First 24
I always go over in my head what I'm going to write when I sit down to add to my riding journal. The biggest problem I always have is fighting the temptation to write too much. I have a good memory and I always find myself making note of every little thing that happened during a race or an event. Truth be told I could probably write 20 pages with no problem about this weekends race at Hurkey Creek.
I'm going to try and be brief though.
This past weekend I raced my first 24 hour event with Andrew, Doug, Matt and Jason as part of a 5 man team. Jake also came up and ran support for us, which was a huge blessing. It was nice to meet his family who were very patient during the whole event. Race started at noon on Saturday and ran through noon on Sunday.
Our plan was to run two laps a piece (almost 10 mile course) and then adjust as the race went on.
I brought my dog up to Hurkey Creek with me and our campsite was excellent. It was quiet and secluded from the race craziness. We had plenty of space and even some shade. We were also able to get the Velosport (our club team) trailer and EZ-UP, which really helped.
Start of the race:
Andrew started the race for us and turned in some pretty fast lap times. I remember our whole team was at the start/finish line waiting for Andrew on his first lap and we were all surprised and impressed with his first lap time. I was expecting roughly 58 minute to 1:00 lap times from almost everyone. Andrew turned in a 55 to start which set the bar high for everyone else.
Matt did his two laps after Andrew on his SS and turned in fast laps as well. Jason then went and I think his first lap might have been the record for our team at 50 minutes. Amazingly fast.
My turn to go came up faster than I thought it would and I remember rushing to get changed into my bike clothes and scrambling to get the bike ready. Everyone had been running 55 minute laps or less and I felt pressure to match their efforts.
First lap started off really good for me. I calmed down quick and settled into a nice pace. I felt fresh and strong and managed to stay in my middle ring on all of the initial climbs.
Right after the Exfoliator downhill I came through a section with a dip in it and I hit it really hard. Right away I heard a pop and I was praying that it wasn't a flat. It was.
At first I was really mad. I'm not the fastest when I have to change flats and I knew that every minute counted. I managed to repair the flat, but the rear wheel was not in good shape. I had a small dent in my rim, some rocks and debris had made it into the tire and my C02 wasn't working so the tire wasn't inflated to a high PSI.
After fixing it I went back and forth as to what I was going to do when I came in to the start/finish. I was worried that the bike wasn't in good shape and that another lap could see another flat. I didn't have any more tubes on me and I didn't have a patch kit so I wouldn't have been able to fix another flat. I'd have to borrow a tube from another rider.
At the same time I wanted to finish my second lap. I didn't want to be the guy that only ran one lap when he should have done two. I really wanted to hold up my end of the bargain.
I ended up deciding to put my pride aside so we could eliminate the risk of another flat. I'd tell Doug to ride my second lap and then fix the bike and take the next lap.
As I rode in to finish the first lap I quickly saw that Doug wasn't ready to ride. Hahaha. Our race strategy was to have the next guy in the rotation be ready to go ahead of time in case the rider before him could not do a second lap. With no one else ready to ride I had to do a second lap. (My total time for the first lap was about 1:04 but my Garmin was a shade under 55 minutes for ride time)
Second lap actually went great at first. I still felt strong and fresh and I told myself that at least I could rest properly when I finished and I didn't have to deal with throwing the rotation off.
Then it happened. Right before the last downhill section I felt the rear slip out. Another flat. With no tube I didn't bother trying to repair it. My hope was that it was a slow leak and that I could pump it up really high and ride out on it before it went completely flat again. No such luck. The leak was too big.
I ended up running with the bike down the technical spots and even ran with it on a few of the flats and climbs. It didn't take me long to realize that my lap time would be insanely slow if I ran the entire way back (2-3 miles). So I got on and started pedaling. It actually wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Obviously my speed was limited, but it worked out ok.
My Southern California mountain bike hero (Manny Prado) even rode up behind me at one point and asked if I needed a tube. I said I was ok and off he went.
