24 Hours, one complete day, not sure why anyone would want to ride their bike for 24 straight hours, why would I want to ride my bike 24 straight hours? I wanted a challenge, I wanted to see if I could, what it would be like. I had done a few of these events with teams in years past, had an awesome time and watched others demolish themselves for 24 hours solo. For the past few years since I had not been racing I started to make goals to do some big events, Summit Mt. Rainier, ride the Cascade Cream Puff 100 mile MTB race on a single speed, and this year the 24 hour solo race presented itself and I jumped at the chance. I had ridden my bike more than years past and I was actually feeling pretty good on the bike, I had no idea if I could make it the full 24, I had made it 12 hours at the Cream Puff and if I just paced myself I could make it a full 24 hours, right? Fast forward to race day...
Camp was rustling by 8 am, 4 hours till go time, we had a good buzz around camp, team Shredded Bits and the Funky Junk was getting prepared and Camp Bitch and Camp Bitch's Bitch (the names were in good fun and they wore aprons with their names on it, don't worry they wore them with pride) had made us an amazing breakfast THANK YOU Camille and Karen. That morning went by way faster then I could have imagined and before I new it start time was upon me. Everything was going according to plan, I had everything I needed, Clarissa had everything organized and was ready for anything. Standing there on the start line I wasn't nervous, I really had no feelings at all, I was just ready for a small jog then a bike ride, something I had done 100 times before. The gun went off and I started jogging, I didn't get more than 10 steps until I was brought back to remember I was racing (unfortunately) by some guy who was elbowing people trying to get through... really dude... we have 1439 minutes left in this thing and your throwing elbows now.... but I digress. The 3/4 mile jog up the hill and through camp went well and I got on the bike without a problem and the race was on, the race to not over cook yourself on the first lap.
The entire 1st lap my goal was to talk to whom ever I could to talk back, because if I was talking I was going slow enough to talk which meant I was going the right speed. As I came to the finish line the first lap the crowd was cheering and I felt great! I came into camp and Riss was there with everything I needed, more water, more food and off to lap #2.
Lap Time: 1:10
Miles Ridden: 14.7
Lap 2: My first goal on this lab was cool my jets and bring down my adrenaline so that I didn't waste anymore energy. It was really hard for me to go so chill, I had people passing me that would never pass me in a normal race and I had to keep reminding myself that they could go sit down and relax after their 1 hour of pain and I had to go back out and do another lap. Before the race I had done a reconnaissance lap and made notes on where I needed to be each lap to do 1 hr 15 min laps, I knew where I would be at all times, and I was right where I wanted to be, if I could do 1:15 lap time I could do 19 laps and be in the running for the win. I hit my last marker faster then I needed to and only had 15 min left in the lap when I had my first mechanical, I got my chain stuck in my frame between 3 spots that weren't big enough to fit a chain, I know it makes no sense and if you saw it it wouldn't make sense either, weird. Oh well, I fixed it, it took a while but I fixed it, and got back finished the lap.
Lap 2 Time: 1:16
Miles Ridden: 29.4
Lap 3: This was the time where I started getting worried about the race, I was not having a good day on the bike, I wasn't digesting the food I was eating, my heart rate wasn't doing what it should have been and I just generally wasn't feeling right. For those reading this that aren't riders or daily runners or anything like that, when I say I wasn't having a good day on the bike take it as: I was having a bad day, like this thing that I do daily and have done for many years daily has become one of the hardest things to do. Like something is holding you back and every pedal stroke takes every once of concentration to complete it... not good. When doing these endurance events you get into this "zone" where your body goes into auto drive and you don't have to think about riding, you just pedal, this is something that must happen for me to keep sane, and it wasn't! This was my fastest lap of the race but it was way harder mentally then it should have been. I took a small break after this lap to try and get my stomach in order and get some food digested.
Lap 3 Time: 1:09
Miles Ridden: 44.1
Lap 4: Wow this lap was not good from the start, within 2 min I flatted and had to go back to camp to get a new wheel and thankfully Derik and Koder fixed the flat for me while I was out on the lap. Thanks Guys! The rest of the lap was more like a death march then riding. I made it around the course, just barley...
Lap 4 Time 1:16
Miles Ridden: 58.8
Lap 5: Another death march, I made it again, just barley. Just Keep Riding!!
