Torq In Your Sleep 12:12

As what seems to have become tradition so far this summer, beautiful riding conditions were halted on race weekend for torrential rain and mud for the annual Torq 12:12 around Minley Manor hosted by Gorrick.

The Minley course is always top notch, with some of the best English singletrack snaking through the estate grounds with classic sections such as Sponge Bob, Banksy and Double Dip all making the cut again this year. Carrying on the pairs racing theme for this Summer I partnered up with endurance hot shot Chris Noble to get some good racing and solid intensity in the legs ahead of WEMBO.
Sadly the weather forecast was right though and come the noon start on Sunday the heavens opened and the stunning course quickly turned to a brake pad eating slop.

I was out first and got round in touch with the speedy team boys in the lead group but with course conditions rapidly deteriorating my rapid Hutchinson Skeleton file treads weren't cutting up to the job. With Chris out then on his first stint for lap 3 and 4, I went on with the mud tyres and fresh brake pads and we were back in business, steadily increasing our lead all the time.

Come mid way point the rain had stopped and the course was drying rapidly (as the brake pads were dying rapidly..) turning the slop into a sticky slog. Still the laps kept ticking away and the lead increasing.

Possibly the best two laps of the race were the 10pm two lap stint with saw the course coming back to it's best, and brought home the goods for us with time to spare. A quiet, fun course at night really is a dream to ride! It was nice to finally chat with Chris at the end too. It's funny how little contact you have as a pair over a 12 hour race!

Thanks to Gorrick and Torq as usual for the great event even in such challenging conditions. It's great to get some more time between the tape with this race forming a solid training session ahead of WEMBO in October.

Photo Credit: Kevin Sheldrake & Zoe Buckland