What’s dafter than racing your bike down the Descent Line without a chain – how about sticking your chain back on but doing it in the dark!After a recent SingletrAction group buy of the latest Hope R4 lights, as sure as eggs is eggs, the logical conclusion was ‘Mates Night Race’. Ok, Race is pushing it, it was more of an excuse to sneak out on a Monday night for a blast & completely lacking in any prizes.
17 riders, a vast array of crazy lights, 3 radios, 1 stopwatch, a pen, a pad & a bag of Winegums… Let the chaos commence!One major difference between this and the Chainless Challenge was the chance to pedal like hell off the start line.
Talk about over enthusiasm, it’s a bloody miracle some folks made it round the first bend, talk about super sketchy.I’ve been riding a Singlespeed recently so found the whole pedalling thing unnatural to start with. But it was good to watch my times improving as the night went on.Joe Rafferty did one timed run, in-between going up the Black Climb faster than I go downhill. Oddly enough, Joe set an unbeatable time of 1min 6sec.
Talk about over enthusiasm, it’s a bloody miracle some folks made it round the first bend, talk about super sketchy.I’ve been riding a Singlespeed recently so found the whole pedalling thing unnatural to start with. But it was good to watch my times improving as the night went on.Joe Rafferty did one timed run, in-between going up the Black Climb faster than I go downhill. Oddly enough, Joe set an unbeatable time of 1min 6sec.
PJ took the early lead for second place by hitting the 1min 12.84
Tag then smashed it at 1min 11.85 but was beaten into 3rd place by his mate Mikey B with a 1min 11.82
Not only was Mikey riding a bike that had just been built that day but he had the crappiest lights of the night too, imagine what he’d be like in the daylight with a bit more bike time…Our reigning Chainless Champion, Tony Heap, in a blatant attempt at making sure his recent glory stayed in place, claimed a blown shock on his full suss.
He brought the wife’s hardtail instead and on his last run, insisted on creating a whole new line after the boulder drop. It ended spectacularly shy of the finish line, in a gorse bush, in a crash that started 50 yards earlier!!There were three other standout times.Both Tony Heap & Steve Cockerham were slower with chains, although both were on hardtails this time.
Craig ‘Knacker’ Smith, riding the same bike, with 4 XML lights, placed 2rd without a chain but went slower with. Go figure?
He brought the wife’s hardtail instead and on his last run, insisted on creating a whole new line after the boulder drop. It ended spectacularly shy of the finish line, in a gorse bush, in a crash that started 50 yards earlier!!There were three other standout times.Both Tony Heap & Steve Cockerham were slower with chains, although both were on hardtails this time.
Craig ‘Knacker’ Smith, riding the same bike, with 4 XML lights, placed 2rd without a chain but went slower with. Go figure?
What’s next?Dafter still? Or with chains and daylight?And remember, 5 trailbuilding days and you qualify for a Hope discount 
Good times.
The Results
