Todays photo was taken on Sunday morning at the 12 hour race, it is my brother James crossing the line for the finnish (rider 112), things did not go well!
All kicked off okay my brother went out on the opening 2 laps to make the best of the daylight (i knew the course already) he came in and the handover went well and off i go for my 2 laps, two thirds of the way around my first lap i cam off line to let the leaders come through, this was a bad thing as i went a little too far off line and crashed, all seemed ok, dusted myself off and rode away, as the lap progressed my back became real bad and something was not right, as i approached the finnish line there was a short bank to ride up, this finnished my already damaged back and the pain shot thru me like a bolt, next think i knew i was strapped to a spinal board and the paramedics were all over me, luckily it was just a bad muscle tear and i was told this was the end of my race and to head for home. Okay most teams would have quit about there, we were just a 2 man team and it was just my brother left, we checked with the organiser can my brother carry on alone? yes was the word (helps if you know the organiser well) once i was drugged up and warm my brother went out and carried on thru the night to make it to the finnish at 0800 that morning with only 3 hours rest. to say i am proud of him is an understatment, it helps soften the anger and frustration i feel at the moment, even now we are planning another enduro for a rematch with the clock!