My second lap was 1:04 again and I have no idea what my ride time was. I'd like to think I was at about a 55-57 minute pace with time lost to stopping and pumping up the rear tire and time lost to riding at half the speed I would normally ride due to the flat.
After my two laps I was very happy to go back to the camp and rest. I changed clothes and hung out for a bit before trying to sleep inside of the Velosport trailer. I think I went to bed at around 10:00pm and woke up a few hours later. I say "woke up", but that implies I was asleep. I wasn't. I really just laid in the trailer listening to the loud music from the finish line and the cheers from the drunk people screaming every time someone crossed the finish.
A little before midnight I crawled out to see what was going on in the camp. Nothing was going on. I remember seeing Jason sitting by himself waiting to ride after Matt. Everyone else was asleep in their tents and everything was really quiet and dark.
I went down with Jason to send him off and meet Matt after his night laps and then talked with Matt about the course at night etc. After maybe 30 minutes Matt went to bed and I was left alone. It was not the best experience having to sit alone in the dark waiting for my turn to ride. I had to get dressed and ready for the end of Jason's first lap which sucked. Jason was ok after his first lap which meant I had to head back to the camp and wait for another 45-50 minutes. I literally just stared at my watch during that time while everyone else slept.
This was probably the most demoralizing period of the ride for me. The team feeling had faded and now it was as if I was at the event by myself.
The night laps were ok. I was a little slower on the climbs and definitely slower on the downhills, but I tried to push here and there. I'm not super proud of my night lap times. The first lap was 1:00 and the second was about 1:05 I think. I had lost a lot of my motivation at night.
When I finished the last lap I handed the baton off to Doug and went back to camp to crash. Everyone was still asleep so there was no one to talk to or review our overall standings with.
This is where my memory starts to get a bit blurry. I crashed in the trailer again and this time I fell asleep fast. I slept on my back on top of a sleeping bag which was on the hard wood floor of the trailer.
I think I got up at around 7AM in time to see everyone begin their 1 lap tours. Everyone except for Andrew had done four laps (two at a time) and now we were going to do one lap at a time. Andrew had to cover for Doug because Doug snapped his chain on his first lap so that threw our rotation a little off.
We all got psyched up when our turn came and I managed to pull off a 56 minute lap for my last tour. I felt pretty good about the time considering I hadn't slept well and considering I had already been on the bike for four hours.
Everyone turned in strong lap times to finish and we ended up with 25 laps (5 per team member), which earned us second place. We had been fighting the first place team all day but we just couldn't close the time gap. They finished 25 laps as well - but they were obviously faster. I think if they hadn't had a bad crash and some other mishap they would have easily finished 26 laps.
I've always wanted to do a 24 hour race and I was pleased with our result. I think we all learned how to stage races like this better and how to make it more comfortable for everyone. Little tips and tricks. The night laps made me pretty sour on the experience for a while, but the glory of getting second has dulled that frustration.
Andrew (LOOK HOW HAPPY I AM!!!!!!!), Doug (cool with the shades), Me (spacing out), Jason (figuring out how he can trade in his tires), Matt (almost falling off the platform):
Three top teams in our category:
I'll write another article in a bit about specific lessons I learned from racing.
I'm going to try and be brief though.
This past weekend I raced my first 24 hour event with Andrew, Doug, Matt and Jason as part of a 5 man team. Jake also came up and ran support for us, which was a huge blessing. It was nice to meet his family who were very patient during the whole event. Race started at noon on Saturday and ran through noon on Sunday.
Our plan was to run two laps a piece (almost 10 mile course) and then adjust as the race went on.
I brought my dog up to Hurkey Creek with me and our campsite was excellent. It was quiet and secluded from the race craziness. We had plenty of space and even some shade. We were also able to get the Velosport (our club team) trailer and EZ-UP, which really helped.
