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11-06-02, 08:43 AM
It has been raining continuously for the last 4 weeks. Every race we have done this fall has in some way been affected by rain including the weekend before lasts, Ruston, where we actually raced while it was raining. Finally on Tuesday before the 24 the rain stopped and the forecast was for clear skies and mild temperature, which would be perfect for racing. Outlook – Positive. 30 minutes before the start of the race, during the prerace meeting, it starts raining. It never stopped.
My team was competing in a tough class. We were made up of 4 men of varying abilities. The rotation was set at Keith (Sug), Kevin, Joe and me pulling up the rear. Keith lined up for the start of the race and took off running at the sound of the gun. There are so many people at these events that they start the first lap off with a run to thin the crowd with a ¼ mile run. He starts towards the middle to front of the run and was off fast.
Now that the race had actually started the rest of us were starting to settle in and relax when I hear someone say “636 I told you those guys were camping here” and I look up and say “what?” The guy responds, “oh we were just talking about what happened to your starter” and I’m totally confused and a little concerned. This guy explains that Keith has broken his chain and is running in and right when he finishes his explanation Keith comes running up. We’re not really ready to fix his bike because we didn’t know he was in trouble so I just switch out the peddles from his bike to mine and we send him out again, 15 minutes lost but that’s not really to bad because it’s a long 24 hours and lots of stuff can happen.
Keith comes in, and not last, and we send out Kevin. Kevin comes in without major incident and out goes Joe. Joe is a road biker and has not had much practice on this course. As a matter of fact the last time he rode this course was exactly one year ago during the last 24-hour race. Fortunately the course is still pretty good during his ride so he could get a feel for it and be able to ride better next time out.
Joe has a pretty strong lap with no major incidents either. So after that rocky start things are starting to pick up for us except is has started raining harder. Joe comes in and I go out. Everyone is still awake and lively. The course for me is still relatively dry but we all have been comparing notes with all the other riders. I decided to do all of the trouble spots because I have ridden this course many times and believe I can negotiate these sections in the worst conditions, which of course the worse is still to come.
About a mile in going up a hill called “Fat Chucks Demise” a member of the race leaders team passes me. Unfortunately for him he was carrying so much speed down the hill that he bounced at the bottom of the hill in the transition to the up part and his inertia carries him off the trail in a pretty spectacular crash. It freaked me out and I stopped and asked him if he was ok. He yelled back “yea go” I wasn’t really sure because it looked really bad and asked again he said “go” again so I did. Not more than 3 minutes later he passes me. Damn those guys are fast. My team was only on our fourth lap that was their fifth and they blew me out in the first 2 or 3 miles.
I finish my first lap pretty strong but had a little miss hap at the bottom of one of the hills and tell my teammates it’s getting nasty and to just do the bypass.
Trail synopsis day, lap 1 - Moist and slick in places a little “pooling” in places overall not too bad this was my fastest lap at 1:01. Do the Drop Zone bypass, The Wall bypass and the last drop in bypass.
It starts raining harder and doesn’t slack up. Everybody on all the teams start to slow down including ours but Keith, Joe and Kevin go off without too much trouble. There are a few good crashes with some scrapes and bruises as a result but nothing major and no major mechanicals. Lot’s of teams are starting to drop out now. Night falls and I get ready for my first night lap. We are all kind of grumpy but luckily we have some really good support people who grab our bikes and wash them and have some food ready for us so we can stay dry and rest up for our laps.
We have lots or acquaintances that drop by the camp and entertain us for a bit and the pass on into the crowd. Things kind of meld in to each other and reality kind of gets deranged as the night gets on and fatigue starts to wear on you but I was pretty relaxed most of the time and was able to enjoy visiting with people in between laps.
Joe comes in kind of later than expected and says the course has gotten really bad but I grab the baton and head out for my second lap. Now here’s where it gets’s kind of foggy on which lap this actually happened but I’m pretty sure it was this one. The first mile and a half have gotten soggy and very slick you just cant get any momentum going but I muddle through it some how and make it to the top of fat chucks and somebody opened the sky and the rain started falling down. Keep in mind its night and monsooning but I continue to ride with water and mud flying everywhere. Regardless of this I feel really strong and decided to push it a little bit. I’m really moving along but I have to stop pedaling every 100 yards to stretch my back because it’s starting to hurt. I pass a LOT of people and feel like Lance Armstrong must when he starts to blow his competition away. When I cross the transition area and pass off to Keith again I just tell him to be careful and take all the bypasses and he’ll be good. The Queen Muther (Laurie) and I check my time, it was an 1:12 (actual ride time was more like 1:10 because I actually miss Joe coming in because I had to go potty) and was freaking fast!
