TwentyFour12 2009 - continued...

Tracy's now updated her blog too about her race in the AQR female pair at TwentyFour12 - have a read at TwentyFour12: Less is More

Also some more pics from the event, including Tracy & Warren's podium pics and the AQR-Cotic HQ with a rack of lovely Sodas raring to go.


Originally uploaded by Woz & Shelly

Originally uploaded by James Dymond

Some great action pics from Joolze on her website too...
Iain
Kirsty
Ian & also here
Warren

TwentyFour12 2009

The Bontrager TwentyFour12 2009 has to go down as the endurance event of the year again this year... we're all back in one piece after a fantastic and very succesful weekend for the AQR teams with no less than 2 podiums...


- 2nd place for the 12hr Male Pairs (Ian & Warren), 2nd also for the 12hr Open Mixed team (myself, Ian, Jon & Kirsty) and a very respectable 5th for the 12hr Female Pairs for Abie and Tracy.


So well done all and also a massive thanks to Cy & Paul at Cotic for their mechanical and moral support all weekend!


More detailed report to follow, but in the meantime here's some initial photos thanks to Kelvin.

British MTB Series Round 4, Crow Hill

Ian Potter, Mr AQR himself, was back in the UK long enough recently to do some racing of his own at Round 4 of the British Mountan Bike Series. Kate's mentioned his race on her blog as well as her own fantastic win of course!

This weekend I wasn’t the only Potter racing. Ian loves racing and was lining up against Britain’s top Vet racers. He was gridded on the last row with over 60 riders out in front. I was in charge of feeding Ian, but luckily for Mr Potter there is no tech support as speedy mechanics are not my speciality. Ian was racing his new Cotic prototype which consists of a Hemlock full suspension triangle and KP prototype back end. Cy didn’t know about this one until Ian had finished building it, so it has been a little bit of an experiment.

Ian had a lot of riders out in front, so when he came through in the top 20 I was lucky somebody in the pit area pointed him out as I was sunbaking! He was looking strong, but I wasn’t too sure if he was enjoying the experience as he wasn’t smiling, but I guess who does smile when they race, in fact Ian’s not known for ever showing a cheesy grin :-) Ian had to race four laps and by the second lap he was begging for a gel. I could tell he was hurting, but he had made up more places and was close to being in the top 10, in fact I think he was around 11th position. I was jumping or should I say hobbling for joy, as my legs had stiffened up. Ian ended up finishing in 14th place. He said he lost a few places in the end from a crash as his brain had fried and he decided to wake himself up by riding into a tree. Perhaps if I told him that his Mrs did faster lap times he would have tried a little bit harder at the end!

See her full blog entry here.

Midlands XC Round 2 & Champs

14th June saw was a blistering hot, sunny weekend for Round 2 of the Midlands series and the Midlands champs at Hanchurch Woods near Stoke on Trent.

As usual, James and Nadine put on a fantastic event, helped by Martyn Brookes and mates who designed the course on their local patch. A fireroad blast led straight into a loose stony climb, before the awesome singletrack began - rooty lines, steep bombholes and super-fast flowy singletrack through the pines & bracken.

The hot day meant for a tough race and cramp threatened to kick in from lap 2 onwards.... the Torq kept flowing though and kept it at bay just long enough to make up a few places after a less than ideal start. As lap 4 ended I came across the line in 14th place from 48 riders - and 7th in the Midlands Champs. Perhaps not the ideal result after 11th at Round 1 but some good lessons learnt on a great fun and fairly challenging course. Roll on Round 3!

(With thanks to Joolze Dymond for the photo)