The honour fell to Adam, who was faced with a 400m uphill run before even getting on the bike. He started well up in the pack, and despite traffic the lap was finished in good time. But there was confusion in the transition zone and the baton was dropped before Dylan took off down the hill for his first lap.

Dylan was followed by Al, Simon, Sean and Gerry. The course was a fantastic mix of fast firetrail and tight twisty singletrack through the pine forest. A muddy section became a swamp as the race went on. ASADAG circulated with no problems.

Gerry's huge tool roll and Dylan's workstand had some heavy use as every bike within 50m was partially dismantled. Someone had put Al's headset together backwards, neccesitating a major overhaul. Sean had managed to bend the middle chainring, easily fixed by belting it with a hatchet, another subtle but effective Gerry repair job.

8 laps were completed before the lights were fitted and the night riding started. As darkness fell ASADAG's dodgy yet powerful lighting setups scared the shit out of any rider or frog in our path. Or maybe not, but riding into the finish line with both headlights blazing got some good responses.  It felt like you were going faster at night but lap times slowed by about 5 minutes - you just couldn't see far enough ahead in the singletrack. The only lighting glitch was Gerry's battery running out halfway through a lap, forcing him to ride the singletrack with a tiny torch.

The campsite was a dangerous place with far too much alcohol to lead the team into temptation. Aaron's cooking was the vital factor in keeping the energy levels up, huge protein laden steaks for dinner and pancakes for brekkie. Everyone managed to be awake and relatively sober when it was time for them to go out. Al was left standing in the transition zone for a few minutes after arriving earlier than expected, but that was really his fault for being too fast.

Simon returned from his night lap with a lovely gash to the shoulder, apparently from a misplaced pine tree. As luck would have it he had administered vodka for medicinal purposes before the lap, and felt little pain.

Noon on Sunday drew closer, and the team consulted on tactics. Unfortunately the plans were stuffed when Sean flatted near the end of the lap, and couldn't pump up the tyre. The first serious mechanical of the race cost us about 20 minutes and maybe the time to squeeze in an extra lap.

Dylan was sent out for a fast finish, and blitzed the final lap to cross the line for the last time. Five minutes later his rear tyre was flat, so he had a lucky escape.