24 (19 really) Hours of Nine Mile
24-9 - It's not really a race. It's more like a personal adventure but you do it with teammates. You can learn a lot about people when you do something like this with them as you see the best and worst of them. I try to keep my highs and lows internalized as I don't want to make my teammates hate me. It's hard when you're tired, hungry and dirty and trying to not let down teammates though. And for those of you not familiar with 24-9 it's a 24 Hour mtn bike race.
And nothing about this year's 24-9 were easy. Friday night just after most people had gone to bed a storm moved into the area and the few of us who were still up had to quickly tear down our campsite before it blew away. The rain pelted tents and those who weren't prepared were doomed to get wet.
In the morning things looked better and our pop up tents were put back up and camp was reassembled. Things were starting to look good with clear skys. Now the only worry was how hot would it get as the sun broke through the clouds.
Mad FORCs Kathy, Amelia, Michelle, Berlie and Kerry were lined up and ready to roll for the start of the race. The start is a out and back run before you grab your bike and head out. If you've never been to 24-9 it does make for a very exciting start to the event--especially since bikers aren't always the best runners.
Now this year's 24-9 was the National Championships of 24 Hour racing so we had quite a few people from around the country in attendance. It also meant that the course designers made the course a bit more difficult than in previous years. No, there weren't more climbs but there was a lot more singletrack. Some of the singletrack was very new so it was very bumpy and not ridden in yet. The only really "recovery" part of the course was right at the start when you were fresh. Otherwise you did sections of singletrack linked together by bits of open areas. Because the open areas were really fast and a lot of the singletrack was slow you felt like you were in singletrack the whole time.
I went into this race with very low expectations for my riding performance and I was quite glad that no one had been interested in doing an elite team. Early in the spring/summer I was doing a lot of very focused training. My base mile preperation was stellar and I was on track for a great season. However, in mid-June when I was supposed to start doing hard efforts to really prepare for racing everything fell apart and I basically stopped riding (except to work and back). So I approached 24-9 this year just hoping to survive and that my base miles would mean I could ride a long time even if it was at a slow pace.
On Lap One I headed out curious to see what the course was like after hearing lots of talk about the singletrack. I was riding second for our team so things were fairly well thinned out by the time I set off on the lap which was nice. I was just trying to ride fast enough so that not too many of the fast guys would lap me. The good part about my first lap was that it was pretty uneventful and I felt like I rode decently through all the sections. None were outstanding but none were bad. Towards the end of the lap a few of the fastest guys came by and I pulled over for a few of them as the singletrack was too tight for good passing. It was nice to not be concerned about my own place in the race and be able to just stop if I felt like it.
My second lap happened about 5:45pm. I set off and not long after getting into the singletrack I could hear some guys coming up behind me. I decided to just hammer and try to make it through before they caught me. All of a sudden I was on fire. Every corner, every rock, every root was no problem and I was flying. I had people pulling over to let me through. I couldn't believe my own riding. After not mtn biking last season I haven't felt that comfortable on my mtn bike this year. However, all of a sudden I was in the zone and the first two long singletrack sections were flying by in a blur with my heart rate pegged. After riding like that I am now going to refer to myself as a mountain biker again (no more am I a roadie).
But then I hit the middle singletrack section and suddenly I was paying the price of my earlier efforts. On my first lap I had done quite well in the middle singletrack which is the rockiest of the sections. I had really only dabbed in a couple of sections. However, this time through I couldn't get anything right. I felt like I had no skill left at all. I kept trying to refocus and get back on track but I couldn't do it.
After merely riding in survival mode for the middle half of the race I got to the newer singletrack which requires total concentration. I could see last year's female solo national champ not too far behind and I was determined to be faster than her through the singletrack. I was only on lap 2 and she had proably ridden two or three times that many already. I refocused on the task at hand and told myself to keep it going. Every once in a while I would hear the 05 solo champ gaining on me but then I would pick up the pace a bit and get a good gap back. I finally had my zone back and I flew into the finishing chute, did a fabulous cyclocross dismount and ran through to tag off to my teammate Ridge who was next up to ride.
My lap three was at about midnight. Given the quality of my previous lap and the technical nature of some of the singletrack I decided that I would take it easy. I love riding at night but I knew that the rocks and roots were getting slippery as the humidity was crazy high. Luckily I felt like I was riding decently in most sections on this lap. I passed a bunch of people but I also got passed by people. Riding at night is nice though as everyone is spread out and feeling pretty mellow. Everyone is super supportive of the other riders and it's a good time to be out on the trail. I really enjoy it and wish I got out more at night.
My riding was going pretty well and I felt good in the singletrack even though some of the twistiest stuff was pretty tricky even with a really good light. I was just over half way when insanity befell me. I had just left a singletrack section and was on a nice wide open trail just slightly downhill. I was trying to keep up with Jeff Kerkove (a 24 hour solo guy) who had just passed me in the singletrack when all of a sudden out of nowhere I hit the deck hard. I went down so hard that it actually took my breath away. Apparently my front wheel hit something (possibly a small stump) and just washed out. I felt pretty foolish crashing in the wide open section and was glad the guy I had just passed a few minutes earlier went by without commenting as I wrestled to get my chain unjammed. Luckily I was able to put that behind me as I still had quite a ways to ride. I got back in my groove and got home in a decent amount of time. I have to say that was my first crash ever when riding at night and, of course, it didn't even involve technical singletrack and make for a great story!
