Today was the Duke’s Epic 8 Hour bike race, held at Mansfield Outdoor Centre. Andrea was invited to join a 4 person mixed team and actually decided to do it! So we packed up Babe on Friday and drove up be able to get there, enjoy being there, and not have to get up too early the next morning as is so often the case for a race. We got there to see a few friends and their Westies just wrapping up their pre-rides. A couple of them were leaving their campers parked overnight (just to save their spots) so we pulled up next to them to camp for the night even though we were supposed to camp in a completely different area. Oh well 🙂
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| A quiet night |
Part way through dinner, there was a knock on the slider and one of the folks looking after the event let us know we were parked in what they would be using as a lane-way to moves cars in and that we’d have to relocate before 7:30. So much for really sleeping in. Still, it was good and very quiet until around 7 when the frenzy slowly began. Here’s a photo from the night.
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| Pop Pop Tops |
In the morning, we sat and had our coffee and watched as it all unfolded around us. Hundreds of cyclists all looking for the best parking spots for their cars. The early arrivals got the better ones, unless you were in a Westy. A few of us were already lined up so easy to find. A few words with some of the people guiding folks on where to park and we were off to the races, so to speak. I did get a chuckle when one asked “how will I know it’s one?”.
When the dust had settled there was a nice line-up of campers ranging from some early 70’s bay window buses through a bunch of Vanagons (of which 3 of 4 were assuan brown!!!) plus one Eurovan.
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| Bay, Bay, Vanagon, EV, Vanagon |
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| The EV is the first VW bus with the engine in front… they lined up the engine rather than the nose |
All in all, a very cool happening. Oh… and Andrea’s team took gold. She was happy too. I’ll publish photos from the race on my website soon, I certainly took lots.