Dawn to Dusk - Rotorua - 19/06/2010

This was a 10hr race held on Saturday, with the clock starting at 7am and stopping at 5pm. I went up with the Bicycle crew (consisting of: Brother Ryan, Cam, Cowboy, Marcus, Richard, Jason, Steven, Jamie, Matt, Brandon. and Amanda on the way back) on friday. Had to meet at bicycle at 12 so couldnt go to school as i had to ride there. I got there about 1130, as i had nothing to do at home, so decided to hang out there instead. Trip up wasnt as bad as i thought. I thought that it would be a loud, slow ride to Rotorua, but it wasnt. thought the trip would be loud cos of the boys, thought the trip would slow cos of the double size horse float trailer thingy with 14 bikes plus all our gear being towed behind a van, van cam got was a 3 litre diesel turbo, so trip was good.

Saturday we were up at 530 to get ready to leave at s6 for the race, since the starting people from each team wanted to be on the first shuttle that was leaving the bottom at 6.45 and we had to put the bikes together and gear up. Brother Ryan, Jason, Cowboy and Brandon were in one team (Jason was first rider). Cam, Marcus, Jamie and Matt in another team (Marcus was first rider). Amanda and me in the last team (I was the first rider) and Richard and Steven were pit crew. First run was pretty dark (went down jumps) , and scary especially since i was riding a new bike that felt completely different from the Fury. Was trying out the TR450 i am gonna be riding for world champs. After the first run down, i went up and did another run, this time down the DH, this was also scary, still not much light, bike still feeling weird. After i had finished that run, Amanda went up and did 2 runs of corners, then i did another 2 of down hill and she did billy T etc. We just continued like this for the rest of the day. After the first 4-5 runs on the TR450 i was starting to get used to it, was feeling quite good. Was loving the Marzocchi 888 evo ti's that Ryan had made sure made it onto the TR450. Didnt really think there would be much difference between the Boxxers and them, but they felt a lot more plusher especially through the first bit of travel over the little bumps . Me and Amanda ended up 4th in the 2 person team, Ryans team came first in the 4 person team, and Cams team came 2nd in the 4 person team, just behind Ryans team. Was a good race, very relaxed, more like a 10 hour long day of shuttles more than anything. Pretty keen to do it next year, might even try solo.