Start of the race:
Andrew started the race for us and turned in some pretty fast lap times. I remember our whole team was at the start/finish line waiting for Andrew on his first lap and we were all surprised and impressed with his first lap time. I was expecting roughly 58 minute to 1:00 lap times from almost everyone. Andrew turned in a 55 to start which set the bar high for everyone else.
Matt did his two laps after Andrew on his SS and turned in fast laps as well. Jason then went and I think his first lap might have been the record for our team at 50 minutes. Amazingly fast.
My turn to go came up faster than I thought it would and I remember rushing to get changed into my bike clothes and scrambling to get the bike ready. Everyone had been running 55 minute laps or less and I felt pressure to match their efforts.
First lap started off really good for me. I calmed down quick and settled into a nice pace. I felt fresh and strong and managed to stay in my middle ring on all of the initial climbs.
Right after the Exfoliator downhill I came through a section with a dip in it and I hit it really hard. Right away I heard a pop and I was praying that it wasn't a flat. It was.
At first I was really mad. I'm not the fastest when I have to change flats and I knew that every minute counted. I managed to repair the flat, but the rear wheel was not in good shape. I had a small dent in my rim, some rocks and debris had made it into the tire and my C02 wasn't working so the tire wasn't inflated to a high PSI.
After fixing it I went back and forth as to what I was going to do when I came in to the start/finish. I was worried that the bike wasn't in good shape and that another lap could see another flat. I didn't have any more tubes on me and I didn't have a patch kit so I wouldn't have been able to fix another flat. I'd have to borrow a tube from another rider.
At the same time I wanted to finish my second lap. I didn't want to be the guy that only ran one lap when he should have done two. I really wanted to hold up my end of the bargain.
I ended up deciding to put my pride aside so we could eliminate the risk of another flat. I'd tell Doug to ride my second lap and then fix the bike and take the next lap.
As I rode in to finish the first lap I quickly saw that Doug wasn't ready to ride. Hahaha. Our race strategy was to have the next guy in the rotation be ready to go ahead of time in case the rider before him could not do a second lap. With no one else ready to ride I had to do a second lap. (My total time for the first lap was about 1:04 but my Garmin was a shade under 55 minutes for ride time)
Second lap actually went great at first. I still felt strong and fresh and I told myself that at least I could rest properly when I finished and I didn't have to deal with throwing the rotation off.
Then it happened. Right before the last downhill section I felt the rear slip out. Another flat. With no tube I didn't bother trying to repair it. My hope was that it was a slow leak and that I could pump it up really high and ride out on it before it went completely flat again. No such luck. The leak was too big.
I ended up running with the bike down the technical spots and even ran with it on a few of the flats and climbs. It didn't take me long to realize that my lap time would be insanely slow if I ran the entire way back (2-3 miles). So I got on and started pedaling. It actually wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Obviously my speed was limited, but it worked out ok.
My Southern California mountain bike hero (Manny Prado) even rode up behind me at one point and asked if I needed a tube. I said I was ok and off he went.
My second lap was 1:04 again and I have no idea what my ride time was. I'd like to think I was at about a 55-57 minute pace with time lost to stopping and pumping up the rear tire and time lost to riding at half the speed I would normally ride due to the flat.
After my two laps I was very happy to go back to the camp and rest. I changed clothes and hung out for a bit before trying to sleep inside of the Velosport trailer. I think I went to bed at around 10:00pm and woke up a few hours later. I say "woke up", but that implies I was asleep. I wasn't. I really just laid in the trailer listening to the loud music from the finish line and the cheers from the drunk people screaming every time someone crossed the finish.
A little before midnight I crawled out to see what was going on in the camp. Nothing was going on. I remember seeing Jason sitting by himself waiting to ride after Matt. Everyone else was asleep in their tents and everything was really quiet and dark.
I went down with Jason to send him off and meet Matt after his night laps and then talked with Matt about the course at night etc. After maybe 30 minutes Matt went to bed and I was left alone. It was not the best experience having to sit alone in the dark waiting for my turn to ride. I had to get dressed and ready for the end of Jason's first lap which sucked. Jason was ok after his first lap which meant I had to head back to the camp and wait for another 45-50 minutes. I literally just stared at my watch during that time while everyone else slept.