Trail synopsis night, lap 2 - heavy downpour the whole lap the “pooling” turned into a 10 mile long, narrow lake but was pretty quick.
I get into some dry clothes and get some food down and try to get a nap in because it’s now about 11:00 pm and I have basically just raced two normal races for me. I only get about 30 minutes of sleep and get up and rap with everyone there. The other guys come and go. We start noticing that the camp has gotten very quite and we see lots of cars heading out. At least ½ of the teams called it quits and went home around this time of course I had to mess with them when they went by and was yelling “quitters” as they drove by, it was really funny at the time. My turn comes up again and I head to the transition area and am feeling particularly obnoxious and start messing with people waiting. I came up singing and telling these guys that I had already drank a six-pack of beer and 7 shots of Yukon Jack, for those cold worie nights, and this one guy was so appalled I forced him to be an ass. He said “wow you must be an incredible biker or just….” and I said “or just aaaaaaaaaaaaa” begging him to say it and he finally mutters “a stupid drunk ass jerk.” Hehehehhe oh that was funny he wasn’t going to say it but I made him hehehe but the race directory was listening and the Queen Muther had to convince her that I wasn’t drunk just stupid as the guy suggested.
One of my buddies that I race against was there waiting for his teammate just laughing at me and he takes off. I really want to catch and ride with him but Joe is taking a long time. Joe finally makes it 5 minutes later and I’m off. The trail is so slick now that I cant hardly make any of the hills and have to run most. About 3 miles in I catch my buddy and pass really fast and that kind of makes me feel pretty good so I pick it up even faster. It’s late and I’m tired and start making rookie mistakes but I muttle through it. When I send Keith off again I check my time and the guy says 1:29 I just couldn’t believe and am a little demoralized by that but head back to camp to get warm and get some food down if I can. When I get really tired like that, I feel kind of pukie and have to force myself to eat something because I totally bonked on that last lap and knew that I would not be able to do any more if I didn’t get some fuel in. (went back later when that scorer left and I had them recalculate that lap time and it actually came out to be an hour twenty two, that made me feel a whole bunch better.)
Trail synopsis night, lap 3 – Slick and treacherous.
I get about an hour nap and the sun comes up. That’s a pretty cool felling knowing that it’s just about over. Kevin checks the times and says that were pretty much set in our position and everybody has the sentiment that were done for the race after my last lap. So I tell them to check and make sure and if need be I can do an extra lap. Joe comes in and I go out. Wow what a difference a few hours makes. The rain has stopped and the clay is starting to congeal. The trail is still incredibly slick but now that mud is sticking to my tires and flinging onto everything including me. I have to pretty much walk all the hills now and break going down everything just to keep from wrecking. Once I get out there I decide that I’m just going to roll this one out and take it easy because there is no use in going hard because we had nothing to gain. So other than it being sticky and slick I actually enjoy most of this lap and roll in at about an 1:37. Kevin is waiting at the finish to say were finished and I couldn’t be more happy.
Trail synopsis day, Lap 4 - Lap four – day clay starting to congeal turning it slick and sticky. You would pedal and slide whichever way the ground decides you needed to go.
My team wasn’t really that concerned with our position in the race. Our whole goal was to just ride hard and have a good time. But over the course of the 24-hour rivelreys were spawned without use really even knowing. The guys checked the result and it appeared that we were pretty much locked up we didn’t bother to follow them anymore. One team that we had run neck and neck with was packing up their things to leave when Keith went over to visit. Five minutes before the end of the race he mentions that we’re not going out any more and they realize that they can now beat us by sending a person out for a final lap. So they do. Several other teams heard through the grapevine that we weren’t going out so they all sent out extra people too. We went for 6th to 9th without even knowing it.