Lap 5 Time: 1:19
Miles Ridden: 73.5
Lap 6: Lights on and sun down, I finally start feeling better but that's only because I have nothing left in my stomach, I was half delirious and a riding zombie! After the lap I was done, it got to the point my entire body was shutting down and I wasn't interested in pushing myself too far, the race wasn't worth crashing and hurting myself or pushing me to the point where I pass out on course. This was game over for the night for me. I made it close to 10 hours and I struggled with the decision all night. I knew it was the right decision when I started getting cold sweats and all my joints started locking up.I was finally able to get to sleep for a couple hours, and when I woke up I knew I had made the right decision to stop, it was even hard to walk, my knees were sore, and I still had a hard time thinking. I went to the start finish for the pancake breakfast and watched all the riders who made it through the night come in and saw how tired they were and started to feel bad for stopping, even if i knew I had made the right decision for me.
Lap 6 Time: 13:49 ok so I rode only 1:22 of it.
Miles Ridden: 88.2
Lap 7: I decided to get back on the bike after Pete and Nina showed up at the race, the sun came out and it got warmer, oh and Koder bragging that he beat me... that I hadn't done any laps faster than him. Ok so the challenge was on, sort of, it was in the back of my head to try and beat his fastest time of 57 min. but I really didn't know what I could do, if I could do a lap time of 57 or 1:57. I started out chill enough just being efficient and I just started ramping up the speed faster and faster until I was full throttle. It must have been funny to watch this guy with solo tags on his bike ripping through everyone on course and going so fast. I felt like I should be wearing a sign that said "I haven't ridden since yesterday!" I popped off a sub hour lap at 59 min 6 sec. fast enough for the fastest solo lap time of the race, but it wasn't easy the only reason I was able to do this lap was because I tricked my body to think I had stopped and before it realized that I was trying to ride again I was done, because after it realized what I was trying to do it got really mad and completely shut down and the last lap I had to complete was incredibly slow, really hard and slow and there was nothing I could do about it. One other thing about this lap that I have to give credit where credit is due, the guy who had the fastest lap time before me was the man who won the entire race and did a 59:37 lap on the second lap of the race, yup I am impressed!
Lap 7: 0:59
Miles Ridden: 102.9
Lap 8 1:25
Miles Ridden: 117.6
So that was my 24 Hour Solo adventure and before I finish I have to say a couple more things:
THANK YOU!!! to Karen and Camille (Camp Bitch and Camp Bitch's Bitch), Team Shredded Bits and the Funky Junk, Dale King, Jason Casebolt, Jim Brown, everyone at Rad Racing, and all the cheering people on course for all your support!
To my lovely wife!!! My biggest supporter who encouraged me when I was going well, kept my spirits up when I wasn't, and supported me when I decided to stop. I owe her a huge thank you, I couldn't do it without her!
To my Shinobi! yes I can thank my bike, she was there with me the whole way as well! Wow what an amazing rig, when I told people I was riding a 5 inch travel 29er dual suspension on this course they called me mad. This thing kicks ass! It pedals better than any other bike I have ever ridden (that's a lot!) and floats over the rocks and roots like nothing. I have got her down to 26 lbs and I would take on any race with her XC, Super D, anything! the 1 bike that covers everything! a bike that can truly be ridden all day! Thanks Norco for the amazing rig! it made a huge difference.
Ok I think that is all, I don't plan on doing another 24 hour solo event soon, not that I would put it out of reach to ever try again, but let me recover from this one first. Oh and I think Derik and I decided we were going to do 24 hours of Bend in September... at least this time it'll be on a team!
Lap 2 Time: 1:16
Miles Ridden: 29.4
Lap 3: This was the time where I started getting worried about the race, I was not having a good day on the bike, I wasn't digesting the food I was eating, my heart rate wasn't doing what it should have been and I just generally wasn't feeling right. For those reading this that aren't riders or daily runners or anything like that, when I say I wasn't having a good day on the bike take it as: I was having a bad day, like this thing that I do daily and have done for many years daily has become one of the hardest things to do. Like something is holding you back and every pedal stroke takes every once of concentration to complete it... not good. When doing these endurance events you get into this "zone" where your body goes into auto drive and you don't have to think about riding, you just pedal, this is something that must happen for me to keep sane, and it wasn't! This was my fastest lap of the race but it was way harder mentally then it should have been. I took a small break after this lap to try and get my stomach in order and get some food digested.