Just as I was getting up and preparing for Lap 4 another storm started to blow in. I helped wrestle our pop up tents back down and started throwing stuff into the car like a crazy woman. It was just starting to rain as I headed over to the transition tent but it only took a few minutes for the rains to start pounding down like crazy. Dave came in maybe about 25 minutes after the storm hit looking completely drowned. He said that he had passed Kathy (who was out for my team) quite a ways back. We all hoped she was stopped at one of the checkpoints as the rain was coming down so hard you couldn't even really see at this point. Dave said the trail was like a stream and you couldn't see the roots because so much water was flowing.
At this point the race organizers weren't allowing anyone to go out and start laps and they were pulling everyone at the checkpoints for safety. At about 5:45am they started the race back up and I sat waiting for Kathy. After much discussion with my other teammates it was decided that I would go out and do a lap when Kathy came in but that would be it for us. As I sat waiting for Kathy the rain started to taper off and things were looking better. I figured I could put in one last slow lap and it would be fine and we would hold onto 3rd place. However, just before Kathy came in the storm started to swirl again. I heard rumors of a tornado watch and the winds picked up. I met Kathy before the finish line and told her not to cross over as I didn't think it would be a good idea to start out on another lap. She concurred . . . . and about half an hour later the race organizers did too and brought the race to an end.
I was glad not to have to venture back out into the storm but it did make for an anti-climactic finish to the day. It's always fun to watch the teams jockey to get in before 10am so they can do one last lap in an attempt to move up a spot in the overall. However, I think we were all glad to finish breaking down camp and start trying to dry out our stuff enough to pack it away.
And the upside was that I got about 1.5 hours of sleep when I got home before I flew to DC on a business trip (I got into DC at 1am which was crazy on my part). It wasn't much extra sleep but it made all the difference in the world and I was actually able to stay awake on Monday through an 8 hour training on federal regulations for transportation funds.
Next year's race is July 28 and 29 so mark your calendars now! And for the record, 24-9 isn't about winning, being on the podium, or even being "fast." It's about overcoming challenges and those challenges are different for each of us. The challenges are probably even different on each lap as we struggle with motivation, tiredness, eating enough, etc. This race takes you outside your normal comfort zone. Everyone out there is in the same battle with themselvs so it makes for a really unique camraderie on the trail. I'm not saying there aren't moments when I swear that I won't do it again but I keep coming back year after year (and I even started doing 24 Hour nordic ski races last year).
And nothing about this year's 24-9 were easy. Friday night just after most people had gone to bed a storm moved into the area and the few of us who were still up had to quickly tear down our campsite before it blew away. The rain pelted tents and those who weren't prepared were doomed to get wet.
In the morning things looked better and our pop up tents were put back up and camp was reassembled. Things were starting to look good with clear skys. Now the only worry was how hot would it get as the sun broke through the clouds.
Mad FORCs Kathy, Amelia, Michelle, Berlie and Kerry were lined up and ready to roll for the start of the race. The start is a out and back run before you grab your bike and head out. If you've never been to 24-9 it does make for a very exciting start to the event--especially since bikers aren't always the best runners.
Now this year's 24-9 was the National Championships of 24 Hour racing so we had quite a few people from around the country in attendance. It also meant that the course designers made the course a bit more difficult than in previous years. No, there weren't more climbs but there was a lot more singletrack. Some of the singletrack was very new so it was very bumpy and not ridden in yet. The only really "recovery" part of the course was right at the start when you were fresh. Otherwise you did sections of singletrack linked together by bits of open areas. Because the open areas were really fast and a lot of the singletrack was slow you felt like you were in singletrack the whole time.
I went into this race with very low expectations for my riding performance and I was quite glad that no one had been interested in doing an elite team. Early in the spring/summer I was doing a lot of very focused training. My base mile preperation was stellar and I was on track for a great season. However, in mid-June when I was supposed to start doing hard efforts to really prepare for racing everything fell apart and I basically stopped riding (except to work and back). So I approached 24-9 this year just hoping to survive and that my base miles would mean I could ride a long time even if it was at a slow pace.
On Lap One I headed out curious to see what the course was like after hearing lots of talk about the singletrack. I was riding second for our team so things were fairly well thinned out by the time I set off on the lap which was nice. I was just trying to ride fast enough so that not too many of the fast guys would lap me. The good part about my first lap was that it was pretty uneventful and I felt like I rode decently through all the sections. None were outstanding but none were bad. Towards the end of the lap a few of the fastest guys came by and I pulled over for a few of them as the singletrack was too tight for good passing. It was nice to not be concerned about my own place in the race and be able to just stop if I felt like it.