Overall I had a GREAT time. The conditions were miserable, the trail sucked and my bike hates me but pushing myself to the edge of my abilities and being able to see this thing through was a big accomplishment and I feel good about it. I had a great time visiting with all my friends around the campfire hanging out and drinking beer. What more could you ask for?
My team was competing in a tough class. We were made up of 4 men of varying abilities. The rotation was set at Keith (Sug), Kevin, Joe and me pulling up the rear. Keith lined up for the start of the race and took off running at the sound of the gun. There are so many people at these events that they start the first lap off with a run to thin the crowd with a ¼ mile run. He starts towards the middle to front of the run and was off fast.
Now that the race had actually started the rest of us were starting to settle in and relax when I hear someone say “636 I told you those guys were camping here” and I look up and say “what?” The guy responds, “oh we were just talking about what happened to your starter” and I’m totally confused and a little concerned. This guy explains that Keith has broken his chain and is running in and right when he finishes his explanation Keith comes running up. We’re not really ready to fix his bike because we didn’t know he was in trouble so I just switch out the peddles from his bike to mine and we send him out again, 15 minutes lost but that’s not really to bad because it’s a long 24 hours and lots of stuff can happen.
Keith comes in, and not last, and we send out Kevin. Kevin comes in without major incident and out goes Joe. Joe is a road biker and has not had much practice on this course. As a matter of fact the last time he rode this course was exactly one year ago during the last 24-hour race. Fortunately the course is still pretty good during his ride so he could get a feel for it and be able to ride better next time out.
Joe has a pretty strong lap with no major incidents either. So after that rocky start things are starting to pick up for us except is has started raining harder. Joe comes in and I go out. Everyone is still awake and lively. The course for me is still relatively dry but we all have been comparing notes with all the other riders. I decided to do all of the trouble spots because I have ridden this course many times and believe I can negotiate these sections in the worst conditions, which of course the worse is still to come.
About a mile in going up a hill called “Fat Chucks Demise” a member of the race leaders team passes me. Unfortunately for him he was carrying so much speed down the hill that he bounced at the bottom of the hill in the transition to the up part and his inertia carries him off the trail in a pretty spectacular crash. It freaked me out and I stopped and asked him if he was ok. He yelled back “yea go” I wasn’t really sure because it looked really bad and asked again he said “go” again so I did. Not more than 3 minutes later he passes me. Damn those guys are fast. My team was only on our fourth lap that was their fifth and they blew me out in the first 2 or 3 miles.
I finish my first lap pretty strong but had a little miss hap at the bottom of one of the hills and tell my teammates it’s getting nasty and to just do the bypass.
Trail synopsis day, lap 1 - Moist and slick in places a little “pooling” in places overall not too bad this was my fastest lap at 1:01. Do the Drop Zone bypass, The Wall bypass and the last drop in bypass.
It starts raining harder and doesn’t slack up. Everybody on all the teams start to slow down including ours but Keith, Joe and Kevin go off without too much trouble. There are a few good crashes with some scrapes and bruises as a result but nothing major and no major mechanicals. Lot’s of teams are starting to drop out now. Night falls and I get ready for my first night lap. We are all kind of grumpy but luckily we have some really good support people who grab our bikes and wash them and have some food ready for us so we can stay dry and rest up for our laps.
We have lots or acquaintances that drop by the camp and entertain us for a bit and the pass on into the crowd. Things kind of meld in to each other and reality kind of gets deranged as the night gets on and fatigue starts to wear on you but I was pretty relaxed most of the time and was able to enjoy visiting with people in between laps.
Joe comes in kind of later than expected and says the course has gotten really bad but I grab the baton and head out for my second lap. Now here’s where it gets’s kind of foggy on which lap this actually happened but I’m pretty sure it was this one. The first mile and a half have gotten soggy and very slick you just cant get any momentum going but I muddle through it some how and make it to the top of fat chucks and somebody opened the sky and the rain started falling down. Keep in mind its night and monsooning but I continue to ride with water and mud flying everywhere. Regardless of this I feel really strong and decided to push it a little bit. I’m really moving along but I have to stop pedaling every 100 yards to stretch my back because it’s starting to hurt. I pass a LOT of people and feel like Lance Armstrong must when he starts to blow his competition away. When I cross the transition area and pass off to Keith again I just tell him to be careful and take all the bypasses and he’ll be good. The Queen Muther (Laurie) and I check my time, it was an 1:12 (actual ride time was more like 1:10 because I actually miss Joe coming in because I had to go potty) and was freaking fast!
