Darkness falls over Whistler

The World Solo Champs was my first real international race, in a field of more than 20 Elite female soloists. I finished second behind Canada’s Leslie Tomlinson (Rocky Mountain) after a very fast and tough race, and it’s a result I’m more than pleased with.

Andy and I arrived in Canada the Monday before the race in order to settle in and adjust to the time difference. We had a lot to organise also, as we had to shop around to pick up all the bits and pieces that we couldn’t take with us on the flight over.

Preparation went relatively smoothly, with the only major setback being that our energy drink was confiscated by Canadian customs. We had arranged with Powerbar Europe to have my usual Hydroplus drink sent out from the UK, as it isn’t available in North America. But we didn’t realise that Canada has unusually strict laws regarding food and drink imports, and the Hydroplus never arrived. We had to buy a supermarket carb drink from the local grocery store – it was unpalatable to say the least, although my stomach came around to it after about eight hours of racing. Luckily we’d arranged for Powerbars and Powergels to be sent by courier from Powerbar Canada, so we had plenty of those.

The race began with a Le Mans start, followed by a short prologue before heading out for the first proper lap. I started fast, as planned, and caught Leslie about a third of the way into the first lap and we rode that lap together, setting a blazing pace. I dropped back in the second lap and by the third was suffering with cramps and nausea. I dropped back to third as defending champion Christina Begy (USA, Spot) came past me, and I had to sit back and focus on staying steady and keeping my drink down.

The course was a mix of everything – big, steep climbs (1,600ft per lap), flowing singletrack and tight, technical descents. It was about 18km (11miles) long, including an additional 2km loop just for the Elite soloists. The extra loop was a steep, grassy climb followed by an even steeper forest descent. The descent was the most technical of the whole course, with nests of slippery tree roots, sheer drops, steps and chutes. About a third of the field (men and women) were walking all or most of it and the good technical riders were making up several minutes. I was able to ride the whole descent once I got my lines sorted, and although it was stressful it was a refreshing way to finish each lap.

The sun went down about 8pm, and by that time I was about 30 minutes behind the leader, and 20 minutes behind second place. I was starting to feel a lot better and picked up the pace, making up minutes on the leaders every lap as the track became completely dark. Meanwhile another former champion, Louise Kobin (USA) in fourth place was chasing me hard, closing the gap to 10 minutes at one stage.

It was the longest night I have ever ridden through, with a full ten hours of darkness. I caught Christina at about 3am and continued to put in fast laps to consolidate my second place. The sky began to lighten just before 6am, and by that time the leader gap was varying between 10 and 20 minutes. Leslie and I were both still pushing hard, and the gap to third place had stretched out to 40 minutes. Louise had moved up to third place, and Marg Fedya (USA) was now in fourth, just a few minutes back from her.

Jenn celebrates second place

With only two laps left to race the finishing order was more or less set, and although I did put in a fast lap about 9.30am, I was suffering as the hard night of racing had taken its toll on me. I knew I couldn’t close the gap on Leslie and had to focus instead on keeping a strong, steady pace in order to keep my second place, which I did comfortably.

All told, the race went well and I was lucky to suffer no punctures or mechanicals for the full 24 hours. I rode a 2004 S-Works Epic and a customised 2005 Women’s Stumpjumper. The bikes were comfortable, climbed well and allowed me to tackle the technical descents with absolute confidence. I chose to ride with Panaracer Trailblaster Tubeless 1.95s as I needed a robust trail tyre that would handle everything.

For the night laps I used a Lupine Edison 10 for the first seven hours, then switched to an Edison 5 for the remainder of the night laps. The two batteries handled the ten hours of darkness with power to spare, despite the alpine temperatures.

I would like to give special thanks to Specialized for sending me to the race and providing me with such a great opportunity. I’d also like to thank Powerbar, Lupine Lighting Systems and Panaracer for their essential support. Finally and most importantly, thanks to my coach Andy Patterson and to my Mum and Dad, who flew from New Zealand to support me for this race.

For more information visit www.24hoursofadrenalin.com