My second lap happened about 5:45pm. I set off and not long after getting into the singletrack I could hear some guys coming up behind me. I decided to just hammer and try to make it through before they caught me. All of a sudden I was on fire. Every corner, every rock, every root was no problem and I was flying. I had people pulling over to let me through. I couldn't believe my own riding. After not mtn biking last season I haven't felt that comfortable on my mtn bike this year. However, all of a sudden I was in the zone and the first two long singletrack sections were flying by in a blur with my heart rate pegged. After riding like that I am now going to refer to myself as a mountain biker again (no more am I a roadie).
But then I hit the middle singletrack section and suddenly I was paying the price of my earlier efforts. On my first lap I had done quite well in the middle singletrack which is the rockiest of the sections. I had really only dabbed in a couple of sections. However, this time through I couldn't get anything right. I felt like I had no skill left at all. I kept trying to refocus and get back on track but I couldn't do it.
After merely riding in survival mode for the middle half of the race I got to the newer singletrack which requires total concentration. I could see last year's female solo national champ not too far behind and I was determined to be faster than her through the singletrack. I was only on lap 2 and she had proably ridden two or three times that many already. I refocused on the task at hand and told myself to keep it going. Every once in a while I would hear the 05 solo champ gaining on me but then I would pick up the pace a bit and get a good gap back. I finally had my zone back and I flew into the finishing chute, did a fabulous cyclocross dismount and ran through to tag off to my teammate Ridge who was next up to ride.
My lap three was at about midnight. Given the quality of my previous lap and the technical nature of some of the singletrack I decided that I would take it easy. I love riding at night but I knew that the rocks and roots were getting slippery as the humidity was crazy high. Luckily I felt like I was riding decently in most sections on this lap. I passed a bunch of people but I also got passed by people. Riding at night is nice though as everyone is spread out and feeling pretty mellow. Everyone is super supportive of the other riders and it's a good time to be out on the trail. I really enjoy it and wish I got out more at night.
My riding was going pretty well and I felt good in the singletrack even though some of the twistiest stuff was pretty tricky even with a really good light. I was just over half way when insanity befell me. I had just left a singletrack section and was on a nice wide open trail just slightly downhill. I was trying to keep up with Jeff Kerkove (a 24 hour solo guy) who had just passed me in the singletrack when all of a sudden out of nowhere I hit the deck hard. I went down so hard that it actually took my breath away. Apparently my front wheel hit something (possibly a small stump) and just washed out. I felt pretty foolish crashing in the wide open section and was glad the guy I had just passed a few minutes earlier went by without commenting as I wrestled to get my chain unjammed. Luckily I was able to put that behind me as I still had quite a ways to ride. I got back in my groove and got home in a decent amount of time. I have to say that was my first crash ever when riding at night and, of course, it didn't even involve technical singletrack and make for a great story!
Just as I was getting up and preparing for Lap 4 another storm started to blow in. I helped wrestle our pop up tents back down and started throwing stuff into the car like a crazy woman. It was just starting to rain as I headed over to the transition tent but it only took a few minutes for the rains to start pounding down like crazy. Dave came in maybe about 25 minutes after the storm hit looking completely drowned. He said that he had passed Kathy (who was out for my team) quite a ways back. We all hoped she was stopped at one of the checkpoints as the rain was coming down so hard you couldn't even really see at this point. Dave said the trail was like a stream and you couldn't see the roots because so much water was flowing.
At this point the race organizers weren't allowing anyone to go out and start laps and they were pulling everyone at the checkpoints for safety. At about 5:45am they started the race back up and I sat waiting for Kathy. After much discussion with my other teammates it was decided that I would go out and do a lap when Kathy came in but that would be it for us. As I sat waiting for Kathy the rain started to taper off and things were looking better. I figured I could put in one last slow lap and it would be fine and we would hold onto 3rd place. However, just before Kathy came in the storm started to swirl again. I heard rumors of a tornado watch and the winds picked up. I met Kathy before the finish line and told her not to cross over as I didn't think it would be a good idea to start out on another lap. She concurred . . . . and about half an hour later the race organizers did too and brought the race to an end.
I was glad not to have to venture back out into the storm but it did make for an anti-climactic finish to the day. It's always fun to watch the teams jockey to get in before 10am so they can do one last lap in an attempt to move up a spot in the overall. However, I think we were all glad to finish breaking down camp and start trying to dry out our stuff enough to pack it away.
And the upside was that I got about 1.5 hours of sleep when I got home before I flew to DC on a business trip (I got into DC at 1am which was crazy on my part). It wasn't much extra sleep but it made all the difference in the world and I was actually able to stay awake on Monday through an 8 hour training on federal regulations for transportation funds.
Next year's race is July 28 and 29 so mark your calendars now! And for the record, 24-9 isn't about winning, being on the podium, or even being "fast." It's about overcoming challenges and those challenges are different for each of us. The challenges are probably even different on each lap as we struggle with motivation, tiredness, eating enough, etc. This race takes you outside your normal comfort zone. Everyone out there is in the same battle with themselvs so it makes for a really unique camraderie on the trail. I'm not saying there aren't moments when I swear that I won't do it again but I keep coming back year after year (and I even started doing 24 Hour nordic ski races last year).
posted by MadCross at 11:01 AM
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