Adventure: 12hr Ride - Failed

Well last Thursday afternoon I made a decision to take on a little challenge. I had been thinking about for a few weeks. The simple idea was to ride for 12hr through the night. The rough plan was to go from 7pm to 7am and I thought I would film sections of it to capture the experience. Long story short I pulled the pin at 3am after some suffering and to some real joy. The experience had moments of being surreal and stressful. After riding pretty much until I had no energy I had to stop to feed. At this point I was still about 1hr 30min from Port Melbourne. No excuses as I realised for the first attempt I had learned about the roller coaster that comes with riding late into the night and early hours of the morning. The was a personal experiment and one I can say I will play around with more in the future. The battery in the camera went flat so last part of the ride was not captured, but let me say I was pretty tired when I pulled the pin and it wasn't help with sneaking around the outside of our house as I had forgotten to take my keys. Not great to have ring the door bell and wake my wife at 3am....Ooops


Untitled from drew ginn on Vimeo.

The plan is to do a few of these rides over the next few months. I have spoken with a few guys who are keen to join in. The idea of doing it was energising and fueled me for a good 6hrs. Once I ran low of physical energy stores water and sports drink just wasn't enough. Being out in the night was energising even considering normal sleep patterns. Doing it with other would make a difference I am sure. Now this is nothing new as loads of riders do the 12hr and 24hr endurance events. This was my first time doing a ride like this and apart from the fatigue and initial stress of riding in the dark I must say I enjoyed it in a strange way.