The race attracted 173 riders to the start line and as a mark of respect to James Williamson, one of Australia’s most successful mountain bike riders who recently passed away, all riders observed a minute’s silence, wore black armbands and completed a slow roll out lap in honour.
On the second lap the race heated up with a bunch of eight riders picking the pace up. My main aim was to remain within contact of the leaders and minimise the deficit before night fall. This proved to be more difficult than I expected, with a couple of wheel mechanicals resulting in a couple of additional pit stops.
On lap six I severely damage my rear wheel on the Merida ninety Six and was forced back onto my Merida FLX hard tail. I was lapping well into the night and secured second position in the 25 - 29 age group and 7th overall after eight hours of racing.
My pit crew were helping me focus on the target of consistent lap times through the night and I was feeling strong after the first battery swap around 12:00am.
On lap 26 at about 1:30am, I notice that things around me were getting a little hazy and soon after realised that my eye issues, which I experience at the Scott 24hr in October 2009 had returned to haunt me.
I let my support crew know that my eye was playing up and said I would try another lap and see what happens. The lap was very sketchy and I found that my vision was quickly deteriorating. Upon return to the transition area, I had my support crew inspect my left eye, which had once again gone cloudy and was moving erratically. The sensible decision was made to pull the pin after 14 hours of racing and 243km of single track.
Once again it was frustrating to not finish the race, considering I was feeling strong, the fact that the eye issue had occurred for a second time is a serious concern. I will be focus on getting this issue diagnosed as soon as possible, to ensure this issue won’t plague my world solo Championship bid later this year.
A special thanks to my wife Samantha Swain & friend Gavin Storey whom were my pit crew for this race, Bike Bug North Sydney for their continued support and Merida for an amazing bike that helped me race with the world’s best ultra endurance athletes.
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