Dawn to Dusk
Team Kiwibikes Wins!
Race report from past Kiwibikes mechanic Steve Pattle: 19 July 2010…
Dawn to dusk 2010 an eventful race at that. Lucas and myself were in a two person team this year, a change of team member for myself. Lucas has just put his leg over the new GT Fury, the downhill bike from a brand that is new to us at Kiwibikes. Myself riding the Trek Session 88 World Cup, a brand that has been part of Kiwibikes since the beginning of my time with Jeff.
The race began at 7am; which meant a 5.30 start for us. The 1st run was up to myself with the choice of Billy-T, Corners, Jump track or the Downhill track, at this time it was pretty dark so my choice was to do the long and painful Billy-T loop, at this point lights were needed, Kel at NiteLites sorted me out with some lights. So bring it on.
Little did I know they threw in the start of the Chinese Menu as well. Not to worry, that’s part of the fun!. Next run down the hill was up to Lucas, choosing Jump track. Lucas got down in good time, so now the fun began. Once Billy-T was out of the way, there were only compulsory runs of three tracks to complete. 10.30 came around, all three tracks completed. Lucas and myself were on the way to endless downhill runs.
At midday results were read out, TEAM KIWIBIKES 1st with 10 runs in total, competition was heating up with 2nd place team Nargies putting the pressure on behind us, the race was on!. As time went on, the clock ticking over lap after lap, we were starting to feel our energy levels dropping. Following further results we were now up by two laps, not bad for such stiff competition. So we kept charging on, nearing the end of the day Lucas began suffering bad arm cramps and I was getting mentally tired. As a result of this I knew we had lost some time, still, there was a race to win so I snuck over to the timing tent for a peek. Damn!, we were down to just one lap in the lead, that’s how it stayed until team Nargies got lucky and in the nick-of-time caught a shuttle bus that was just leaving. With that lucky break they made some time back on our team. Not to worry, the last two runs of the day came around, YES! the end was near.
It was now up to myself to do the last two runs, the race was on to gain back the time we had lost. The second to last run was nice and fast, there I was, the last time sprinting up the road and the other teams rider was coming down laughing because he had thought I was going to miss the last bus. Not to worry, it was still there. So here we are, at the bottom of the hill on the bus 14minutes to go until the end and counting. We were nearing 3/4 of the way up Hill road, here I was discussing the time we had left with a fellow friend. 8 minutes on the clock, 3 minutes to the top and 5 minutes to get to the bottom. It was sorted, we were going to make it, all I had to do was make it to the bottom in front of team Nargies. There I was hanging off the side of the truck, bike in hand ready to go, all that was going through my mind was stay on the bike. As the truck came to a stop I jumped off and off I went.
The winning solo rider was 1st on the hill; I was closely following in 2nd, which was how it stayed until the finish line. I got to the bottom and 10 riders behind me came team Nargies final rider, we had done it! Lucas and I were stoked.
Up came to me, an up and coming rider and Kiwibikes sponsored rider Lochie McNab, the coolest 6year old, so on it!. Lochie is going to the BMX world champs later this year in South Africa to represent New Zealand (ed’s note – he won the World Champs riding a Jeffson). He was so happy because he had gotten to do a few laps with his dad Steve. “I did corners and the down hill track” he was telling me, for a kid that age, man what a solid effort.
So by this time prize giving was upon us, two person teams winner TEAM KIWIBIKES 27 laps, 2nd team Nargies 26 laps, we had done it!. Lucas and my self, with Lochie on my shoulders, went up to get our medals. Lauchie also got a medal for youngest competitor of the day and Lucas and I for the 2010 dawn till dusk overall winners.