Trail synopsis night, lap 2 - heavy downpour the whole lap the “pooling” turned into a 10 mile long, narrow lake but was pretty quick.
I get into some dry clothes and get some food down and try to get a nap in because it’s now about 11:00 pm and I have basically just raced two normal races for me. I only get about 30 minutes of sleep and get up and rap with everyone there. The other guys come and go. We start noticing that the camp has gotten very quite and we see lots of cars heading out. At least ½ of the teams called it quits and went home around this time of course I had to mess with them when they went by and was yelling “quitters” as they drove by, it was really funny at the time. My turn comes up again and I head to the transition area and am feeling particularly obnoxious and start messing with people waiting. I came up singing and telling these guys that I had already drank a six-pack of beer and 7 shots of Yukon Jack, for those cold worie nights, and this one guy was so appalled I forced him to be an ass. He said “wow you must be an incredible biker or just….” and I said “or just aaaaaaaaaaaaa” begging him to say it and he finally mutters “a stupid drunk ass jerk.” Hehehehhe oh that was funny he wasn’t going to say it but I made him hehehe but the race directory was listening and the Queen Muther had to convince her that I wasn’t drunk just stupid as the guy suggested.
One of my buddies that I race against was there waiting for his teammate just laughing at me and he takes off. I really want to catch and ride with him but Joe is taking a long time. Joe finally makes it 5 minutes later and I’m off. The trail is so slick now that I cant hardly make any of the hills and have to run most. About 3 miles in I catch my buddy and pass really fast and that kind of makes me feel pretty good so I pick it up even faster. It’s late and I’m tired and start making rookie mistakes but I muttle through it. When I send Keith off again I check my time and the guy says 1:29 I just couldn’t believe and am a little demoralized by that but head back to camp to get warm and get some food down if I can. When I get really tired like that, I feel kind of pukie and have to force myself to eat something because I totally bonked on that last lap and knew that I would not be able to do any more if I didn’t get some fuel in. (went back later when that scorer left and I had them recalculate that lap time and it actually came out to be an hour twenty two, that made me feel a whole bunch better.)
Trail synopsis night, lap 3 – Slick and treacherous.
I get about an hour nap and the sun comes up. That’s a pretty cool felling knowing that it’s just about over. Kevin checks the times and says that were pretty much set in our position and everybody has the sentiment that were done for the race after my last lap. So I tell them to check and make sure and if need be I can do an extra lap. Joe comes in and I go out. Wow what a difference a few hours makes. The rain has stopped and the clay is starting to congeal. The trail is still incredibly slick but now that mud is sticking to my tires and flinging onto everything including me. I have to pretty much walk all the hills now and break going down everything just to keep from wrecking. Once I get out there I decide that I’m just going to roll this one out and take it easy because there is no use in going hard because we had nothing to gain. So other than it being sticky and slick I actually enjoy most of this lap and roll in at about an 1:37. Kevin is waiting at the finish to say were finished and I couldn’t be more happy.
Trail synopsis day, Lap 4 - Lap four – day clay starting to congeal turning it slick and sticky. You would pedal and slide whichever way the ground decides you needed to go.
My team wasn’t really that concerned with our position in the race. Our whole goal was to just ride hard and have a good time. But over the course of the 24-hour rivelreys were spawned without use really even knowing. The guys checked the result and it appeared that we were pretty much locked up we didn’t bother to follow them anymore. One team that we had run neck and neck with was packing up their things to leave when Keith went over to visit. Five minutes before the end of the race he mentions that we’re not going out any more and they realize that they can now beat us by sending a person out for a final lap. So they do. Several other teams heard through the grapevine that we weren’t going out so they all sent out extra people too. We went for 6th to 9th without even knowing it.
Overall I had a GREAT time. The conditions were miserable, the trail sucked and my bike hates me but pushing myself to the edge of my abilities and being able to see this thing through was a big accomplishment and I feel good about it. I had a great time visiting with all my friends around the campfire hanging out and drinking beer. What more could you ask for?