under the name of Felt/SRAM racing, we were able to set up the Felt tent city along side the SRAM super tent for the weekend in a prime location.
The start of the race featured a prologue with $100 on the line for the winner before the beginning of the first lap.
Trent was sent off to start the race. The prologue was won by a rider from an opposing 6 man team, while was in a good position as he exited the Forrest footy ground to start the first lap. We were to find out later that just after the flag was dropped his handle bars had come loose and he had to stop just after the prologue to tighten them up before continuing on with the rest of the lap. This short delay so early in the race meant that there was a huge amount of traffic to try and get past and the large amount of single track in each course didn't make it easy to get through the field. So with the first lap down we had some work to do to get back in touch with the leaders.
At this stage of the race we only had five riders. Due to work commitments James was unable to make it to the race in time for the start and wasn't expected to arrive for some time. So the five of us set about reeling in the front runners over the next few hours. By about 8 o'clock we had got the lead back but this was to see saw for a couple of hours.
Our team strategy for the race was quite a bit different to other races that we have done in the past. The usual set up is to work out an order for the riders to ride in an just repeat that until the end. This time was a bit different though. Rob and Trent liked the idea of getting some sleep over night and James wasn't around in the early stages of the race so we had some roster juggling to do. Rob and Trent were did a couple of extra laps early until we reached there bed time, by this time the Dark Knight, AKA James, was ready to go (about 11:30) so he was sent out. Because of his late start he was told to do every second lap until morning while the rest of us tried to get some sleep.
Speaking of sleep, each rider had a different take on the idea. Mark had the most conventional set up of the six of us, with a tent and nice comfy mattress next to our pop up tents. Rob had a very nice looking campervan/"The Base Station" on the edge of the footy ground. Trent had some nice off site accommodation to escape too. I decided on sleeping in my car in the car park to escape the noise. Paul set up shop next to his usual "nest" of junk that seems to evolve during the race, it should be noted that it was quite cold during the night and Paul was basically sleeping out in the open! But James takes the cake, we had a small patio heater set up in an enclosed 3m x 3m tent to keep the heat in, it must have been good because he managed to sleep through one of his wake up calls and force Paul out to do a graveyard double lap.
As is usual for 24 hour racing, the race id decided in during teh early morning, and this weekend was no exception. With James feeling fresh from his late start he was able to punch out some fast night laps and gave us a firm hold on the lead. With the rising of the sun came another change to the course used and also to our team composition. Rob and Trent reappeared to ride us through to the finish, while James was pretty much spent after a pretty solid effort through the night and retired to the side line (or to rummage through the food we suspect).
With our morning lead exceeding 25 minutes we were able to relax slightly as our calculations showed that we should be able to get one more lap in than 2nd place which always looks good on the results sheet. This we achieved and cruised over the line to take out the category win and the overall race win.
Sorry about the lack of photos from the weekend, but I'm sure that if you want to see some there will be some up in the usual places.
It might be a bit quite around here for a few more weeks over the Christmas break, but don't worry, we'll be back soon.
The last enduro race for the year for us was once again the Kona 24 held in Forest in Victoria. The team list for this years race was quite a bit different to our usual line up. Scott and new recruit Neil were away in QLD for round 2 of the National XC series which left a bit of a hole in our team. Luckily though team manager Jarrod was able to secure a couple of "ring ins" for us.
The team for the weekend was to be a team of "six" which would put less pressure on some tired legs and allow for a more relaxed race for all of us. Regular team riders Paul, Mark and Jack were joined by former multiple XC and DH national champion Rob Eva, James "The Dark Knight" Maebus and Garmin Chipotle/Tour de France rider Trent Lowe. Not a bad list of names to have in the team for the weekend!
Racing under the name of Felt/SRAM racing, we were able to set up the Felt tent city along side the SRAM super tent for the weekend in a prime location.
The start of the race featured a prologue with $100 on the line for the winner before the beginning of the first lap.
Trent was sent off to start the race. The prologue was won by a rider from an opposing 6 man team, while was in a good position as he exited the Forrest footy ground to start the first lap. We were to find out later that just after the flag was dropped his handle bars had come loose and he had to stop just after the prologue to tighten them up before continuing on with the rest of the lap. This short delay so early in the race meant that there was a huge amount of traffic to try and get past and the large amount of single track in each course didn't make it easy to get through the field. So with the first lap down we had some work to do to get back in touch with the leaders.
At this stage of the race we only had five riders. Due to work commitments James was unable to make it to the race in time for the start and wasn't expected to arrive for some time. So the five of us set about reeling in the front runners over the next few hours. By about 8 o'clock we had got the lead back but this was to see saw for a couple of hours.
Our team strategy for the race was quite a bit different to other races that we have done in the past. The usual set up is to work out an order for the riders to ride in an just repeat that until the end. This time was a bit different though. Rob and Trent liked the idea of getting some sleep over night and James wasn't around in the early stages of the race so we had some roster juggling to do. Rob and Trent were did a couple of extra laps early until we reached there bed time, by this time the Dark Knight, AKA James, was ready to go (about 11:30) so he was sent out. Because of his late start he was told to do every second lap until morning while the rest of us tried to get some sleep.
Speaking of sleep, each rider had a different take on the idea. Mark had the most conventional set up of the six of us, with a tent and nice comfy mattress next to our pop up tents. Rob had a very nice looking campervan/"The Base Station" on the edge of the footy ground. Trent had some nice off site accommodation to escape too. I decided on sleeping in my car in the car park to escape the noise. Paul set up shop next to his usual "nest" of junk that seems to evolve during the race, it should be noted that it was quite cold during the night and Paul was basically sleeping out in the open! But James takes the cake, we had a small patio heater set up in an enclosed 3m x 3m tent to keep the heat in, it must have been good because he managed to sleep through one of his wake up calls and force Paul out to do a graveyard double lap.
As is usual for 24 hour racing, the race id decided in during teh early morning, and this weekend was no exception. With James feeling fresh from his late start he was able to punch out some fast night laps and gave us a firm hold on the lead. With the rising of the sun came another change to the course used and also to our team composition. Rob and Trent reappeared to ride us through to the finish, while James was pretty much spent after a pretty solid effort through the night and retired to the side line (or to rummage through the food we suspect).
With our morning lead exceeding 25 minutes we were able to relax slightly as our calculations showed that we should be able to get one more lap in than 2nd place which always looks good on the results sheet. This we achieved and cruised over the line to take out the category win and the overall race win.
Sorry about the lack of photos from the weekend, but I'm sure that if you want to see some there will be some up in the usual places.
It might be a bit quite around here for a few more weeks over the Christmas break, but don't worry, we'll be back soon.
posted by Jack Lamshed at 7:31 pm
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