Longest title ever. If you've read this far, you are a true friend. Or you're really bored. Either way, thank you. And you're welcome.
Sorry for my tardiness; this race left me drained.
I began preparing for the 5th Annual 24 Hours in The Canyon as soon as last year's edition came to an end. I had ridden hard in 2010 but, due to a lack of cohesion amongst my teammates and myself (the race was the first time any of us had met), we never found a solid rhythm but finished a respectable fourth place. Not satisfied with anything but first place (ironic since I so seldom (once) experience that elusive top step of the podium), I immediately began piecing a team together for victory in 2011.
Flash O'Brannon (Daniel Brannon) was first on the list and a given. He's my main riding buddy out here and, as an extremely proficient descender, has pushed my skills to a new level since my move to Amarillo. Second to the team was Team Super Awesome's Overlord, Wiley Mosley. As our Specialized rep, he kinda got roped into participation through the bike shop, but he immediately seemed excited to do the race. Nailing down a fourth guy proved to be a bit difficult, with candidates ranging from local riding buddies, to Wiley's pro buddies, to big name pros (apparently the Boss Man knows people...). In the end, we decided to pick a fast rider who we all got along with; one who is fun and easy-going, but is capable of getting out on the bike and laying down lap after smoking-fast lap. A lot can happen during the course of a 24 hour race, and we wanted to make the experience as pleasant as possible in terms of team cohesion. Having ridden the Dirty Dozen 12 hour race just a few months earlier, I knew that Peter Hartwig fit this bill. He is a super-fit and super-quick Cat 1 mountain biker who can lay down consistent and fast laps hour after hour, and I knew that he would be capable of a Hail Mary lap should we need one in the 11th (or in this case 23rd) hour. Even more importantly, I knew he'd bring an even temper and humor to the team. Team Kordestani is the local dominant team, and they always bring a strong group out to this race, but I was confident that with this lineup we could definitely give them a run for their money, if not win outright.
Break bike, ignore the problem, break brakes, buy new brakes, buy new tires, setup tires, yada yada yada. A week later...
We arrived at the canyon on Saturday morning (the race was to begin at noon Saturday and end noon Sunday) and began setting up camp, which included an inflatable pool in the back of the Hills Sport Shop pickup truck. Smart. If you've ever done or plan on doing a 24 hour race in June (not smart), I highly recommend bringing a pool, as it is the best idea for cooling down after laying down some hot laps.
Time to toe the line. We decided that Wiley would start for us, and we'd each do two laps to begin with. The idea was that it would take us roughly one lap (around 40 minutes for the faster folks) to warm up, and we'd be faster on our second lap without leaving us totally cooked. We would hopefully put a few minutes into the other teams on each lap, and be around a lap up by mid-afternoon. The opening lap included about one mile on pavement, so Flash, Peter, and I lined up down this stretch to witness the start. By the time he got to singletrack, Wiley had ridden everyone else off of his wheel. At the end of his second lap, we were about 6 minutes up on Team Kordestani, who would indeed prove to be our biggest rival throughout.
It was during Pete's first lap that our string of unfortunate events began its hold and never really let us go. About halfway through, Pete punctured his rear tire, and since he hadn't added any sealant to the tire EVER, it immediately went flat. Undeterred, Pete just kept his head down and hammered it out to the finish, where I was waiting with a feed. Despite his bad luck, Pete still turned out a 45 minute lap. Good thing I was kitted up and ready to go, cause my turn came around about 40 minutes early.
We kept churning out 35 to 38 minute laps, and we were under the impression that, despite the flat tire and subsequent sub-par lap, we were still putting time into Team Kordestani, however we somehow lost the lead and took up the chase. (This is about the time that Peter introduced me to the humus, triscuit, and pickle sandwich. It's as disgusting as it sounds.) Deep into what was probably my fourth or fifth lap (it all started blurring together almost immediately) as I was climbing one of the steeper pitches on course, my foot slipped out of my right pedal. I thought "Dangit, that's never happend before." As I started unsuccessfully trying to reclip I looked down to see bits and pieces of my Eggbeater scattering on the trail beneath me. I used the remaining nub to pedal up the climbs, bomb the descents, and rail the corners, praying that the arch of my shoe wouldn't slip off the tiny nub. I somehow still managed a 45 minute lap (seeing a pattern here?).
Morale slowly went down along with the sun, and we started turning out night laps. Flash got caught out without a light when it suddenly went from dusk to complete darkness, and Peter and I began doubling up on laps once more, as we were the most comfortable with night riding. At some point in the early morning I went off the trail, simultaneously over-corrected and goosed my new Formula The One brakes, and took a swan dive into a cactus patch, tacoing my front wheel in the process. My bike and I limped in and Flash selflessly sacrificed his front wheel and brake hardware so that I could continue riding. It was around this time that the promoter came over to tell us that Team Kordestani was a full lap ahead of us, and that they had indeed already lapped us on course. This continues to baffle us all, as none of us remember being passed by one of their riders. At our worst, our lap times were 8 minutes slower than theirs; at our best 3-4 minutes faster. It matters not. Both teams were flying; ours featured several stops along the way and they seemed to be riding flawlessly.
From this point until dawn was one of the hardest and most draining experiences in my entire life, both physically and mentally. We could each hardly muster the strength to keep pedaling, and as our support crew of Beth, Ashley, Mae, Danh, and the Calcotes began heading to their tents for some shut-eye, it became even more difficult to simply stay awake, and I'm pretty sure I had a deep philosophical conversation with the chupacabra (what a guy!), but it could have been delirium.
As the sun came up, our morale improved dramatically. Wiley and I tracked down an iPod containing 'Eye of the Tiger' and we blared it from the shop truck as loud as the speakers would go. At 5:30am it was quite the wake up call for ours and adjacent campsites. We continued chasing, and eventually caught Team Kordestani on course, but they weren't going to let us make up an entire lap. We eventually called it quites after about 23 hours of constant riding. Still in our sweaty kits, we hopped in the pool for a victory (in the sense that we were done) brew. Wiley graciously gave to our rivals the bottle of champagne that he had brought to celebrate our victory.
Team Hills Sport Shop finished a total of 34 laps to Team Kordestani's 35, in roughly the same finishing time. The promoters and timing chip company officially listed the race lap at 10 miles, but I consistently measured it at 8.5 miles, giving us a distance of 289 miles, and an average of roughly 12.5 miles per hour. Second place result aside, I consider our effort righteous. The four fastest laps of the entire event came from our race; two from Peter and two from Wiley, with Wiley taking the cake at 34:05, though Peter was nipping at his heels around 34:30. My personal goal for the race was to beat my fastest lap from last year, which was 40:40. I consistently put down laps faster than that, with my fastest coming in around 37:50.
All things considered, this year's 24 Hours in the Canyon was a success. We each rode our hearts out, set some really fast lap times, and had a fun time. Not once did we get in so much as a small argument throughout the whole race. Next year, Team Hills Sport Shop will once again race this event with the goal of victory.
Thanks to everyone who helped us out during the race, and to Mae Reed for photographing. Mae's photos of the event are here.
Up next for me is Team Kordestani's Fourth of July time trial, more road riding, and some intervals nearing the end of summer as I gear up for the West Texas fall series and CrossVegas (VEGAS BABY!).
Til next time,
Ian
No comments:
Post a Comment