Kona 100 Km sequel Sept. 1 2002

	Arriving in Ryhader Saturday evening things looked good. The start location of a rugby club had the added bonus of a flat camping field, a bar and even showers. After scoffing at the always good Jackets, it was time for plenty of lazing in the sun We even got to watch Steve Peat narrowly miss out on a gold at the world downhills too, good old BBC. After a kin' frozen night camping, and due to a bit of campsite agro. at 2 am, not a lot of sleep for some, the boys rolled out at 9.30am and took on the genuine 100 course.
The Boys from the flat-lands had turned out in force on a rare fantastic hot Welsh Autumn day. Matt and Lloyd had never ridden 100K before and Adi and Ed were freshly back from the Cristalp in Switzerland the previous weekend. The usual mad dash after a pace car ensued with the Kona riders posing for the rear facing cameras, Adi joined then for the first tough climb, a never ending narrow road up to the main ride loops. The worry that the route was going to be mainly fireroad based was soon dispelled as we sped down some great rutted woodland tracks. Jack hit problems on the first fast descent when his front disc brake locked on, overheated fluid meant the wheel would not turn at all. A quick dash of fluid from the camelbak soon released that, but meant some hairy descending untill a tweak at the first food station. The two stations had Halford Bike hut mechanics on hand, and they were much in demand. All riders suffered with drive train problems as the dusty fireroads and gloopy sections combined to kill chain lube. Bananas and high5 gels were stuffed down at any opportunity. The narrow rutted tracks seemed to cause all riders a spill or two, Lloyd having a particularly fast one that slowed him after a bashed elbow and ankle.	Lloyd - Adi - Ed - Matt - Craig and Jack try not to look too cold before the start.
The lads rolled into the finish as follows. Jack Peterson 05:22:39 6th Master...........20th overall Adrian Scott 05:43:55 16th open class Lloyd Bettles 06:13:12 60th overall Craig Simpson 06:21:55 27th open Matt Barratt 07:11:37 50th open Ed DNF Good ride from Friday-nighters - Ryan Henry at 05:03:30 for 8th overall and Josh Findlay at 06:33:09 The event was very well organised and the route over a two lap format , including some killer climbs and some very technical descents. All us lot agreed they would be back next year for another shot.	The route profile is above, The start is bottom left hand, the start climb is missing from the altitude profile. If you imagine the descent at the end in reverse, that's the route cold legs faced to start. The route then joins the track for 2 loops. Notice the almost complete lack of flat sections, a really tough course. The start is missing as the memory in the GPS couldn't cope with the length of the ride and overwrote it.
Results are available from Bikemagic.com Overall 100 Km results Masters100 Km results Open 100 Km results Vets 100 Km results