This was probably the most demoralizing period of the ride for me. The team feeling had faded and now it was as if I was at the event by myself.
The night laps were ok. I was a little slower on the climbs and definitely slower on the downhills, but I tried to push here and there. I'm not super proud of my night lap times. The first lap was 1:00 and the second was about 1:05 I think. I had lost a lot of my motivation at night.
When I finished the last lap I handed the baton off to Doug and went back to camp to crash. Everyone was still asleep so there was no one to talk to or review our overall standings with.
This is where my memory starts to get a bit blurry. I crashed in the trailer again and this time I fell asleep fast. I slept on my back on top of a sleeping bag which was on the hard wood floor of the trailer.
I think I got up at around 7AM in time to see everyone begin their 1 lap tours. Everyone except for Andrew had done four laps (two at a time) and now we were going to do one lap at a time. Andrew had to cover for Doug because Doug snapped his chain on his first lap so that threw our rotation a little off.
We all got psyched up when our turn came and I managed to pull off a 56 minute lap for my last tour. I felt pretty good about the time considering I hadn't slept well and considering I had already been on the bike for four hours.
Everyone turned in strong lap times to finish and we ended up with 25 laps (5 per team member), which earned us second place. We had been fighting the first place team all day but we just couldn't close the time gap. They finished 25 laps as well - but they were obviously faster. I think if they hadn't had a bad crash and some other mishap they would have easily finished 26 laps.
I've always wanted to do a 24 hour race and I was pleased with our result. I think we all learned how to stage races like this better and how to make it more comfortable for everyone. Little tips and tricks. The night laps made me pretty sour on the experience for a while, but the glory of getting second has dulled that frustration.
Andrew (LOOK HOW HAPPY I AM!!!!!!!), Doug (cool with the shades), Me (spacing out), Jason (figuring out how he can trade in his tires), Matt (almost falling off the platform):
Three top teams in our category:
I'll write another article in a bit about specific lessons I learned from racing.
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10:57 AM
2 Comments:
you got some really good pictures of you from the race! congrats on a job well done :)
Ryan's last ride was Holy Jim - Trabuco because it simulated the last section of The Traverse.
BTW, Ryan is really excited about the upcoming Traverse race. It is 46 miles long and has a heck of a lot of climbing. See his post from last year for more info.
...anyhow, Trabuco creek road was extra bumpy this time. He hopes it settles down a bit before next weekend. Maybe some good rain will happen. YEAH RIGHt.
The climb up Holy Jim was OK, but there was some discouragement on the Switchbacks. I mean, he's been going up switchbacks forever now so he should be a pro, but they always seem to kick his butt at times.
At the top of Holy Jim there were a ton of hikers. 3 were hot chicks, but he couldn't think of anything good to say. Andrew tried to lure them in by displaying the pure volume of his manly sweat by ringing out his shirt, but it didn't matter since he's married.
The wall was tough. He isn't looking forward to it.
The ride down Trabuco was great. He flatted within 1 mile of the top and didn't have a pump so he had to borrow one from Andrew and couldn't figure out how to work it. Andrew pumped his tire and just at the end of pumping, he broke the stem off the tube. Totaly broken in half...air was spewing out and Ryan didn't know what was going on. Andrew's spare tire had a hole in it, which we patched. Just then some guys, who we passed miles earlier, caught us and one of them broke his chain at the exact spot where ryan was fixing his flat. Andrew gave them a spare link and found out one worked at Adrenaline bikes. We left and let them work it out.
Ryan flatted again near the bottom because of the poor patch job, and those broken chain guys came by and gave us a tube. Karma is a good thing.
Overall Ryan is ready for The Traverse and is expecting to pull times in the low 5 hour range. He's an animal on the bike. He'll begin blogging again in the near future.
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