Lap 3 Time: 1:09
Miles Ridden: 44.1
Lap 4: Wow this lap was not good from the start, within 2 min I flatted and had to go back to camp to get a new wheel and thankfully Derik and Koder fixed the flat for me while I was out on the lap. Thanks Guys! The rest of the lap was more like a death march then riding. I made it around the course, just barley...
Lap 4 Time 1:16
Miles Ridden: 58.8
Lap 5: Another death march, I made it again, just barley. Just Keep Riding!!
Lap 5 Time: 1:19
Miles Ridden: 73.5
Lap 6: Lights on and sun down, I finally start feeling better but that's only because I have nothing left in my stomach, I was half delirious and a riding zombie! After the lap I was done, it got to the point my entire body was shutting down and I wasn't interested in pushing myself too far, the race wasn't worth crashing and hurting myself or pushing me to the point where I pass out on course. This was game over for the night for me. I made it close to 10 hours and I struggled with the decision all night. I knew it was the right decision when I started getting cold sweats and all my joints started locking up.I was finally able to get to sleep for a couple hours, and when I woke up I knew I had made the right decision to stop, it was even hard to walk, my knees were sore, and I still had a hard time thinking. I went to the start finish for the pancake breakfast and watched all the riders who made it through the night come in and saw how tired they were and started to feel bad for stopping, even if i knew I had made the right decision for me.
Lap 6 Time: 13:49 ok so I rode only 1:22 of it.
Miles Ridden: 88.2
Lap 7: I decided to get back on the bike after Pete and Nina showed up at the race, the sun came out and it got warmer, oh and Koder bragging that he beat me... that I hadn't done any laps faster than him. Ok so the challenge was on, sort of, it was in the back of my head to try and beat his fastest time of 57 min. but I really didn't know what I could do, if I could do a lap time of 57 or 1:57. I started out chill enough just being efficient and I just started ramping up the speed faster and faster until I was full throttle. It must have been funny to watch this guy with solo tags on his bike ripping through everyone on course and going so fast. I felt like I should be wearing a sign that said "I haven't ridden since yesterday!" I popped off a sub hour lap at 59 min 6 sec. fast enough for the fastest solo lap time of the race, but it wasn't easy the only reason I was able to do this lap was because I tricked my body to think I had stopped and before it realized that I was trying to ride again I was done, because after it realized what I was trying to do it got really mad and completely shut down and the last lap I had to complete was incredibly slow, really hard and slow and there was nothing I could do about it. One other thing about this lap that I have to give credit where credit is due, the guy who had the fastest lap time before me was the man who won the entire race and did a 59:37 lap on the second lap of the race, yup I am impressed!
Lap 7: 0:59
Miles Ridden: 102.9
Lap 8 1:25
Miles Ridden: 117.6
So that was my 24 Hour Solo adventure and before I finish I have to say a couple more things:
THANK YOU!!! to Karen and Camille (Camp Bitch and Camp Bitch's Bitch), Team Shredded Bits and the Funky Junk, Dale King, Jason Casebolt, Jim Brown, everyone at Rad Racing, and all the cheering people on course for all your support!
To my lovely wife!!! My biggest supporter who encouraged me when I was going well, kept my spirits up when I wasn't, and supported me when I decided to stop. I owe her a huge thank you, I couldn't do it without her!
To my Shinobi! yes I can thank my bike, she was there with me the whole way as well! Wow what an amazing rig, when I told people I was riding a 5 inch travel 29er dual suspension on this course they called me mad. This thing kicks ass! It pedals better than any other bike I have ever ridden (that's a lot!) and floats over the rocks and roots like nothing. I have got her down to 26 lbs and I would take on any race with her XC, Super D, anything! the 1 bike that covers everything! a bike that can truly be ridden all day! Thanks Norco for the amazing rig! it made a huge difference.
Ok I think that is all, I don't plan on doing another 24 hour solo event soon, not that I would put it out of reach to ever try again, but let me recover from this one first. Oh and I think Derik and I decided we were going to do 24 hours of Bend in September... at least this time it'll be on a team!
